Copper -malonate system

Various transition metals have been used in redox processes. For example, tandem sequences of cyclization have been initiated from malonate enolates by electron-transfer-induced oxidation with ferricenium ion Cp2pe+ (51) followed by cyclization and either radical or cationic termination (Scheme 41). ° Titanium, in the form of Cp2TiPh, has been used to initiate reductive radical cyclizations to give y- and 5-cyano esters in a 5- or 6-exo manner, respectively (Scheme 42). The Ti(III) reagent coordinates both to the C=0 and CN groups and cyclization proceeds irreversibly without formation of iminyl radical intermediates.The oxidation of benzylic and allylic alcohols in a two-phase system in the presence of r-butyl hydroperoxide, a copper catalyst, and a phase-transfer catalyst has been examined. The reactions were shown to proceed via a heterolytic mechanism however, the oxidations of related active methylene compounds (without the alcohol functionality) were determined to be free-radical processes. 

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