Alcohols aminoxyl radicals

SCHEME 6. Oxidation of an alcohol by the oxoammonium ion 4 derived from an aminoxyl radical 1... 

Additional clues confirm the radical nature of the reaction of BTNO with RH substrates. A Hammett correlation, obtained on plotting log A h for reaction of BTNO with p-substimted benzyl alcohols, gave a p value of —0.55 vs. a+. This small value, which is reasonable for a radical reaction, compares well with the p values ranging from —0.54 to —0.70 and obtained vs. the same substrates with the aminoxyl radicals generated from X-aryl-substituted HPIs (Table 5). In all cases better Hammett correlations were obtained vs. the values. Hence, a uniform pattern of selectivity emerges among these electrophilic >N—O" species in H-abstraction reactions. 

Minisci and coworkers followed Ishii s procedure, and implemented it in the oxidation of benzyhc alcohols to benzaldehydes in almost quantitative yields" (Table 12). A,Af-dimethylbenzylamines were converted into aldehydes in good yields, by using catalytic amounts of either HPI or A-hydroxysuccinimide (HSI) for the formation of the corresponding aminoxyl radical intermediates. Because the attempted oxidation of primary and secondary amines caused the degradation of catalyst HPI, protection of the amino group in those substrates by acetylation was considered. This led one to develop... 

Primary benzylic alcohols are oxidized to aldehydes in good yields without overoxidation (entry 1) lowering the pH from 5 to 3.5 increases the conversion, for reasons not fnUy understood yet (entry 2) . The aminoxyl radical is an electrophilic species" ... 

A new catalytic system consisting of a persistent macrocyclic aminoxyl radical and the couple Mn(N03)2-Co(NC>3)2 for the aerobic oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds has been developed. The rate-determining step has been identified by studying the effect of substituents on the oxidation of benzyl alcohol. The chemistry of aminoxyl, amidoxyl, and imidoxyl radicals has been discussed.265... 

The nitroxyl radical TEMPO (18a) is an active catalyst for the selective oxidation of alcohols, with hypochlorite as the oxidant. The actual oxidizing species is the oxoaminium ion (18b), which in the alcohol oxidation (I in the structure) is reduced to the hydroxylamine (18c). A catalytic amount of bromide is used to generate BrO , which is capable of reoxidizing the hydroxylamine or the aminoxyl radical (18a) to the oxoaminium stage (408). 

The spin trapping of NO as aminoxyl radicals (ARs) Rj-NO -R was observed by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy in various radical reactions. For example, such ARs are formed in the course of the photodecomposition of 2,2 -azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) in aliphatic alcohols (methanol, ethanol, 2-propanol) [15]. In this case, Rj is the radical NhC-CICHj) from AIBN, and R is derived from alcohol molecules as a result of a hydrogen atom abstraction by Rj. 

Along with reactions without the participation of the radical centre, ARs react as typical radicals. At elevated temperatures, they abstract hydrogen atoms, chlorine, bromine and other elements. There are examples of sufficiently reactive ARs in H-atom abstraction at standard temperatures. The benzotriazole-N-oxyl (BTNO) generated by the oxidation of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT) with a Ce" salt in acetonitrile spontaneously decays with a first-order rate constant of 6.3 x 10" s" at room temperature [31]. The decay of this aminoxyl is strongly accelerated in the presence of H-donor substrates such as alkylarenes, benzyl and allyl alcohols ... 

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