Kinetics and mechanism of the cerium (IV) oxidation of α-Hydroxycycloalkanecarboxylic acids and cyclic alcohols in acidic perchlorate media

The Ce(IV) oxidation of the five-, six-, and seven-membered ring α-hydroxycycloalkanecarboxylic (C5, C6, and C7) acids to the corresponding cyclic ketones has been studied in acidic perchlorate media. The data may be interpreted in terms of a mechanism which involves fast preequilibrium complexation steps between Ce(IV) and the hydroxy acids, yielding two complexes which differ only by a proton. Complexation is followed by rate-determining decarboxylation to an intermediate (free radical?), which reacts quickly with another Ce(IV) to give products. Of the two proposed complexes, the protonated one is virtually unreactive. The C7 ring acid is oxidized more rapidly than the C6 acid, which, in turn, is oxidized faster than the C5 acid. For comparison, the oxidation of the five-, six-, and seven-membered ring cyclic alcohols to the corresponding cyclic ketones by Ce(IV) in acidic perchlorate was also studied. The order of reactivity is cyclopentanol > cycloheptanol > cyclohexanol. The differences in observed reactivities between the hydroxy acids and the cyclic alcohols are explained in terms of differences in transition state structure. The stepwise hydrolysis constants of Ce(IV) leading to Ce(OH)^3Plus; and Ce(OH)₂²⁺ were determined. In the case of the hydroxy acids, evidence is in favor of Ce(OH)³⁺ as the reactive ceric species in aqueous acidic perchlorate media.