Oxygen nucleophilic oxidation

The importance of steric effects in determining the oxidation state of the product can be illustrated by a thioether linkage, eg (57). If a methyl group is forced to be adjacent to the sulfur bond, the planarity required for efficient electron donation by unshared electrons is prevented and oxidation is not observed (48). Similar chemistry is observed in the addition of organic nitrogen and oxygen nucleophiles as well as inorganic anions. 

The usual oxidizing agents transfer oxygen (or halogens and related species with subsequent hydrolysis) stepwise to the sulfur of thioethers Rates of step A compared with those of step B are faster with electrophilic oxidation agents (peroxy acids) inversely, rates of step B compared with those of step A are faster with nucleophilic oxidation agents (peroxy anions)339-341. 

Transition metal oxides represent a prominent class of partial oxidation catalysts [1-3]. Nevertheless, materials belonging to this class are also active in catalytic combustion. Total oxidation processes for environmental protection are mostly carried out industriaUy on the much more expensive noble metal-based catalysts [4]. Total oxidation is directly related to partial oxidation, athough opposes to it. Thus, investigations on the mechanism of catalytic combustion by transition metal oxides can be useful both to avoid it in partial oxidation and to develop new cheaper materials for catalytic combustion processes. However, although some aspects of the selective oxidation mechanisms appear to be rather established, like the involvement of lattice catalyst oxygen (nucleophilic oxygen) in Mars-van Krevelen type redox cycles [5], others are still uncompletely clarified. Even less is known on the mechanism of total oxidation over transition metal oxides [1-4,6]. 

In the cases of the selective oxidation reactions over metal oxide catalysts the so-called Mars-van Krevelen or redox mechanism [4], involving nucleophilic oxide ions 0 is widely accepted. A possible role of adsorbed electrophilic oxygen (molecularly adsorbed O2 and / or partially reduced oxygen species like C , or 0 ) in complete oxidation has been proposed by Haber (2]. However, Satterfield [1] queried whether surface chemisorbed oxygen plays any role in catalytic oxidation. 

Rhodium catalysts have also been used with increasing frequency for the allylic etherification of aliphatic alcohols. The chiral 7r-allylrhodium complexes generated from asymmetric ring-opening (ARO) reactions have been shown to react with both aromatic and aliphatic alcohols (Equation (46)).185-188 Mechanistic studies have shown that the reaction proceeds by an oxidative addition of Rh(i) into the oxabicyclic alkene system with retention of configuration, as directed by coordination of the oxygen atom, and subsequent SN2 addition of the oxygen nucleophile. 

While the alkoxymetallation process has typically been affected by highly electrophilic metal salts, high-valent metal species generated by an oxidative addition have also been used to activate alkynes through the formation of 7r-complexes. In such cases, the metal-carbon emerging from the attack of an oxygen nucleophile may enter a reaction manifold that leads to an additional C-G bond formation rather than a simple protic quench. This approach, pioneered by Arcadi and Cacci, has proved to be a powerful strategy for the synthesis of structurally diverse substituted... 

A survey of Wacker-type etherification reactions reveals many reports on the formation of five- and six-membered oxacycles using various internal oxygen nucleophiles. For example, phenols401,402 and aliphatic alcohols401,403-406 have been shown to be competent nucleophiles in Pd-catalyzed 6- TZ /fl-cyclization reactions that afford chromenes (Equation (109)) and dihydropyranones (Equation (110)). Also effective is the carbonyl oxygen or enol of a 1,3-diketone (Equation (111)).407 In this case, the initially formed exo-alkene is isomerized to a furan product. A similar 5-m -cyclization has been reported using an Ru(n) catalyst derived in situ from the oxidative addition of Ru3(CO)i2... 

Palladium-catalyzed addition of oxygen nucleophiles to alkenes dates back to the Wacker process and acetoxylation of ethylene (Sects. 1 and 2). In contrast, catalytic methods for intermolecular oxidative amination of alkenes (i.e., aza-Wacker reactions) have been identified only recently. Both O2 and BQ have been used as oxidants in these reactions. 

Reaction with oxygen nucleophiles provides a simple route for the oxidation (Fig. 88) [229] and alkoxylation [230] (Fig. 89) of pyridine and related heteroaromatics. 

One of the earliest uses of palladium(II) salts to activate alkenes towards additions with oxygen nucleophiles is the industrially important Wacker process, wherein ethylene is oxidized to acetaldehyde using a palladium(II) chloride catalyst system in aqueous solution under an oxygen atmosphere with cop-per(II) chloride as a co-oxidant.1,2 The key step in this process is nucleophilic addition of water to the palladium(II)-complexed ethylene. As expected from the regioselectivity of palladium(II)-assisted addition of nucleophiles to alkenes, simple terminal alkenes are efficiently converted to methyl ketones rather than aldehydes under Wacker conditions. 

Oxygen nucleophiles can be added successfully to Tr-allylpalladium complexes by various methodologies. Those additions that are fostered by the use of classical oxidizing agents will be treated separately in Section 3.3.2.3.2. 

Fuchigami and coworkers and Yoshida and coworkers independently found that anodic oxidation of benzylsilanes in the presence of nucleophiles such as alcohols and carboxylic acids resulted in a selective cleavage of the C—Si bond and the oxygen nucleophiles were introduced exclusively into the benzylic position (equation 6)11-13. In the absence of nucleophiles, the benzylsilane itself plays a role of a nucleophile and benzyl(trimethylsilyl-methyl)benzene is formed (equation 7)11,12. 

Because hydroxyl radicals can cause nucleophilic oxidation of aromatic rings when dissolved 02 is present, the reaction rate is directly dependent on the oxygen partial pressure. Five FAs from different sources were used to compare the effects on the photodegradation of phenanthrene. 

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