Pyridinium chromate alcohol oxidation

Pyridinium and quaternary ammonium resins react with chromium trioxide, producing polymer-supported complex chromates that oxidize alcohols, and provide a very facile work-up.427... 

An alternative tt> the chromium trioxide-pyridine comidex is provided by pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC) and pyridinium dichromate (PDC). These reag ts, now ubiquitous for chromate-based oxidation of alcohols, overcome the hygroscofric nature of the chromium trioxide-i ridine complex and are prepared by a less hazardous procedure both are commercially available as are several other derivative reagents. 

The procedure is commendable for its sinq>licity, reduced toxicity (chromium in all its oxidation states is carcinogenic) and achieves good yields of ketones from alcohol, for example, octan-2-ol is oxidized into octan-2-one (92%), cyclohexanol into cyclohexanone (90%) and menthol into menthone (98%). Pyridinium chromate is also a well-known oxidant for allylic oxidations. As a silica gel supported reagent, this is turned into an efficient alcohol oxidant that will leave acid-labile functions unscathed. Another advantage of the reagent is the long shelf-life of more than a year. These solid-supported oxidants also greatly facilitate pr uct work-up, when compared with their solution counterparts. 

Several references have appeared on the use of solid-phase oxidants. Solid potassium permanganate-copper sulphate mixtures oxidize secondary alcohols to ketones in high yield, and pyridinium chromate or chromic acid on silica gel are described as convenient off-the-shelf reagents for oxidation of both primary and secondary alcohols. Anhydrous chromium trioxide-celite effects similar transformations only when ether is present as co-solvent. An excellent review, with over 400 references, on supported oxidants covers the use of silver carbonate-celite, chromium trioxide-pyridine-celite, ozone-silica, chromyl chloride-silica, chromium trioxide-graphite, manganese dioxide-carbon, and potassium permanganate-molecular sieve. 

By Oxidation of Alcohols.—Barium manganate is readily available and stable, and has been recommended for the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols to aldehydes and ketones respectively. Chromic acid adsorbed on to silica geP and the recyclable poly[vinyl(pyridinium chromate)] effect the same changes, while acid-stable primary and secondary alcohols are oxidized rapidly using potassium dichromate, sulphuric acid, methylene chloride, and a phase-transfer catalyst." Benzeneseleninic anhydride is an alternative reagent for the oxidation of alcohols under essentially neutral conditions. ... 

Oxidation of primary alcohols to aide hydes (Section 15 10) Pyridinium di chromate (PDC) or pyridinium chloro chromate (PCC) in anhydrous media such as dichloromethane oxidizes primary al cohols to aldehydes while avoiding over oxidation to carboxylic acids... 

Primary alcohols are oxidized to either aldehydes or carboxylic acids, depending on the reagents chosen and the conditions used. One of the best methods for preparing an aldehyde from a primary alcohol on a small laboratory scale, as opposed to a large industrial scale, is to use pyridinium chloro-chromate (PCC, CsH NCrO Cl) in dichloromethane solvent. 

Oxidation of alcohols is normally carried out with Cr(VI) reagents (Chapter 24) but these, like the Jones reagent (Na2Cr2C>7 in sulfuric acid), are usually acidic. Some pyridine complexes of Cr(Vl) compounds solve this problem by having the pyridinium ion (p Ta 5) as the only acid. The two most famous are PDC (Pyridinium DiChromate) and PCC (Pyridinium Chloro-Chromate). Pyridine forms a complex with CrO but this is liable to burst into flames. Treatment with HC1 gives PCC, which is much less dangerous. PCC is particularly useful in the oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes as overoxidation is avoided in the only slightly acidic conditions (Chapter 24). 

Reduction of ot-keto epoxides. Epoxidation of cyclic allylic alcohols results mainly in the epoxide syn to the hydroxyl group (4, 76). Schlessinger et al. have reported a method for isomerization of the alcohol group by oxidation to the ketone and reduction to the anh-alcohol. In a model case, 2->4, pyridinium chloro-chromate buffered with sodium acetate was found to be the most satisfactory oxidant. Stereoselective reduction to 4 was found to be a more difficult problem, but eventually triisobutylaluminum was found to effect this reduction in high yield. 

Pyridinium dichromate in dichloromethane solution converts primary alcohols into aldehydes. In dimethylformamide at 25 °C, carboxylic acids are formed. Cyclohexylmethanol thus gives cyclohexanecarboxylic acid in 84% yield [603]. Oxidations of aliphatic alcohols with ten-butyl chromate yield mixtures of acids with aldehydes and esters [677]. 

Schemes have been devised to substitute less toxic metals for more toxic ones. Potassium ferrate on K10 mont-morillonite clay has been used to replace potassium chromate and potassium permanganate in the oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones in 54-100% yields.153 The potassium ferrate is made by the action of sodium hypochlorite on iron(III) nitrate or by treatment of iron(III) sulfate with potassium peroxymonosulfate.154 After the oxidation, any excess oxidizing agent, and its reduced form, are easy to recover by filtration or centrifugation. In another case, manganese-containing reagents have been substituted for more toxic ones containing chromium and selenium (4.21).155 Selenium dioxide was used formerly in the first step and pyridinium chlorochromate in the second.

The same allylic alcohols (142) undergo regiospecific oxidative cleavage with pyridinium chloro-chromate at the ethylenic bond to give, after saponification, a-hydroxyacids (145). Extension of this reaction to a -unsaturated ketones (146), obtained by oxidation of secondary alcohols with silver carbonate on celite, affords a-ketoacids (147) <88TL626l>. 

Oxidation photocatalyzed by polyoxometalates [66k] has been applied to the fimctionalization of 1,8-cineole (structure IX-10) [661], widely distributed in the plant kingdom. The photooxygenation of IX-10 gave a mixture of ketones and alcohols which were transformed by the subsequent action of pyridinium chloro-chromate into 5- and 6-keto derivatives in the ratio IX-11 IX-12 = 2.5 1. A laser flash photolysis study of the mechanism has been carried out for the deca-tungstate anion catalyzed reaction [66m]. 

A useful application of chromium-based oxidants, especially pyridinium chlorochromate, is in the conversion of allylic tertiary alcohols to their transposed a,(3-unsaturated ketones. For example, treatment of the allylic alcohol 24 with PCC gave the a,p-unsaturated ketone 25 (6.23). The reaction is thought to proceed by rearrangement of the chromate ester of the allylic alcohol to give a new allyl chromate ester that is oxidized to the ketone. 

Oxidation of a primary alcohol with pyridinium chloro-chromate or hypochlorous acid (11.5). 

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