Ketones to alcohols

A white solid, m.p. 178 C. Primarily of interest as a brominaling agent which will replace activated hydrogen atoms in benzylic or allylic positions, and also those on a carbon atom a to a carbonyl group. Activating influences can produce nuclear substitution in a benzene ring and certain heterocyclic compounds also used in the oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones. 

CrOs in 1 3 Et20/CH2Cl2/celite will oxidized alcohols to ketone and aldehydes... 

The widely used Moifatt-Pfltzner oxidation works with in situ formed adducts of dimethyl sulfoxide with dehydrating agents, e.g. DCC, AcjO, SO], P4O10, CCXTl] (K.E, Pfitzner, 1965 A.H. Fenselau, 1966 K.T. Joseph, 1967 J.G. Moffatt, 1971 D. Martin, 1971) or oxalyl dichloride (Swem oxidation M. Nakatsuka, 1990). A classical procedure is the Oppenauer oxidation with ketones and aluminum alkoxide catalysts (C. Djerassi, 1951 H. Lehmann, 1975). All of these reagents also oxidize secondary alcohols to ketones but do not attack C = C double bonds or activated C —H bonds. 

Selective oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones is usually performed with CrOj/HjSO, I I in acetone (Jones reagent) or with CrOjPyj (Collin s reagent) in the presence of acid-sensitive groups (H.G. Bosche, 1975 C. Djerassi, 1956 W.S. Allen, 1954). As mentioned above, a,)S-unsaturated secondary alcohols are selectively oxidized by MnOj (D.G. Lee, 1969 D. Arndt, 1975) or by DDQ (D. Walker, 1967 H.H. Stechl, 1975). 

Alcohols are oxidized slowly with PdCh. Oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones is carried out with a catalytic amount of PdCh under an oxygen atmo-sphere[73.74]. Also, selective oxidation of the allylic alcohol 571 without attacking saturated alcohols is possible with a stoichiometric amount of PdfOAc) in aqueous DMF (1% H OifSll],... 

To the synthetic chemist the most important of the reactions m Table 17 1 are the last two the oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes and secondary alcohols to ketones Indeed when combined with reactions that yield alcohols the oxidation methods are so versatile that it will not be necessary to introduce any new methods for preparing aide hydes and ketones in this chapter A few examples will illustrate this point... 

Oxidation of secondary alcohols to ke tones (Section 15 10) Many oxidizing agents are available for converting sec ondary alcohols to ketones PDC or PCC may be used as well as other Cr(VI) based agents such as chromic acid or po tassium dichromate and sulfuric acid... 

Pauli exclusion principle (Section 1 1) No two electrons can have the same set of four quantum numbers An equivalent expression is that only two electrons can occupy the same orbital and then only when they have opposite spins PCC (Section 15 10) Abbreviation for pyndimum chlorochro mate C5H5NH" ClCr03 When used in an anhydrous medium PCC oxidizes pnmary alcohols to aldehydes and secondary alcohols to ketones... 

The use of sofid supports in conjunction with permanganate reactions leads to modification of the reactivity and selectivity of the oxidant. The use of an inert support, such as bentonite (see Clays), copper sulfate pentahydrate, molecular sieves (qv) (151), or sifica, results in an oxidant that does not react with alkenes, but can be used, for example, to convert alcohols to ketones (152). A sofid supported permanganate reagent, composed of copper sulfate pentahydrate and potassium permanganate (153), has been shown to readily convert secondary alcohols into ketones under mild conditions, and in contrast to traditional permanganate reactivity, the reagent does not react with double bonds (154). 

Pyridinium chlorochromala 1 or Cr03-dimelhylpyrazola 4 for oxidation of alcohols to ketone or aldehydes... 

A mild oxidation ol alcohols to ketones, using metal (Al, K) alkoxides and a ketone. 

Oppenauer reaction is oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones using aluminium t-butoxide... 

PCC (Section 15.10) Abbreviation for pyridinium chlorochro-mate CjHjNIT ClCr03. When used in an anhydrous medium, PCC oxidizes primary alcohols to aldehydes and secondary alcohols to ketones. 

