Visible-light-induced selective photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of amines into imines on TiO2

Imines are important intermediates for the synthesis of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural chemicals. Selective oxidation of amines into their corresponding imines with dioxygen is one of the most-fundamental chemical transformations. Herein, we report the oxidation of a series of benzylic amines into their corresponding imines with atmospheric dioxygen as the oxidant on a surface of anatase TiO(2) under visible-light irradiation (λ>420 nm). The visible-light response of this system was caused by the formation of a surface complex through the adsorption of a benzylic amine onto the surface of TiO(2). From the analysis of products of specially designed benzylic amines, we demonstrated that a highly selective oxygenation reaction proceeds via an oxygen-transfer mechanism to afford the corresponding carbonyl compound, whose further condensation with an amine would generate the final imine product. We found that when primary benzylic amines (13 examples), were chosen as the substrates, moderate to excellent selectivities for the imine products were achieved (ca. 38-94%) in moderate to excellent conversion rates (ca. 44-95%). When secondary benzylic amines (15 examples) were chosen as the substrates, both the corresponding imines and aldehydes were detected as the main products with moderate to high conversion rates (ca. 18-100%) and lower selectivities for the imine products (ca. 14-69%). When tribenzylamine was chosen as the substrate, imine (27%), dibenzylamine (24%), and benzaldehyde products (39%) were obtained in a conversion of 50%. This report can be viewed as a prototypical system for the activation of C-H bonds adjacent to heteroatoms such as N, O, and S atoms, and oxofuctionalization with air or dioxygen as the terminal oxidant under visible-light irradiation using TiO(2) as the photocatalyst.     

Anodic oxidation of ring A-aromatic steroids. Regioselective benzylic oxidation

A new method for benzylic alkoxylation and hydroxylation of 3-methoxy-estra-1,3,5(10)-trienes (I) is described. 9α- and 9β-methoxy- and 9α- and 9β-hydroxy-3-methoxy-estra-1,3,5(10)-trienes (II and III) were prepared by electrochemical oxidation in a methanolic or aqueous solvent supporting electrolyte (SSE).     

Palladium-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of amines

Pd-Catalyzed aerobic oxidation of different amines was systematically examined for the first time. A PdCl₂/PPh₃ system was successfully developed to catalyze the aerobic oxidation of several types of amines including Ar-CH₂NHPh, Ar-CH₂NHOMe, and Ar-CH₂NHMs with high yields. Theoretical studies showed a remarkable difference in the energy barriers of β-hydride elimination between an alcohol and various amines.     

Selective aerobic oxidation of activated alcohols into acids or aldehydes in ionic liquids

Selective aerobic oxidation of activated primary alcohols into acids or aldehydes has been developed in ionic liquids. Under optimal conditions, various alcohols could be selectively converted into their corresponding acids or aldehydes in good to excellent yields. The newly developed catalytic systems could also be recycled and reused for three runs without any significant loss of catalytic activity.     

A mild oxidative aryl radical addition into alkenes by aerobic oxidation of arylhydrazines

A mild and practical oxyarylation of alkenes by oxidative radical addition has been developed by using aerobic oxidation of hydrazine compounds. The use of a catalytic amount of potassium ferrocyanide trihydrate (K₄[Fe(CN)₆]?3 H₂O) and water accelerated this radical reaction to give peroxides or alcohols from simple alkenes in good yields. The environmentally friendly and economical radical reactions were achieved at room temperature in the presence of iron catalyst, oxygen gas, and water. A method involving aniline as a radical precursor is also described.     

Selective photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of methane into carbon monoxide over Ag/AgCl@SiO2

Design of active catalysts for chemical utilization of methane under mild conditions is of great importance, but remains a challenging task. Here, we prepared a Ag/AgCl with SiO₂ coating (Ag/AgCl@SiO₂) photocatalyst for methane oxidation to carbon monoxide. High carbon monoxide production (2.3 μmol h⁻¹) and high selectivity (73%) were achieved. SiO₂ plays a key role in the superior performance by increasing the lifetime of the photogenerated charge carriers. Based on a set of semi in situ infrared spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, and electronic property characterization studies, it is revealed that CH₄ is effectively and selectively oxidized to CO by the in situ formation of singlet ¹O₂via the key intermediate of COOH*. Further study showed that the Ag/AgCl@SiO₂ catalyst could also drive valuable conversion using real sunlight under ambient conditions. As far we know, this is the first work on the application of SiO₂ modified Ag/AgCl in the methane oxidation reaction.

The Ag/AgCl@SiO₂ catalyst exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity in selective aerobic oxidation of methane to carbon monoxide with high selectivity, and extended real light simulation feasibility shows potential in practical application.     

Regioselective carbon-carbon bond cleavage in the oxidation of cyclopropenylcarbinols

The strained double bond of cyclopropenylcarbinols undergoes a facile oxidation reaction to lead to unsaturated carbonyl derivatives. The distribution of the formed products depends on the relative stability of carbon-centered radical species, and the Sharpless kinetic resolution leads to enantiomerically pure Baylis-Hillman enal adducts.     

