Oxidative demethylation of tertiary methyl

Selective oxidative demethylation of tertiary methyl amines is one of the specific and important functions of cytochrome P-450. Novel cytochrome P-450-type oxidation behavior with tertiary amines has been found in the catalytic systems of low-valent ruthenium complexes with peroxides. These systems exhibit specific reactivity toward oxidations of nitrogen compounds such as amines and amides, differing from that with RUO4. It was discovered in 1988 that low-valent ruthenium complex-catalyzed oxidation of tertiary methylamines 53 with f-BuOOH gives the corresponding a-(f-butyldioxy)alkylamines 54 efficiently (Eq. 3.70) [130]. The hemiaminal type 54 product has a similar structure to a-hydroxymethylamine intermediate derived from the oxidation with cytochrome P-450. 

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