Terminal Wacker oxidations, palladium® chloride

PdCl2/CuCl2/02 (Wacker oxidation) (palladium chloride/cupric chloride/oxygen) Sulpholane/water RT to 100 terminal alkenes-> methyl ketones... 

The electrochemical Wacker-type oxidation of terminal olefins (111) by using palladium chloride or palladium acetate in the presence of a suitable oxidant leading to 2-alkanones (112) has been intensively studied. As recyclable double-mediatory systems (Scheme 43), quinone, ferric chloride, copper acetate, and triphenylamine have been used as co-oxidizing agents for regeneration of the Pd(II) catalyst [151]. The palladium-catalyzed anodic oxidation of... 

Lead tetraacetate initiates a similar type of oxidation with terminal alkenes, in the presence of acid, to give an aldehyde hy selective oxidation of the terminal carhon. l Ajj example is the conversion of styrene to phenylacetaldehyde in 98% yield. Palladium chloride (PdCl2) reacts with terminal alkenes, in the presence of oxygen and copper salts, to give a methyl ketone (this reaction is called the Wacker process and is discussed in sec. 12.6.A). It is more useful than the LTA oxidation. Oxidation of terminal alkenes with LTA leads to the aldehyde, whereas oxidation with PdCl2 leads to the methyl ketone. The PdCl2 oxidation is illustrated hy conversion of 402 to 403 in 77% yield, in Ikegami s synthesis of coriolin. ... 

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. 

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