Metal-free oxidation method

The Swern-MofFatt oxidation is a versatile metal-free oxidation method that finds application in the transformation of primary and secondary alcohols into aldehydes and ketones, respectively. However, its application in process chemistry is hampered by the low-temperature requirement, namely, 70 °C, and the highly exothermic behavior, which makes temperature control very diEBcult. The highly efficient heat transfer in the microreactor should solve the problem of limited cooling capacity in a batch reactor. 

It should be noted that the related imine-oxaziridine couple E-F finds application in asymmetric sulfoxidation, which is discussed in Section 10.3. Similarly, chiral oxoammonium ions G enable catalytic stereoselective oxidation of alcohols and thus, e.g., kinetic resolution of racemates. Processes of this type are discussed in Section 10.4. Whereas perhydrates, e.g. of fluorinated ketones, have several applications in oxidation catalysis [5], e.g. for the preparation of epoxides from olefins, it seems that no application of chiral perhydrates in asymmetric synthesis has yet been found. Metal-free oxidation catalysis - achiral or chiral - has, nevertheless, become a very potent method in organic synthesis, and the field is developing rapidly [6]. 

The oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds is one of the most fundamental and important processes in the fine chemical industry. The classical methodology is based on the stoichiometric use of heavy metals, notably Cr and Mn (1,2). Alternatively metal-free oxidation, such as the Swern and Pfitzner-Moffat protocols, is based on e.g., dimethylsulfoxide as oxidant in the presence of an activating reagent such as N,N -dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, an acid anhydride or acid halide (3). Although the latter methods avoid the use of heavy metals, they usually involve moisture-sensitive oxidants and environmentally undesirable reaction media, such as chlorinated solvents. The desired oxidation of alcohols only requires the formal transfer of two hydrogen atoms, and therefore the atom economy of these methods is extremely disadvantageous. The current state of the art in alcohol oxidations... 

Lin and coworkers prepared 2-substituted quinazolines via a metal-free oxidative sp C—H/sp C—H cyclization of amidines (Scheme 23) (140L2822). Two methods were developed. Method A uses iodobenzene diacetate as a source of hypervalent iodine(lll) and a nonpolar solvent, toluene. In Method B potassium persulfate is used as the oxidant in the presence of a catalyst, TEMPO, and a polar solvent, acetonitrile. Both methods... 

The fire assay, the antecedents of which date to ancient Egypt, remains the most rehable method for the accurate quantitative determination of precious metals ia any mixture for concentrations from 5 ppm to 100%. A sample is folded iato silver-free lead foil cones, which are placed ia bone-ash cupels (cups) and heated to between 1000 and 1200°C to oxidize the noimoble metals. The oxides are then absorbed iato a bone-ash cupel (ca 99%) and a shiny, uniformly metaUic-colored bead remains. The bead is bmshed clean, roUed fiat, and treated with CP grade nitric acid to dissolve the silver. The presence of trace metals ia that solution is then determined by iastmmental techniques and the purity of the silver determined by difference. 

There have been several reports of the formation of tertiary bismuthines by the action of free radicals on metallic bismuth. One method of generating the radicals iavolves cleavage of ethane or hexafluoroethane ia a radiofrequeacy glow discharge apparatus the radicals thus formed are allowed to oxidize the metal at — 196°C (53). Trimethylbismuthiae and tris(trifluoromethyl)bismuthine [5863-80-9], C BiF, have been obtained by this procedure. 

In earlier studies the in vitro transition metal-catalyzed oxidation of proteins and the interaction of proteins with free radicals have been studied. In 1983, Levine [1] showed that the oxidative inactivation of enzymes and the oxidative modification of proteins resulted in the formation of protein carbonyl derivatives. These derivatives easily react with dinitrophenyl-hydrazine (DNPH) to form protein hydrazones, which were used for the detection of protein carbonyl content. Using this method and spin-trapping with PBN, it has been demonstrated [2,3] that protein oxidation and inactivation of glutamine synthetase (a key enzyme in the regulation of amino acid metabolism and the brain L-glutamate and y-aminobutyric acid levels) were sharply enhanced during ischemia- and reperfusion-induced injury in gerbil brain. 

The oxidative method is often conducted on enol (or enolate) derivatives and a simplified mechanism is shown in Scheme 71. Initial chemical or electrochemical oxidation gives an electrophilic radical (68 that may be free or metal-complexed) that is relatively resistant to further oxidation. Addition to an alkene now gives an adduct radical (69) that is more susceptible to oxidation. Products are often derived from the resulting intermediate cation (70) by inter- or intra-molecular nucleophilic capture or by loss of a proton to form an alkene. The concentration and oxidizing potential of the reagent help to determine the selectivity in such reactions. 

While these polymerizations are generally more involved than chemical or electrochemical oxidative methods, well-defined monomers and highly selective transition metal catalysts yield polymers virtually free of (3-coupling defects. Hence, the ability to obtain structurally superior materials has greatly fueled the search for optimized condensation reactions. 

An alternative method for asymmetric and metal-free sulfoxidation was explored by Kita et al. [133], In their approach, iodosylbenzene (Ph-I02) was used as oxidant in reversed micelles formed by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in toluene. From the numerous chiral inductors tested, tartaric acid derivatives proved best. In the presence of 10 mol% bis(2-methoxybenzoyl)tartaric acid, methyl (4-nitrophenyl)sulfide was converted into the sulfoxide in 91% yield and with 72% enantiomeric excess [133],... 

Reactions of this type are so strongly exothermal that the metal is melted and settles to the bottom of the crucible, while the aluminum oxide floats on top of the melt. Goldschmidt reduction is particularly useful when one wishes to prepare metals free from carbon, but it is a relatively expensive method. 

The importance of solvent effects can be extracted from correlations of half-wave potentials determined by CV or polarographic methods with other measures of oxidizability, especially gas-phase free energies of ionization and ionization potentials. Within a series of unsubstituted metallocenes that differ only by the metal, the oxidation potentials of the compounds in solution and their gas-phase free energies of ionization vary directly (Fig. 17),154, 60 indicating that the effect of solvent is consistent from one metallocene to another. 

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