Mechanistic Studies of Alcohol Selective Oxidation

The oxidative dehydrogenation of alcohols represents key steps in the synthesis of aldehyde, ketone, ester, and acid intermediates employed within the fine chemical, pharmaceutical, and agrochemical sectors, with allylic aldehydes in particular high-value components used in the perfume and fiavoring industries [1]. For example, crotonaldehyde is an important agrochemical and a valuable precursor for the food preservative sorbic acid, while citronellyl acetate and cinnamaldehyde confer rose/fruity and cinnamon flavors and aromas, respectively. There is also considerable interest in the exploitation of biomass-derived feedstocks such as glycerol (a by-product of biodiesel synthesis from plant or 

Heterogeneous Catalysts for Clean Technology Spectroscopy, Design, and Monitoring, First Edition. 

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Mechanistic studies of the opening of the epoxide point to catalyst activation of both nucleophile and electrophile in a bimetallic array [79]. The Cr complex results in moderate ee only when used with thiol nucleophiles but enhancement is feasible by using a dithiol in a two-step selection process [80]. Enantioselective epoxide opening with carboxylic acids is more efficient with (salen)Co(III) complexes (often obtained via in situ oxidation of the Co(II) complex) than with the Cr analogs (Table 6, entries 4 and 5) [81]. This methodology was successfully extended to intramolecular desym-metrization of meso epoxy alcohols [82]. 

While the practically complete decomposition of (49b) in aqueous solutions at ambient conditions takes hours (at pH 3-5) or minutes (at pH 1-3 or 5-10),202 this complex is stable for months in polar aprotic solvents (such as DMF or DMSO), or for years in the solid state.147 The dependence of the redox potential of the Crv IV couple on the nature of the solvent has been studied for (49b).147 A series of mechanistic studies of the electron-transfer reactions of (49b) with inorganic or organic reductants have been performed several reviews of these studies are available.13,155,203-205 Applications of (49b) for the selective oxidations of some alcohols or organic sulfides have been proposed.202,206,207... 

A very mild procedure for the Hofmann rearrangement of aromatic and aliphatic carboxamides 409 is based on the use of (tosylimino)phenyl-X. -iodane, PhINTs, as the oxidant (Scheme 3.165) [506]. Owing to the mild reaction conditions, this method is particularly useful for the Hofmann rearrangement of substituted benzamides 409 (R = aryl), which usually afford complex reaction mixtures with other hypervalent iodine oxidants. The mild reaction conditions and high selectivity in the reaction of carboxamides with PhINTs allow the isolation of the initially formed labile isocyanates 410, or their subsequent conversion into stable carbamates 411 by treatment with alcohols. Based on the previously reported mechanistic studies of the Hofmann rearrangement using other hypervalent iodine reagents [489,490,496], it is assumed that the reaction... 

The attractive (80) features of MOFs and similar materials noted above for catalytic applications have led to a few reports of catalysis by these systems (81-89), but to date the great majority of MOF applications have addressed selective sorption and separation of gases (54-57,59,80,90-94). Most of the MOF catalytic applications have involved hydrolytic processes and several have involved enantioselec-tive processes. Prior to our work, there were only two or three reports of selective oxidation processes catalyzed by MOFs. Nguyen and Hupp reported an MOF with chiral covalently incorporated (salen)Mn units that catalyzes asymmetric epoxidation by iodosylarenes (95), and in a very recent study, Corma and co-workers reported aerobic alcohol oxidation, but no mechanistic studies or discussion was provided (89). 

As early as in 1956, Braude et al.92 suggested that the selective oxidation of unsaturated alcohols with the quinone o-chloranil (82), can be explained by the intermediacy of a resonance-stabilized cation resulting from a hydride abstraction. Later, detailed mechanistic studies confirmed this hypothesis94c,95e in oxidations performed with the more common quinone DDQ. 

The preparation of dialkyl oxalates by oxidative carbonylation of alcohols was first described by Fenton et al. in the early 1970s [72-74]. For example, the reaction can be carried out at a temperature around 125 °C and a pressure of about 70 bar in the presence of PdCl2 and iron or copper salts. Water is formed as a by-product and has to be removed from the reaction mixture by the addition of water-binding agents such as trialkyl orthoformates. Instead of oxygen benzo-quinone can also be used for the reoxidation of the catalyst system. Ammonia or amines seem to have a positive influence on selectivity and efficiency of the reae-tion. For some more examples, cf. [77-80, 117]. Mechanistic studies give some indication that alkoxycarbonylpalladium species occur as intermediates [52, 75, 76] (eq. (12)). 

The oxidation of benzylic alcohols was quantitative within hours and selective to the corresponding benzaldehydes, but the oxidation of allylic alcohols was less selective. The oxidation of aliphatic alcohols was slower but selective. In mechanistic studies considering oxidation of benzylic alcohols, similar to the oxidation of alkylarenes, a polyoxometalate-sulfoxide complex appears to be the active oxidant. Further isotope-labeling experiments, kinetic isotope effects, and especially Hammett plots showed that oxidation occurs by oxygen transfer from the activated sulfoxide and elimination of water from the alcohol. However, the exact nature of the reaction pathway is dependent on the identity of substituents on the phenyl ring. 

Mechanistic studies on the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation, Eq. (8), where DIPT is diisopropyl tartrate, have been published.The rate law in CH2CI2 is first-order in substrate, catalyst, and oxidant, and shows an inverse second-order dependence on the inhibiting alcohol, in this case Pr OH. This is consistent with a mechanism in which both substrate and the peroxide displace Pr O to form a key intermediate in the reaction. [Differences in the selectivities of allylic and homoallylic alcohols in this reaction have been exploited to invert the expected enantioselectivity. ... 

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