Alcohol-to-ketone ratio

Fe(opba)]20 catalyzes the oxidation of cyclohexane and adamantane with total yields up to 5 % based on the oxidant after 24 h with a ratio A/K of 0.9 and a ratio 3°/2° of 3 (84). These results are in line with a mechanism involving hydroxyl radicals as transient intermediates. In the oxidation of cyclohexane catalyzed by [Fe(tpca)(H20]20 (C104)2, the average alcohol-to-ketone ratio is equal to 7, which is much higher than the value characteristic of radical chain oxidation (54). Also, the stereospecificity observed in the oxidation of cis- and trans-l,2-dimethylcyclohexane (up to 97% retention of configuration) points toward the involvement of a metal-based oxidant (83). A few other complexes showing low to moderate catalytic activity in the oxidation of cyclohexane and/or adamantane are listed in Table IV. 

The cage efficiency predominantly depends on the stability of the R radical that determines the barrier of the cage reaction. Comparing the cage efficiency observed for various substrates such as cyclohexane [17], toluene [19], and ethylbenzene [16] confirms a systematic trend and readily explains the difference in alcohol-to-ketone ratio for those substrates (see Figure 1.4). 

Figure 1.4 Effect of the substrate on the solvent-cage efficiency and alcohol-to-ketone ratio.

Very recently Bennett and Summers ( ) reported a product study of the low temperature self-reaction of s-butylperoxy, s-hexylperoxy cycloheptylperoxy, and cyclopentylperoxy radicals. Although alcohol to ketone ratios close to 1.0 are produced at ambient temperatures this ratio decreases as the temperature is reduced. For instance the ratio of cyclopentanol to cyclopent-anone is 0.06 at 1T3K. Furthermore significant yields of hydrogen... 

The question about the competition between the homolytic and heterolytic catalytic decompositions of ROOH is strongly associated with the products of this decomposition. This can be exemplified by cyclohexyl hydroperoxide, whose decomposition affords cyclo-hexanol and cyclohexanone [5,6]. When decomposition is catalyzed by cobalt salts, cyclohex-anol prevails among the products ([alcohol] [ketone] > 1) because only homolysis of ROOH occurs under the action of the cobalt ions to form RO and R02 the first of them are mainly transformed into alcohol (in the reactions with RH and Co2+), and the second radicals are transformed into alcohol and ketone (ratio 1 1) due to the disproportionation (see Chapter 2). Heterolytic decomposition predominates in catalysis by chromium stearate (see above), and ketone prevails among the decomposition products (ratio [ketone] [alcohol] = 6 in the catalytic oxidation of cyclohexane at 393 K [81]). These ions, which can exist in more than two different oxidation states (chromium, vanadium, molybdenum), are prone to the heterolytic decomposition of ROOH, and this seems to be mutually related. 

Cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone are made by the air oxidation of cyclohexane (81%) with a cobalt(II) naphthenate or acetate or benzoyl peroxide catalyst at 125-160°C and 50-250 psi. Also used in the manufacture of this mixture is the hydrogenation of phenol at elevated temperatures and pressures, in either the liquid or vapor phase (19%). The ratio of alcohol to ketone varies with the conditions and catalysts. 

The addition of pyridine to chromium trioxide in 6 M hydrochloric acid produces pyridinium chlorochromate, CsHsNHCrOsCi (PCC), a yellow-orange solid stable in air. If used in a 1 1.5 ratio, it oxidizes secondary alcohols to ketones in solutions in dichloromethane at room temperature within 1-2 h in high yields [605]. 

Silanes And Base. In the presence of bases, certain silanes can selectively reduce carbonyls. Epoxy-ketones are reduced to epoxy-alcohols, for example with (MeO)3SiH and LiOMe. ° Controlling temperature and solvent leads to different ratios of syn- and anti- products.Silanes reduce ketones in the presence of BF3-OEt2 ° and transition metal compounds catalyze this reduction. ... 

By studying the NMR spectra of the products, Jensen and co-workers were able to establish that the alkylation of (the presumed) [Co (DMG)2py] in methanol by cyclohexene oxide and by various substituted cyclohexyl bromides and tosylates occurred primarily with inversion of configuration at carbon i.e., by an 8 2 mechanism. A small amount of a second isomer, which must have been formed by another minor pathway, was observed in one case (95). Both the alkylation of [Co (DMG)2py] by asymmetric epoxides 129, 142) and the reduction of epoxides to alcohols by cobalt cyanide complexes 105, 103) show preferential formation of one isomer. In addition, the ratio of ketone to alcohol obtained in the reaction of epoxides with [Co(CN)5H] increases with pH and this has been ascribed to differing reactions with the hydride (reduction to alcohol) and Co(I) (isomerization to ketone) 103) (see also Section VII,C). 