Perhaps the most important reaction of alcohols is their oxidation to carbonyl compounds. Primary alcohols yield either aldehydes or carboxylic acids, secondary alcohols yield ketones, but tertiary alcohols are not normally oxidized. Pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC) in dichloromethane is often used for oxidizing primary alcohols to aldehydes and secondary alcohols to ketones. A solution of Cr03 in aqueous acid is frequently used for oxidizing primary alcohols to carboxylic acids and secondary alcohols to ketones. 

In Table 9-5 we have listed a large number of reaction types. For many of these reaction types you may be able to think of examples from central metabolism. For example, the oxidation of alcohols to ketones is a very commonly encountered reaction. Thus ... 

The interconversion of alcohols to ketones is a common biochemical reaction. The introduction of hydroxyl groups into toe steroid nucleus and side chain creates a variety of secondary alcohols. Some of these, especially at positions 3, 7, 11 and 17 are frequently oxidised to ketones. 

Dipyridiue-chromium(VI) oxide2 was introduced as an oxidant for the conversion of acid-sensitive alcohols to carbonyl compounds by Poos, Arth, Beyler, and Sarett.3 The complex, dispersed in pyridine, smoothly converts secondary alcohols to ketones, but oxidations of primary alcohols to aldehydes are capricious.4 In 1968, Collins, Hess, and Frank found that anhydrous dipyridine-chromium(VI) oxide is moderately soluble in chlorinated hydrocarbons and chose dichloro-methane as the solvent.5 By this modification, primary and secondary alcohols were oxidized to aldehydes and ketones in yields of 87-98%. Subsequently Dauben, Lorber, and Fullerton showed that dichloro-methane solutions of the complex are also useful for accomplishing allylic oxidations.6... 

There are a number of methods for the oxidation of primary alcohols or ethers to dimeric esters, and secondary alcohols to ketones. We recently also found that quaternary ammonium tribromides, especially BTMA Br3, are useful oxidizing agents for the purpose described above (ref. 31). 

The above-described reverse reaction (viz. the Fe-catalyzed dehydrogenation of alcohols to ketones/aldehydes) has been reported by Williams in 2009 (Table 9) [58]. In this reaction, the bicyclic complex 16 shows a sluggish activity, whereas the dehydrogenation of l-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanol catalyzed by the phenylated complex 17 affords the corresponding ketone in 79% yield when 1 equiv. (relative to 17) of D2O as an additive was used. For this oxidation reaction, l-(4-methoxyphenyl) ethanol is more suitable than 1-phenylethanol and the reaction rate and the yield of product are higher. 

Table 9 Fe-catalyzed dehydrogen conversion of alcohol to ketone ...

The proposed catalytic cycle for the dehydrogenation of alcohols to ketones is shown in Scheme 15. The initial reaction of 17 with H2O affords the hydride complex a and C02- Dehydrogenation of a by acetone gives the active species b and 2-propanol. The subsequent reaction of b with the alcohol yields the corresponding ketone and regenerates a to complete the catalytic cycle. 

Scheme 15 Proposed catalytic cycle for dehydrogenation of alcohols to ketones...

The kinetics of the initial stages of the oxidation of some a-hydroxy-carboxylic such as lactic, malic and mandelic acids by chromic acid have been studied by Bakore and Narain . The initial reaction resembles the oxidation of a secondary alcohol to ketone. The authors concluded that the rate determining step involves C-H bond rupture at the a-carbon atom. The rate of oxidation of these acids is reduced to one-half by the addition of manganous ions, when the concentration of the latter is commensurable with that of the acids. 

TS-1 is a material that perfectly fits the definition of single-site catalyst discussed in the previous Section. It is an active and selective catalyst in a number of low-temperature oxidation reactions with aqueous H2O2 as the oxidant. Such reactions include phenol hydroxylation [9,17], olefin epoxida-tion [9,10,14,17,40], alkane oxidation [11,17,20], oxidation of ammonia to hydroxylamine [14,17,18], cyclohexanone ammoximation [8,17,18,41], conversion of secondary amines to dialkylhydroxylamines [8,17], and conversion of secondary alcohols to ketones [9,17], (see Fig. 1). Few oxidation reactions with ozone and oxygen as oxidants have been investigated. 

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