Copper-Mediated Acetylation of Alcohols by 2-Nitropropane in the Presence of Dioxygen

This work describes the preliminary study of the oxygenation reaction of 2-nitropropane and the acetylation of alcohols by 2-nitropropane in the presence of O₂ mediated by metallic copper or Cu(tmeda)(NO₂ )2 (tmeda = N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine). The oxygenolysis was performed in alcoholic solvents (methanol, ethanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol) under dioxygen pressure (1 atm) at 50 °C and was followed by Glc. The results show that the formation of acetone is the main reaction and the corresponding esters are formed only in a maximum of 30% yield.