Inspired by Gif or GoAgg type chemistry [77], iron carboxylates were investigated for the oxidation of cyclohexane, recently. For example, Schmid and coworkers showed that a hexanuclear iron /t-nitrobenzoate [Fe603(0H) (p-N02C6H4C00)n(dmf)4] with an unprecedented [Fe6 03(p3-0)(p2-0H)] " core is the most active catalyst [86]. In the oxidation of cyclohexane with only 0.3 mol% of the hexanuclear iron complex, total yields up to 30% of the corresponding alcohol and ketone were achieved with 50% H2O2 (5.5-8 equiv.) as terminal oxidant. The ratio of the obtained products was between 1 1 and 1 1.5 and suggests a Haber-Weiss radical chain mechanism [87, 88] or a cyclohexyl hydroperoxide as primary oxidation product. 

In real systems (hydrocarbon-02-catalyst), various oxidation products, such as alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, bifunctional compounds, are formed in the course of oxidation. Many of them readily react with ion-oxidants in oxidative reactions. Therefore, radicals are generated via several routes in the developed oxidative process, and the ratio of rates of these processes changes with the development of the process [5], The products of hydrocarbon oxidation interact with the catalyst and change the ligand sphere around the transition metal ion. This phenomenon was studied for the decomposition of sec-decyl hydroperoxide to free radicals catalyzed by cupric stearate in the presence of alcohol, ketone, and carbon acid [70-74], The addition of all these compounds was found to lower the effective rate constant of catalytic hydroperoxide decomposition. The experimental data are in agreement with the following scheme of the parallel equilibrium reactions with the formation of Cu-hydroperoxide complexes with a lower activity. 

The reaction of ions with peroxyl radicals appears also in the composition of the oxidation products, especially at the early stages of oxidation. For example, the only primary oxidation product of cyclohexane autoxidation is hydroperoxide the other products, in particular, alcohol and ketone, appear later as the decomposition products of hydroperoxide. In the presence of stearates of metals such as cobalt, iron, and manganese, all three products (ROOH, ROH, and ketone) appear immediately with the beginning of oxidation, and in the initial period (when ROOH decomposition is insignificant) they are formed in parallel with a constant rate [5,6]. The ratio of the rates of their formation is determined by the catalyst. The reason for this behavior is evidently related to the fast reaction of R02 with the... 

The reaction of diethylzinc or dimethylzinc with prochiral ketones, in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of Ti(OPr )4 and a catalytic amount (20%) of camphor-sulfonamide derivative 136, leads to the formation of the corresponding tertiary alcohols with enantiomeric ratios of up to 94.5 5.5. 

For the addition of ethylene, EtOAc as solvent was particularly advantageous and gave 418 in 60% yield (Scheme 6.86). The monosubstituted ethylenes 1-hexene, vinylcyclohexane, allyltrimethylsilane, allyl alcohol, ethyl vinyl ether, vinyl acetate and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone furnished [2 + 2]-cycloadducts of the type 419 in yields of 54—100%. Mixtures of [2 + 2]-cycloadducts of the types 419 and 420 were formed with vinylcyclopropane, styrene and derivatives substituted at the phenyl group, acrylonitrile, methyl acrylate and phenyl vinyl thioether (yields of 56-76%), in which the diastereomers 419 predominated up to a ratio of 2.5 1 except in the case of the styrenes, where this ratio was 1 1. The Hammett p value for the addition of the styrenes to 417 turned out to be -0.54, suggesting that there is little charge separation in the transition state [155]. In the case of 6, the p value was determined as +0.79 (see Section 6.3.1) and indicates a slight polarization in the opposite direction. This astounding variety of substrates for 417 is contrasted by only a few monosubstituted ethylenes whose addition products with 417 could not be observed or were formed in only small amounts phenyl vinyl ether, vinyl bromide, (perfluorobutyl)-ethylene, phenyl vinyl sulfoxide and sulfone, methyl vinyl ketone and the vinylpyri-dines. 

Much emphasis has been placed on the selectivity of quaternary ammonium borohydrides in their reduction of aldehydes and ketones [18-20]. Predictably, steric factors are important, as are mesomeric electronic effects in the case of 4-substituted benzaldehydes. However, comparison of the relative merits of the use of tetraethyl-ammonium, or tetra-n-butylammonium borohydride in dichloromethane, and of sodium borohydride in isopropanol, has shown that, in the competitive reduction of benzaldehyde and acetophenone, each system preferentially reduces the aldehyde and that the ratio of benzyl alcohol to 1-phenylethanol is invariably ca. 4 1 [18-20], Thus, the only advantage in the use of the ammonium salts would appear to facilitate the use of non-hydroxylic solvents. In all reductions, the use of the more lipophilic tetra-n-butylammonium salt is to be preferred and the only advantage in using the tetraethylammonium salt is its ready removal from the reaction mixture by dissolution in water. 

The increase of the alcohol/ketone ratio from the left to the right of the series therefore derives from the fact that the RNu -t- RX electron transfer... 

Oxidation is when there has been an increase in the 0 H ratio on going from reactant to product. Examples include the conversion of a primary alcohol to a carboxylic acid via an aldehyde and the conversion of a secondary alcohol to a ketone. 

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