A Selective Conversion of Benzylic Alcohols to the Corresponding Carbonyl Compounds by Means of an Ag(III) Complex

 Carbonyl compounds of the type XPhCOR (R = H, Me, Ph; X = H, Me, Cl, Br) are prepared in high yields by reaction of the corresponding benzylic alcohols XPhCHOHR with KNa₄ [Ag(HIO₆)₂]×12H₂O in alkaline solution. This method allows the selective oxidation of benzylic alcohols in compounds containing other types of alcoholic functional groups.     

A Selective Conversion of Benzylic Alcohols to the Corresponding Carbonyl Compounds by Means of an Ag(III) Complex

Summary.  Carbonyl compounds of the type XPhCOR (R = H, Me, Ph; X = H, Me, Cl, Br) are prepared in high yields by reaction of the corresponding benzylic alcohols XPhCHOHR with KNa₄ [Ag(HIO₆)₂]×12H₂O in alkaline solution. This method allows the selective oxidation of benzylic alcohols in compounds containing other types of alcoholic functional groups. Received January 18, 2000. Accepted (revised) February 23, 2000     

Expedient synthesis of β,β-disubstituted α-methylenepropionates

Baylis-Hillman alcohols are excellent sources of the allylic halides ArCHCH(CH₂X)(CO₂R) (X=Br, Cl; R¹=Me, Et, Bu^t). The Z double bond isomers are attained in high isomeric purity (>14:1, Z/E). The halides are chemo- and regiospecifically transformed into the acrylates (ArCHR²)C(CH₂)(CO₂R¹) on treatment with Zn(R²)₂ (R²=Me, Et, CH₂TMS, CH₂SiMe₂OMe) or PrZnBr in the presence of catalytic amounts of copper(I) salts (0.5-20 mol%) in high yield.     

Efficient oxidation of alcohols with tert-butyl hydroperoxide catalyzed by Mo(CO)6 supported on multiwall carbon nanotubes

Efficient oxidation of alcohols with tert-butyl hydroperoxide catalyzed by Mo(CO)₆ supported on multiwall carbon nanotubes modified with 4-aminopyridine is reported. The effect of various parameters such as catalyst amount, solvent and oxidant was studied. The catalyst, [Mo(CO)₅@APy-MWCNT], showed high activity not only in the oxidation of benzylic and linear alcohols but also in the oxidation of secondary alcohols. The catalyst can be reused several times without significant loss of its activity.     

Selective aerobic oxidation of allylic and benzylic alcohols catalyzed by N-hydroxyindole and copper(I) chloride

In the presence of copper(I) chloride, tert-butyl 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-6-trifluoromethyl-1H-indole-3-carboxylate acted as a catalyst for the chemoselective aerobic oxidation of allylic and benzylic alcohols. A variety of primary and secondary allylic and benzylic alcohols were oxidized into the corresponding α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds in good yields without affecting non-allylic alcohols.     

Aerobic oxidative desymmetrization of meso-diols with bifunctional amidoiridium catalysts bearing chiral N-sulfonyldiamine ligands

Asymmetric aerobic oxidation of a range of meso- and prochiral diols with chiral bifunctional Ir catalysts is described. A high level of chiral discrimination ability of Cp^∗Ir complexes derived from (S,S)-1,2-diphenylethylenediamine was successfully demonstrated by desymmetrization of secondary benzylic diols such as cis-indan-1,3-diol and cis-1,4-diphenylbutane-1,4-diol, providing the corresponding (R)-hydroxyl ketones with excellent chemo- and enantioselectivities. Enantiotopic group discrimination in oxidation of symmetrical primary 1,4- and 1,5-diols gave rise to chiral lactones with moderate ees under similar aerobic conditions.     

Continuous Flow Electrochemistry Enables Practical and Site-Selective C−H Oxidation

The selective oxygenation of ubiquitous C(sp³)−H bonds remains a highly sought-after method in both academia and the chemical industry for constructing functionalized organic molecules. However, it is extremely challenging to selectively oxidize a certain C(sp³)−H bond to afford alcohols due to the presence of multiple C(sp³)−H bonds with similar strength and steric environment in organic molecules, and the alcohol products being prone to further oxidation. Herein, we present a practical and cost-efficient electrochemical method for the highly selective monooxygenation of benzylic C(sp³)−H bonds using continuous flow reactors. The electrochemical reactions produce trifluoroacetate esters that are resistant to further oxidation but undergo facile hydrolysis during aqueous workup to form benzylic alcohols. The method exhibits a broad scope and exceptional site selectivity and requires no catalysts or chemical oxidants. Furthermore, the electrochemical method demonstrates excellent scalability by producing 115 g of one of the alcohol products. The high site selectivity of the electrochemical method originates from its unique mechanism to cleave benzylic C(sp³)−H bonds through sequential electron/proton transfer, rather than the commonly employed hydrogen atom transfer (HAT).     

