Sustainable Wacker-Type Oxidations

The Wacker reaction is the oxidation of olefins to ketones and typically requires expensive and scarce palladium catalysts in the presence of an additional copper co-catalyst under harsh conditions (acidic media, high pressure of air/dioxygen, elevated temperatures). Such a transformation is relevant for industry, as shown by the synthesis of acetaldehyde from ethylene as well as for fine-chemicals, because of the versatility of a carbonyl group placed at specific positions. In this regard, many contributions have focused on controlling the chemo- and regioselectivity of the olefin oxidation by means of well-defined palladium catalysts under different sets of reaction conditions. However, the development of Wacker-type processes that avoid the use of palladium catalysts has just emerged in the last few years, thereby paving the way for the generation of more sustainable procedures, including milder reaction conditions and green chemistry technologies. In this Minireview, we discuss the development of new catalytic processes that utilize more benign catalysts and sustainable reaction conditions.

Iron-Catalyzed Oxidative C-O and C-N Coupling Reactions Using Air as Sole Oxidant

We describe the oxygenation of tertiary arylamines, and the amination of tertiary arylamines and phenols. The key step of these coupling reactions is an iron-catalyzed oxidative C-O or C-N bond formation which generally provides the corresponding products in high yields and with excellent regioselectivity. The transformations are accomplished using hexadecafluorophthalocyanine-iron(II) (FePcF16 ) as catalyst in the presence of an acid or a base additive and require only ambient air as sole oxidant.

Mechanistic Studies on the Hexadecafluorophthalocyanine-Iron-Catalyzed Wacker-Type Oxidation of Olefins to Ketones*

The hexadecafluorophthalocyanine-iron complex FePcF16 was recently shown to convert olefins into ketones in the presence of stoichiometric amounts of triethylsilane in ethanol at room temperature under an oxygen atmosphere. Herein, we describe an extensive mechanistic investigation for the conversion of 2-vinylnaphthalene into 2-acetylnaphthalene as model reaction. A variety of studies including deuterium- and 18 O2 -labeling experiments, ESI-MS, and 57 Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy were performed to identify the intermediates involved in the catalytic cycle of the oxidation process. Finally, a detailed and well-supported reaction mechanism for the FePcF16 -catalyzed Wacker-type oxidation is proposed.

Iron-Catalyzed Wacker-type Oxidation of Olefins at Room Temperature with 1,3-Diketones or Neocuproine as Ligands*

Herein, we describe a convenient and general method for the oxidation of olefins to ketones using either tris(dibenzoylmethanato)iron(III) [Fe(dbm)₃ ] or a combination of iron(II) chloride and neocuproine (2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline) as catalysts and phenylsilane (PhSiH₃ ) as additive. All reactions proceed efficiently at room temperature using air as sole oxidant. This transformation has been applied to a variety of substrates, is operationally simple, proceeds under mild reaction conditions, and shows a high functional-group tolerance. The ketones are formed smoothly in up to 97 % yield and with 100 % regioselectivity, while the corresponding alcohols were observed as by-products. Labeling experiments showed that an incorporated hydrogen atom originates from the phenylsilane. The oxygen atom of the ketone as well as of the alcohol derives from the ambient atmosphere.

Iron-Catalyzed Oxidative C-C Cross-Coupling Reaction of Tertiary Anilines with Hydroxyarenes by Using Air as Sole Oxidant

A mild procedure for the oxidative C-C cross-coupling of tertiary anilines with phenols is described which provides the products generally in high yields and with excellent selectivity. The reaction is catalyzed by the hexadecafluorinated iron-phthalocyanine complex FePcF16 in the presence of substoichiometric amounts of methanesulfonic acid and ambient air as sole oxidant.