Aerobic oxidation catalysis with stable radicals

Stable organic radical polymers: synthesis and applications

We present an overview of the synthetic strategies and methodologies for stable organic radical polymers, and summarise their applications in diverse areas.

Fabrication of hierarchical composite microspheres of copper-doped Fe3O4@P4VP@ZIF-8 and their application in aerobic oxidation

Copper-doped Fe₃O₄@P4VP@ZIF-8 composite microspheres were fabricated for application in the highly efficient aerobic oxidation of alcohols and epoxidation of olefins.

Bioinspired aerobic oxidation of alcohols with a bifunctional ligand based on bipyridine and TEMPO

A new bifunctional ligand bearing bipyridine and TEMPO in combination with copper for the oxidation of alcohols was developed.

Water oxidation using earth-abundant transition metal catalysts: opportunities and challenges

Catalysts for the oxidation of water are a vital component of solar energy to fuel conversion technologies. This Perspective summarizes recent advances in the field of designing homogeneous water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) based on Mn, Fe, Co and Cu.

Iron-based metal–organic framework, Fe(BTC): an effective dual-functional catalyst for oxidative cyclization of bisnaphthols and tandem synthesis of quinazolin-4(3H)-ones

Fe(BTC) catalyzed synthesis of spirodienones and quinazolin-4(3H)-ones.

Liquid phase oxidation chemistry in continuous-flow microreactors

This review gives an exhaustive overview of the engineering principles, safety aspects and chemistry associated with liquid phase oxidation in continuous-flow microreactors.

Solvent-dependent copper-catalyzed synthesis of pyrazoles under aerobic conditions

We have developed a copper-catalyzed oxidative cyclization of hydrazones under aerobic conditions, enabling solvent-dependent selective synthesis of different pyrazoles.

Design of recyclable TEMPO derivatives bearing an ionic liquid moiety and N,N-bidentate group for highly efficient Cu(i)-catalyzed conversion of alcohols into aldehydes and imines

Recyclable TEMPO derivatives carrying an ionic liquid moiety and N,N-bidentate group are designed for Cu(i)-catalyzed alcohol to aldehyde and imine conversion.

Synergistic catalysis within TEMPO-functionalized periodic mesoporous organosilica with bridge imidazolium groups in the aerobic oxidation of alcohols

Anchoring TEMPO within the nanospaces of a PMO with bridged imidazolium groups led to an powerful bifunctional catalyst (TEMPO@PMO-IL-Br), which showed enhanced activity in the metal-free aerobic oxidation of alcohols.

Mechanism of Copper/Azodicarboxylate-Catalyzed Aerobic Alcohol Oxidation: Evidence for Uncooperative Catalysis

Cooperative catalysis between Cu(II) and redox-active organic cocatalysts is a key feature of important chemical and enzymatic aerobic oxidation reactions, such as alcohol oxidation mediated by Cu/TEMPO and galactose oxidase. Nearly 20 years ago, Markó and co-workers reported that azodicarboxylates, such as di-tert-butyl azodicarboxylate (DBAD), are effective redox-active cocatalysts in Cu-catalyzed aerobic alcohol oxidation reactions [Markó, I. E., et al. Science 1996, 274, 2044], but the nature of the cooperativity between Cu and azodicarboxylates is not well understood. Here, we report a mechanistic study of Cu/DBAD-catalyzed aerobic alcohol oxidation. In situ infrared spectroscopic studies reveal a burst of product formation prior to steady-state catalysis, and gas-uptake measurements show that no O2 is consumed during the burst. Kinetic studies reveal that the anaerobic burst and steady-state turnover have different rate laws. The steady-state rate does not depend on [O2] or [DBAD]. These results, together with other EPR and in situ IR spectroscopic and kinetic isotope effect studies, reveal that the steady-state mechanism consists of two interdependent catalytic cycles that operate in sequence: a fast Cu(II)/DBAD pathway, in which DBAD serves as the oxidant, and a slow Cu(II)-only pathway, in which Cu(II) is the oxidant. This study provides significant insight into the redox cooperativity, or lack thereof, between Cu and redox-active organic cocatalysts in aerobic oxidation reactions.