Facile synthesis of α, β-unsaturated esters through a one-pot copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidation-Wittig reaction

An efficient one-pot synthesis of α, β-unsaturated esters through the aerobic oxidation – Wittig tandem reaction of alcohols and phosphorous ylide is developed. This new method operates under mild reaction conditions, and uses CuI/TEMPO (TEMPO = 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl) as co-catalyst and air (O₂) as the oxidant. It tolerates a wide range of functionalized benzylic alcohol and aliphatic alcohols.     

Stereoselective synthesis of unsymmetrical conjugated dienes and trienes utilizing silacyclobutenes

Treatment of the different kinds of alkynyl-substituted dialkynyldiarylsilanes with zirconocene-ethylene complex Cp₂Zr(CH₂CH₂) followed by acidification with 3 N HCl gave regio- and stereoselectively the corresponding silacyclobutenes in good yields. Desilylation of the silacyclobutenes with tetrabutylammonium fluoride afforded stereoselectively unsymmetrical conjugated (1E,3E)-dienes and -trienes (R¹ or R² = 1-cyclohexenyl) in excellent yields.     

Nucleophilic Addition to CC Bonds,Part X

A mechanistic model is presented for the base‐catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of polycyclic unsaturated alcohols of type A to ethers D (Scheme 1). The alkoxide anion B is formed first in a fast acid‐base equilibrium. For the subsequent reaction to D , a carbanion‐like transition state C is proposed. This mechanism is in full agreement with our results regarding the influence of substituents on the regioselectivity and the rate of cyclization. We studied the effect of alkyl substituents in allylic position (alkylated endocylic olefinic alcohols 1 – 3 ) and, especially, at the exocyclic double bond ( 12 – 15 ). The fastest cyclization (k_rel=1) is 12 → 16 , which proceeds via a primary carbanion‐like transition state ( E : R¹=R²=H). The corresponding processes 13 → 17 and 14 → 17 are characterized by a less‐stable secondary carbanion‐like transtition state ( E : R¹=Me, R²=H, or vice versa) and are slower by a factor of 10⁴. The slowest reaction (k_rel ca. 10⁻⁶) is the cyclization 15 → 18 via a tertiary carbanion‐like transition state ( E : R¹=R²=Me).     

An oxidovanadium(IV) complex having a perrhenato ligand: An efficient catalyst for aerobic oxidation reactions of benzylic and propargylic alcohols

An oxidovanadium(IV) complex having a perrhenato ligand [VO(ReO₄)(4,4′-^tBubpy)₂][0.25SO₄·0.5ReO₄] (4,4′-^tBubpy = 4,4′-di-tert-butyl-2,2′-bipyridine) efficiently catalyzes not only dehydrogenative oxidation of benzylic and propargylic mono-alcohols but also oxidative CC bond cleavage of meso-1,2-diaryl-1,2-ethanediols under atmospheric molecular oxygen, affording the corresponding carbonyl compounds in good yield.     

Synthesis of optically active tetrahydrozerumbone

Tetrahydrozerumbone 2, which has a powerful balmy fragrance, has a stereogenic carbon at C2 and can be easily prepared from zerumbone 1, which is one of the most important materials that displays an NMRDOS character. Reduction of 2 gave two diastereomers 3 and 4; their optically active (>99% ee) alcohols were obtained by lipase-catalyzed stereoselective transesterification of each racemic alcohol. The enantioselectivity of tetrahydrozerumbol does not entirely depend on the hydroxyl position but on the 2-methyl position. Compounds (R)-2 and (S)-2 were obtained by Dess–Martin oxidation of the corresponding alcohols. Interestingly, (R)-2 showed a strong balmy fragrance while (S)-2 had hardly any fragrance.     