Selective aerobic oxidation of hydroxy compounds catalyzed by photoactivated ruthenium-salen complexes (selective catalytic aerobic oxidation)

Selective oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl compounds is one of the most fundamental reactions in organic synthesis. Traditional methods for this transformation generally rely on stoichiometric amount of oxidants represented by Cr(VI) or DMSO reagents, though their synthetic utility is encumbered by unpleasant waste materials. From ecological and atom-economic viewpoints, catalytic aerobic oxidation is much more advantageous because molecular oxygen is ubiquitous and the byproduct is basically non-toxic water or hydrogen peroxide. On the other hand, phenol derivatives undergo oxidative coupling, forming C-C or C-O bond, through radical intermediates coupled with an electron-transfer process. Molecular oxygen is also well known to serve as electron acceptor in this reaction. Thus, a variety of transition metal complexes have so far been examined for aerobic oxidations of alcohols and phenols, and high catalytic activities have been achieved in some cases. However, stereo- and chemo-selective aerobic oxidations are still limited in number and are of current interest. Presented in this paper is our recent studies on catalytic aerobic oxidations with photoactivated nitrosyl ruthenium-salen complexes, including asymmetric oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones (kinetic resolution), enantioselective oxidative coupling of 2-naphthols to binaphthols and oxygen-radical bicyclization of 2,2'-dihydroxystilbene, chemoselective oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes and diols to lactols, and asymmetric desymmetrization of meso-diols to lactols.     

Na-promoted aerobic oxidation of alcohols to ketones

Aerobic oxidation of a number of diaryl and arylalkyl carbinols to ketones was promoted by Na in THF at room temperature with up to 99% yield. This new oxidation method is also selective with good efficiency for the oxidation of benzylic secondary alcohols but not for a primary alcohol or nonbenzylic secondary alcohols. Under nitrogen, a catalytic amount of Ni or transition metal halides such as CoCl₃, FeCl₃, and NiCl₃ in combination with Na was also found to conduct a dehydrogenation of a secondary alcohol to the corresponding ketone in high yield at room temperature.     

Photo-induced deep aerobic oxidation of alkyl aromatics

Oxidation is a major chemical process to produce oxygenated chemicals in both nature and the chemical industry. Presently, the industrial manufacture of benzoic acids and benzene polycarboxylic acids(BPCAs) is mainly based on the deep oxidation of polyalkyl benzene, which is somewhat suffering from environmental and economical disadvantage due to the formation of ozone-depleting Me Br and corrosion hazards of production equipment. In this report, photo-induced deep aerobic oxidation of(poly)alkyl benzene to benzene(poly)carboxylic acids was developed. CeCl_3 was proved to be an efficient HAT(hydrogen atom transfer) catalyst in the presence of alcohol as both hydrogen and electron shuttle. Dioxygen(O_2) was found as a sole terminal oxidant. In most cases, pure products were easily isolated by simple filtration, implying large-scale implementation advantages.The reaction provides an ideal protocol to produce valuable fine chemicals from naturally abundant petroleum feedstocks.     

Methyltrioxorhenium catalyzed aerobic oxidation of organonitrogen compounds

A variety of tertiary, secondary and primary organonitrogen compounds have been efficiently and selectivity oxidized to their corresponding N-oxides, nitrones, and nitro compounds with molecular oxygen using methyltrioxorhenium as catalyst.     

Oxovanadium complex-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of propargylic alcohols

A catalytic system consisting of vanadium oxyacetylacetonate [VO(acac)(2)] and 3 A molecular sieves (MS3A) in acetonitrile works effectively for the aerobic oxidation of propargylic alcohols [R(1)CH(OH)Ctbd1;CR(2)] to the corresponding carbonyl compounds under an atmospheric pressure of molecular oxygen. Although the reactivity of alpha-acetylenic alkanols (R(1) = alkyl) is lower compared to that of the alcohols of R(1) = aryl, alkenyl, and alkynyl, the use of VO(hfac)(2) as a catalyst and the addition of hexafluoroacetylacetone improve the product yield in these cases. A catalytic cycle involving a vanadium(V) alcoholate species and beta-hydrogen elimination from it has been proposed for this oxidation.     

Zinc-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of benzoins and its extension to enantioselective oxidation

Zn(II)-DABCO complex is used as an efficient catalyst for the aerobic oxidation of benzoins to benzils in the presence of molecular oxygen. Usage of chiral zinc complex as catalyst resulted in enantioselective oxidative kinetic resolution of racemic benzoin to yield enantiomerically enriched benzoins.     

Catalytic action of triarylstibanes: oxidation of benzoins into benzyls using triarylstibanes under an aerobic condition

Benzoins are simply oxidized to benzils in excellent yields with a catalytic amount of triarylstibanes under an aerobic condition. This catalytic oxidation is heteroatom-specific in the antimony compound and no reaction take place with other group 15 reagents such as triphenylphosphane, -arsane and -bismuthane. The reaction should involve an oxidation-reduction cycle between stibane Sb(III) and stiborane Sb(V) under air.     

A comparative study of aerobic oxidation of turpentine

The catalytic activity exhibited in turpentine oxidation at elevated pressure by cobalt coordination compounds, some transition metal compounds, in particular, polyoxometallate with spherical nanoclusters (Mo₁₃₂), vanadium oxide bronze, and cobalt complexes immobilized on AN-241 anion exchanger was studied.     

Highly efficient, organocatalytic aerobic alcohol oxidation

5-Fluoro-2-azaadamantane N-oxyl (5-F-AZADO) realizes a simple, organocatalytic aerobic alcohol oxidation system that has a wide scope under mild conditions at ambient pressure and temperature and is weakly acidic and halogen- and transition-metal-free. The oxoammonium nitrate (5-F-AZADO(+)NO(3)(-)) works as a bifunctional catalyst of 5-F-AZADO and NO(x) that enables the catalytic aerobic oxidation of alcohols by itself (a metal-salt-free system).