Quinone-Catalyzed Selective Oxidation of Organic Molecules

Quinones are common stoichiometric reagents in organic chemistry. Para-quinones with high reduction potentials, such as DDQ and chloranil, are widely used and typically promote hydride abstraction. In recent years, many catalytic applications of these methods have been achieved by using transition metals, electrochemistry, or O2 to regenerate the oxidized quinone in situ. Complementary studies have led to the development of a different class of quinones that resemble the ortho-quinone cofactors in copper amine oxidases and mediate the efficient and selective aerobic and/or electrochemical dehydrogenation of amines. The latter reactions typically proceed by electrophilic transamination and/or addition-elimination reaction mechanisms, rather than hydride abstraction pathways. The collective observations show that the quinone structure has a significant influence on the reaction mechanism and has important implications for the development of new quinone reagents and quinone-catalyzed transformations.

Electrocatalytic Alcohol Oxidation with TEMPO and Bicyclic Nitroxyl Derivatives: Driving Force Trumps Steric Effects

Bicyclic nitroxyl derivatives, such as 2-azaadamantane N-oxyl (AZADO) and 9-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane N-oxyl (ABNO), have emerged as highly effective alternatives to TEMPO-based catalysts for selective oxidation reactions (TEMPO = 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidine N-oxyl). Their efficacy is widely attributed to their smaller steric profile; however, electrocatalysis studies described herein show that the catalytic activity of nitroxyls is more strongly affected by the nitroxyl/oxoammonium redox potential than by steric effects. The inexpensive, high-potential TEMPO derivative, 4-acetamido-TEMPO (ACT), exhibits higher electrocatalytic activity than AZADO and ABNO for the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols. Mechanistic studies provide insights into the origin of these unexpected reactivity trends. The superior activity of ACT is especially noteworthy at high pH, where bicyclic nitroxyls are inhibited by formation of an oxoammonium hydroxide adduct.

High-Potential Electrocatalytic O2 Reduction with Nitroxyl/NO x Mediators: Implications for Fuel Cells and Aerobic Oxidation Catalysis

Efficient reduction of O2 to water is a central challenge in energy conversion and many aerobic oxidation reactions. Here, we show that the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) can be achieved at high potentials by using soluble organic nitroxyl and nitrogen oxide (NO x ) mediators. When used alone, neither organic nitroxyls, such as 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyl-N-oxyl (TEMPO), nor NO x species, such as sodium nitrite, are effective ORR mediators. The combination of nitroxyl/NO x species, however, mediates sustained O2 reduction with overpotentials as low as 300 mV in acetonitrile containing trifluoroacetic acid. Mechanistic analysis of the coupled redox reactions supports a process in which the nitrogen oxide catalyst drives aerobic oxidation of a nitroxyl mediator to an oxoammonium species, which then is reduced back to the nitroxyl at the cathode. The electrolysis potential is dictated by the oxoammonium/nitroxyl reduction potential. The overpotentials accessible with this ORR system are significantly lower than widely studied molecular metal-macrocycle ORR catalysts and benefit from the mechanism-based specificity for four-electron reduction of oxygen to water mediated by NO x species, together with kinetically efficient reduction of oxidized NO x species by TEMPO and other organic nitroxyls.

Copper-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidations of Organic Molecules: Pathways for Two-Electron Oxidation with a Four-Electron Oxidant and a One-Electron Redox-Active Catalyst