A BINOL-terpyridine-based multi-task catalyst for a sequential oxidation and asymmetric alkylation of alcohols

Treatment of a BINOL-terpyridine compound with RuCl₃ generates a Ru(II) complex (R)-6. This complex is found to be a novel multi-task catalyst capable of conducting a sequential oxidation and asymmetric alkyl addition to convert primary alcohols to chiral secondary alcohols. The terpyridine-Ru(II) site of (R)-6 catalyzes an efficient oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes which then undergo an enantioselective alkylation to generate chiral secondary alcohols when the BINOL site of (R)-6 is combined with ZnEt₂ and Ti(OⁱPr)₄.     

tert-Butylnitrite as a convenient and easy-removable oxidant for the conversion of benzylic alcohols to ketones and aldehydes

The oxidation of primary and secondary benzylic alcohols was achieved by using tert-butyl nitrite (t-BuONO) as a stoichiometric oxidant. Various substrates were effectively converted into the corresponding ketones or aldehydes in good to excellent yields. The reaction presumably proceeded by a nitrosyl exchange and a subsequent thermal decomposition of benzylic nitrites. This process would realize an oxidation of alcohols with oxygen in theory by combining with a reproduction of alkyl nitrites from NO and alcohols under an O₂ atmosphere. In addition, almost pure oxidized products were readily obtained by simple evaporation of the reaction mixtures since t-BuONO produced only volatile side products.     

Use of Suzuki cross-coupling as a route to 2-phenoxy-6-iminopyridines and chiral 2-phenoxy-6-(methanamino)pyridines

The anisyl boronic acids, 2-OMe-3-R²-5-R¹-C₆H₂B(OH)₂ (R¹=R²=H (a); R¹=H, R²=Ph (b); R¹=Me, R²=H (c); R¹=Cl, R²=H (d); R¹=t-Bu, R²=H (e)), have been employed in Suzuki cross-coupling reactions with either 2-bromo-6-formylpyridine (I) or 2-bromo-6-acetylpyridine (II) generating, following a facile deprotection step, the 2-phenoxy-6-carbonylpyridines, 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R¹-C₆H₂)-6-(CHO)C₅H₃N (R¹=R²=H (1a); R¹=Me, R²=H (1c); R¹=Cl, R²=H (1d); R¹=t-Bu, R²=H (1e)) and 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R¹-C₆H₂)-6-(CMeO)C₅H₃N (R¹=R²=H (2a); R¹=H, R²=Ph (2b)). Condensation reactions of 1 and 2 with 2,6-diisopropylaniline proceed smoothly to give the 2-phenoxy-6-iminopyridines, 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R¹-C₆H₂)-6-{CHN(2,6-i-Pr₂C₆H₃)}C₅H₃N (R¹=R²=H (3a); R¹=Me, R²=H (3c); R¹=Cl, R²=H (3d); R¹=t-Bu, R²=H (3e)) and 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R²-C₆H₂)-6-{CMeN(2,6-i-Pr₂C₆H₃)}C₅H₃N (R¹=H, R²=Ph (4a), R¹=H, R²=Ph (4b)). Reduction of the imino unit (and concomitant C-C bond formation) in 3 can be achieved by treatment with trimethylaluminium or methyllithium which, following hydrolysis, furnishes the racemic chiral 2-phenoxy-6-(methanamino)pyridines, 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R¹-C₆H₂)-6-{CHMe-NH(2,6-i-Pr₂C₆H₃)}C₅H₃N (R¹=R²=H (5a); R¹=Me, R²=H (5c); R¹=Cl, R²=H (5d); R¹=t-Bu, R²=H (5e)). This work represents a straightforward and rapid synthetic route to libraries of sterically and electronically variable phenoxy-substituted imino- and methanamino-pyridines, which are expected to act as useful ligands or proligands for late and early transition metal-mediated alkene polymerisation catalysis.     

An SN2′ displacement approach to allenyl acetates

Reaction of cuprates derived from R³MgBr/CuI/LiBr (R³ = n-alkyl) with R¹CCCH(O₂CR²)₂ (R¹ = sp² hybridised substituent, R² = mainly Me, alkyl, Ph) provides access to allenyl esters R¹R³CCCH(O₂CR²) (51-88%). Such species are not accessible via rearrangement of precursor propargylic R¹R³C(O₂CR²)CCH.     

