Ruthenium chloride, tris oxidation primary alcohols

Bis(trimethylsilyl) peroxide, (CH3)3SiOOSi(CH3)3, is prepared from trimethylsilyl chloride, l,4-diaza[2,2,2]bicyclooctane, and Dabco s complex with 2 mol of hydrogen peroxide [127]. It is used alone [228] or in the presence of catalysts such as pyridinium dichromate [236] trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate, CF3S03Si(CH3)3 [228, 237] or tris-(triphenylphosphine)ruthenium dichloride, [(C6H5)3P]3RuCl2 [236]. This reagent oxidizes primary alcohols to aldehydes (in preference to the oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones [236]), ketones to esters or lactones Baeyer-Villiger reaction) [238], and nucleoside phosphites to phosphates [228]. All these oxidations require anhydrous conditions. 

A number of derivatives of ruthenium(II) have the potential to oxidize a primary alcohol in the presence of a secondary alcohol the original report of Sharpless et al has been followed by a number of modifications. The ruthenium complex can be used as a catalyst in conjunction with a cooxidant, which in the original work was A -methylmorpholine A -oxide. In general benzylic and allylic alcohols react more readily than their saturated counterparts, and primary alcohols react more readily than secondary alcohols. Alkenes can interfere with this oxidation, probably by binding to the metal and inhibiting the catalytic process. The stoichiometric use of tris(triphenylphosphine)ruthenium(II) chloride will oxidize a primary/secondary diol to the corresponding hydroxy aldehyde in excellent yield (equation 13). ... 

---