Selective oxidation reactions have extraordinary value in organic chemistry, ranging from the conversion of petrochemical feedstocks into industrial chemicals and polymer precursors to the introduction of heteroatom functional groups into pharmaceutical and agrochemical intermediates. Molecular oxygen (O2) would be the ideal oxidant for these transformations. Whereas many commodity-scale oxidations of simple hydrocarbon feedstocks employ O2 as an oxidant, methods for selective oxidation of more complex molecules bearing diverse functional groups are often incompatible with existing aerobic oxidation methods. The latter limitation provides the basis for our interest in the development of new catalytic transformations and the elucidation of mechanistic principles that underlie selective aerobic oxidation reactions. One challenge inherent in such methods is the incommensurate redox stoichiometry associated with the use of O2, a four-electron oxidant, in reactions that achieve two-electron oxidation of organic molecules. This issue is further complicated by the use of first-row transition-metal catalysts, which tend to undergo facile one-electron redox steps. In recent years, we have been investigating Cu-catalyzed aerobic oxidation reactions wherein the complexities just noted are clearly evident. This Account surveys our work in this area, which has emphasized three general classes of reactions: (1) single-electron-transfer reactions for oxidative functionalization of electron-rich substrates, such as arenes and heterocycles; (2) oxidative carbon-heteroatom bond-forming reactions, including C-H oxidations, that proceed via organocopper(III) intermediates; and (3) methods for aerobic oxidation of alcohols and amines that use Cu(II) in combination with an organic redox-active cocatalyst to dehydrogenate the carbon-heteroatom bond. These reaction classes demonstrate three different pathways to achieve two-electron oxidation of organic molecules via the cooperative involvement of two one-electron oxidants, either two Cu(II) species or Cu(II) and a nitroxyl cocatalyst. They show the ability of Cu to participate in traditional organometallic steps commonly associated with precious-metal catalysts, such as C-H activation and reductive elimination, but also demonstrate the accessibility of reaction steps not typically associated with precious-metal catalysts, such as single-electron transfer. Many of the Cu-catalyzed reactions offer advantages over analogous two-electron oxidation reactions mediated by palladium or other noble metals. For example, carbon-heteroatom oxidative coupling reactions in the first two reaction classes noted above are capable of using O2 as the terminal oxidant, while analogous reactions with Pd commonly require less desirable oxidants, such as hypervalent iodine or electrophilic halogen sources. In addition, the alcohol and amine oxidations in the third reaction class are significantly more efficient and show much broader scope and functional group tolerance than related Pd-catalyzed reactions. The mechanistic basis for these differences are described herein.

Synthesis, characterization and structure of nickel and copper compounds containing ligands derived from keto-enehydrazines and their catalytic application for aerobic oxidation of alcohols

Ligand precursors HL(R,Ph) (R = Me, Ph) were synthesised by condensation of acetylacetone and the corresponding N,N-substituted hydrazines and were characterised spectroscopically and structurally. Both in the solid state and in solution they behave as (Z)-keto-enehydrazines and this was confirmed by DFT calculations which showed that this form was the most stable of their possible tautomers. The reaction of HL(R,Ph) compounds with copper acetate and nickel acetate in EtOH afforded the corresponding complexes [M(L(R,Ph))2] (M = Cu, Ni; R = Me, Ph). The methyl-substituted derivatives were structurally characterised by X-ray methods. A four-coordinate environment around the metal centre, where the two L(Me,Ph) ligands act as bidentate N,O-chelators and lie in a pseudo-trans conformation, was found for both compounds. The dihedral angle between the two six-membered metallacycles M(L(Me,Ph)) was 0° for nickel, a typical square planar coordination, meanwhile it was 23° for copper, a square planar slightly distorted to pseudotetrahedral coordination. Copper complexes [Cu(L(R,Ph))2] were tested as catalysts, in combination with TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl radical), for the aerobic oxidation of 4-nitrobenzyl alcohol as the model reaction. An almost complete conversion to the corresponding aldehyde was observed after 1 h at 60 °C and 1 bar of dioxygen, in toluene as the solvent. Importantly, air at atmospheric pressure was also observed to be appropriate for the oxidation, although longer reaction times were required. After the optimization of the reaction conditions, the study was extended to other alcohol substrates and good catalytic activity was found for benzylic-type alcohols, while low yield was found for 1-octanol.