A series of new zirconium complexes bearing bis(phenoxyketimine) ligands: Synthesis, characterization and ethylene polymerization

A series of new zirconium complexes bearing bis(phenoxyketimine) ligands, bis((3,5-di-tert-butyl-C₆H₂-2-O)R₁CN (2-R₂-C₆H₄))ZrCl₂ {R₁ = Me, R₂ = H (2a); R₁ = Et, R₂ = H (2b); R₁ = Ph, R₂ = H (2c); R₁ = 2-Me-Ph, R₂ = H (2d); R₁ = 2-F-Ph, R₂ = H (2e); R₁ = 2-Cl-Ph, R₂ = H (2f); R₁ = 2-Br-Ph, R₂ = H (2g); R₁ = Ph, R₂ = Me (2h); R₁ = Ph, R₂ = F (2i)}, have been prepared, characterized and tested as catalyst precursors for ethylene polymerization. Crystal structure analysis reveals that complex 2c has a six coordinate center in a distorted octahedral geometry with trans-O, cis-N, cis-Cl arrangement which possesses approximate C₂ symmetry. When activated with methylaluminoxane (MAO), complexes 2a-2i exhibited high ethylene polymerization activities of 10⁶-10⁸ g PE (mol M h)⁻¹. Compared with the bis(phenoxyimine) zirconium analogues bis((3,5-di-tert-butyl-C₆H₂-2-O)CHNC₆H₅)ZrCl₂ (3), the introduction of substituent on the carbon atom of the imine double bond enhanced the catalytic activity and molecular weight of prepared polyethylene. Especially, when the H atom at the carbon atom of the imine double bond was replaced by 2-fluoro-phenyl with strong electronic-withdrawing property, complex 2e displayed the highest catalytic activity, and the polyethylene obtained possessed the highest molecular weight and melt point.     

Oxidation of benzyl alcohols with difluoro(aryl)-λ-bromane: formation of benzyl fluoromethyl ethers via oxidative rearrangement

Oxidative rearrangement of benzyl alcohols with difluoro(p-trifluoromethylphenyl)-λ³-bromane (5 × 10⁻² M) in chloroform at room temperature afforded aryl fluoromethyl ethers selectively in good yields, probably via 1,2-shift of aryl groups from benzylic carbon to oxygen atoms.     

Efficient Swern oxidation and Corey–Kim oxidation with ion-supported methyl sulfoxides and methyl sulfides

The Swern oxidation of various benzylic and allylic alcohols, primary alcohols, and secondary alcohols with two ion-supported methyl sulfoxides A-1 (C₆) and B-1 (C₁₀), and oxalyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine in dichloromethane, followed by simple diethyl ether extraction of the reaction mixture, gave the corresponding aldehydes and ketones, respectively, in good yields with high purity. Similarly, the Corey–Kim oxidation of various benzylic and allylic alcohols, primary alcohols, and secondary alcohols with two ion-supported methyl sulfides A-2 (C₆) and B-2 (C₁₀), and N-chlorosuccinimide in the presence of triethylamine in dichloromethane, followed by simple diethyl ether extraction of the reaction mixture, furnished the corresponding aldehydes and ketones, respectively, in good yields with high purity. Both reactions did not produce any unpleasant odor at all. In the Swern oxidation, ion-supported methyl sulfides were recovered in high yields and could be re-oxidized to produce ion-supported methyl sulfoxides A-1 (C₆) and B-1 (C₁₀), for reuse in the same oxidation. In the Corey–Kim oxidation, ion-supported methyl sulfides A-2 (C₆) and B-2 (C₁₀) were recovered in high yields and could be also reused for the same oxidation.     

Combination of CuBr2 and multi-functional ligand bearing a bidentate nitrogen unit,a phenol group and a TEMPO moiety as catalyst for the aerobic oxidation of primary alcohols

A novel ligand (L) bearing a bidentate nitrogen ligand unit, a phenol group and a TEMPO moiety has been synthesized. The ligand has been used as a catalyst precursor for the copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes, in the presence of K₂CO₃. The complex obtained in-situ from the ligand with copper(II) bromide (CuBr₂) in a 2:1 acetonitrile/water mixture, selectively catalyzes the aerobic oxidation of primary benzylic and allylic alcohols to their corresponding aldehydes, and no over-oxidation products are detected.