Nonradical oxidation products, effect

Effect of nonradical oxidation products on protein. The aldehydes formed from lipid autoxidation by Reaction G have a propensity to react with amino groups to form a Schiff base (Reaction M). 

An important goal is, therefore, to develop effective methods for catalytic oxidations with dioxygen, under mild conditions in the liquid phase. Two substrates which are often chosen as models for alkane oxidations are cyclohexane and adamantane. Cyclohexane is of immense industrial importance as its oxidation products - cyclohexanone and adipic acid - are the raw materials for the manufacture of nylon-6 and nylon-6,6. Adamantane is an interesting substrate as the ratio of oxidation at the secondary versus the tertiary C-H bonds is used as a measure of radical versus nonradical oxidation pathways. Industrial processes for the oxidation of cyclohexane, to a mixture of cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone, generally involve low conversions (under 10%). Even at such low conversions, selectivities are modest (70-80%) and substantial amounts of overoxidation products, mostly dicarboxylic acids, are formed. 

---