Hydrogen peroxide hydroperoxidation process

A wide variety of oxidants has been used to produce a-oxy-alkyl radicals from alcohols and ethers hydrogen peroxide, hydroperoxides, perborate, per-oxydicarbonate, peroxydisulphate. This last gives good results the mechanism of the oxidation is controversial. Electron transfer from oxygen [Eq. (19)] has been proposed on the basis of spin-trapping experiments 5 ), followed by a hydrogen-transfer process [Eq. (20)]... 

Organic hydroperoxides can be prepared by Hquid-phase oxidation of selected hydrocarbons in relatively high yield. Several cycHc processes for hydrogen peroxide manufacture from hydroperoxides have been patented (84,85), and others (86—88) describe the reaction of tert-huty hydroperoxide with sulfuric acid to obtain hydrogen peroxide and coproduct tert-huty alcohol or tert-huty peroxide. 

In the preparation of hydroperoxides from hydrogen peroxide, dialkyl peroxides usually form as by-products from the alkylation of the hydroperoxide in the reaction mixture. The reactivity of the substrate (olefin or RX) with hydrogen peroxide is the principal restriction in the process. If elevated temperatures or strongly acidic or strongly basic conditions are required, extensive decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide and the hydroperoxide can occur. 

In a process known as peroxymercuration, hydrogen peroxide and alkyl hydroperoxides can be alkylated by alkenes in the presence of a suitable mercury(II) salt... 

Aqueous cyanide effluent containing a little methanol in a 2 m3 open tank was being treated to destroy cyanide by oxidation to cyanate with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of copper sulfate as catalyst. The tank was located in a booth with doors. Addition of copper sulfate (1 g/1) was followed by the peroxide solution (27 1 of 35 wt%), and after the addition was complete an explosion blew off the doors of the booth. This was attributed to formation of a methanol vapour-oxygen mixture above the liquid surface, followed by spontaneous ignition. It seems remotely possible that unstable methyl hydroperoxide may have been involved in the ignition process. 

The effect of jumping of the maximal hydroperoxide concentration after the introduction of hydrogen peroxide is caused by the following processes. The cumyl hydroperoxide formed during the cumene oxidation is hydrolyzed slowly to produce phenol. The concentration of phenol increases in time and phenol retards the oxidation. The concentration of hydroperoxide achieves its maximum when the rate of cumene oxidation inhibited by phenol becomes equal to the rate of hydroperoxide decomposition. The lower the rate of oxidation the higher the phenol concentration. Hydrogen peroxide efficiently oxidizes phenol, which was shown in special experiments [8]. Therefore, the introduction of hydrogen peroxide accelerates cumene oxidation and increases the yield of hydroperoxide. 

As mentioned earlier, MPO-hydrogen peroxide-chloride system of phagocytes induces the formation of lipid peroxidation products in LDL but their amount is small [167-169], It was proposed that HOCL can decompose the lipid hydroperoxides formed to yield alkoxyl radicals [170]. It was also suggested that chloramines formed in this process decompose to free radicals, which can initiate lipid peroxidation [171]. 

Diaryl diselenides and benzisoselenazole-3(27/)-ones are used as efficient catalysts in the process of imine oxidation with hydrogen peroxide and tert-butyl-hydroperoxide (25). 

While some phenol is produced by the nucleophilic substitution of chlorine in chlorobenzene by the hydroxyl group (structure 17.17), most is produced by the acidic decomposition of cumene hydroperoxide (structure 17.18) that also gives acetone along with the phenol. Some of the new processes for synthesizing phenol are the dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol, the decarboxylation of benzoic acid, and the hydrogen peroxide hydroxylation of benzene. 

The transition metal based catalytic species derived from hydrogen peroxide or alkyl hydroperoxides are currently regarded as the most active oxidants for the majority of inorganic and organic substrates " An understanding of the mechanism of these processes is therefore a crucial point in the chemistry of catalytic oxidations. This knowledge allows one to predict not only the nature of the products in a given process, but also the stereochemical outcome in asymmetric reactions. 

Vanadium-catalyzed hydroxylation of benzene and cyclohexane has also been obtained with in situ generation of hydrogen peroxide from H2/O2 in the presence of palladium. A similar process has been settled for methane oxygenation to methyl trifluoroacetate and formic acid. Monoperoxovanadate, as well as copper hydroperoxides, have been indicated as the active species for the activation of the C—H bond of methane. 

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