New insights into the reaction of zinc alkyls with dioxygen

Studies on the reaction of zinc alkyls with O2 are reported which demonstrate that the selective oxygenation of organozinc compound is viable. The reaction of EtZn(azol)]n (azol = deprotonated 1-aziridineethanol) with an excess of dry O2 in toluene affords the zinc ethylperoxide EtOOZn(azol)]2EtZn(azol)]2, while the analogous reaction between Me2Zn and O2 results in the isolation of the Me6Zn7(OMe)8 cluster in high yield.