Chemoselective Oxidation of Benzyl, Amino, and Propargyl Alcohols to Aldehydes and Ketones under Mild Reaction Conditions

Catalytic oxidation reactions often suffer from drawbacks such as low yields and poor selectivity. Particularly, selective oxidation of alcohols becomes more difficult when a compound contains more than one oxidizable functional group. In order to deliver a methodology that addresses these issues, herein we report an efficient, aerobic, chemoselective and simplified approach to oxidize a broad range of benzyl and propargyl alcohols containing diverse functional groups to their corresponding aldehydes and ketones in excellent yields under mild reaction conditions. Optimal yields were obtained at room temperature using 1 mmol substrate, 10 mol % copper(I) iodide, 10 mol % 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP), and 1 mol % 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl (TEMPO) in acetonitrile, under an oxygen balloon. The catalytic system can be applied even when sensitive and oxidizable groups such as alkynes, amines, and phenols are present; starting materials and products containing such groups were found to be stable under the developed conditions.

Efficient and selective Cu/nitroxyl-catalyzed methods for aerobic oxidative lactonization of diols

Cu/nitroxyl catalysts have been identified that promote highly efficient and selective aerobic oxidative lactonization of diols under mild reaction conditions using ambient air as the oxidant. The chemo- and regioselectivity of the reaction may be tuned by changing the identity of the nitroxyl cocatalyst. A Cu/ABNO catalyst system (ABNO = 9-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-N-oxyl) shows excellent reactivity with symmetrical diols and hindered unsymmetrical diols, whereas a Cu/TEMPO catalyst system (TEMPO = 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyl-N-oxyl) displays excellent chemo- and regioselectivity for the oxidation of less hindered unsymmetrical diols. These catalyst systems are compatible with all classes of alcohols (benzylic, allylic, aliphatic), mediate efficient lactonization of 1,4-, 1,5-, and some 1,6-diols, and tolerate diverse functional groups, including alkenes, heterocycles, and other heteroatom-containing groups.

C-H hydroxylation of phosphonates with oxygen in [bmIm]OH To produce quaternary α-hydroxy phosphonates

A highly efficient and mild [bmIm]OH-catalyzed α-hydroxylation of phosphonates using O2 as the oxygen source is described. The employment of ionic liquid under mild reaction conditions makes this transformation green and practical. Especially, this reaction provided a novel and convenient methodology for the construction of quaternary α-hydroxy phosphonates.

A novel iron(iii)-based heterogeneous catalyst for aqueous oxidation of alcohols using molecular oxygen

The first example of an iron(iii)-based heterogeneous catalyst for alcohol oxidation reactions in water employing molecular oxygen has been reported. Interestingly, the immobilized catalyst shows superior activity over its homogeneous counterpart.

Oxidative cleavage of allyl ethers by an oxoammonium salt

A method to oxidatively cleave allyl ethers to their corresponding aldehydes mediated by an oxoammonium salt is described. Using a biphasic solvent system and mild heating, cleavage proceeds readily, furnishing a variety of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones.

Copper-catalyzed aerobic synthesis of bisaryl ketones from alkynes via the cleavage of C–C triple bonds

A novel copper-catalyzed aerobic synthesis of bisaryl ketones from 1,2-diarylalkynes via the cleavage of C–C triple bonds is reported.

MnII and CuII complexes with arylhydrazones of active methylene compounds as effective heterogeneous catalysts for solvent- and additive-free microwave-assisted peroxidative oxidation of alcohols

Highly water-soluble Mn^II and Cu^II complexes are heterogeneous catalysts for solvent- and additive-free microwave-assisted peroxidative oxidation of less polar bulky substituted or long chain alcohols.

A highly efficient palladium(ii)/polyoxometalate catalyst system for aerobic oxidation of alcohols

A simple catalyst system composed of Pd(OAc)₂, phosphomolybdic acid and tetrabutylammonium acetate oxidises a range of alcohols efficiently, with turnover numbers (TONs) of up to 10 000.

The catalytic aerobic synthesis of quaternary α-hydroxy phosphonates via direct hydroxylation of phosphonate compounds

A highly efficient Cu-catalyzed direct hydroxylation of phosphonate compounds has been developed. This transformation provides a powerful method for the synthesis of quaternary α-hydroxy phosphonates in good yields.