TEMPO-catalyzed oxidation of benzylic alcohols to aldehydes with the H2O2/HBr/ionic liquid [bmim]PF6 system

Organic Synthesis Using Nitroxides

Nitroxides, also known as nitroxyl radicals, are long-lived or stable radicals with the general structure R1R2N-O•. The spin distribution over the nitroxide N and O atoms contributes to the thermodynamic stability of these radicals. The presence of bulky N-substituents R1 and R2 prevents nitroxide radical dimerization, ensuring their kinetic stability. Despite their reactivity toward various transient C radicals, some nitroxides can be easily stored under air at room temperature. Furthermore, nitroxides can be oxidized to oxoammonium salts (R1R2N═O+) or reduced to anions (R1R2N-O-), enabling them to act as valuable oxidants or reductants depending on their oxidation state. Therefore, they exhibit interesting reactivity across all three oxidation states. Due to these fascinating properties, nitroxides find extensive applications in diverse fields such as biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, materials science, and organic synthesis. This review focuses on the versatile applications of nitroxides in organic synthesis. For their use in other important fields, we will refer to several review articles. The introductory part provides a brief overview of the history of nitroxide chemistry. Subsequently, the key methods for preparing nitroxides are discussed, followed by an examination of their structural diversity and physical properties. The main portion of this review is dedicated to oxidation reactions, wherein parent nitroxides or their corresponding oxoammonium salts serve as active species. It will be demonstrated that various functional groups (such as alcohols, amines, enolates, and alkanes among others) can be efficiently oxidized. These oxidations can be carried out using nitroxides as catalysts in combination with various stoichiometric terminal oxidants. By reducing nitroxides to their corresponding anions, they become effective reducing reagents with intriguing applications in organic synthesis. Nitroxides possess the ability to selectively react with transient radicals, making them useful for terminating radical cascade reactions by forming alkoxyamines. Depending on their structure, alkoxyamines exhibit weak C-O bonds, allowing for the thermal generation of C radicals through reversible C-O bond cleavage. Such thermally generated C radicals can participate in various radical transformations, as discussed toward the end of this review. Furthermore, the application of this strategy in natural product synthesis will be presented.

Excellent Eco-friendly Selective Alcohols Oxidation by an Acid Functionalized Imidazolium Based Ionic Liquid

Aims:

A green route for the oxidation of alcohols to corresponding carbonyl compounds in room temperature ionic liquid ([CEMIM]BH4) was developed by using hydrogen peroxide as the oxygen source. In aqueous solution at room temperature, 0.2 mol% of ([CEMIM]BH4) showed excellent catalytic properties for selective oxidation of aromatic and aliphatic alcohols

Background:

One of the vital reactions in organic synthesis is the oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds. In particular, the conversion of primary alcohols to aldehydes has received a variety of applications as they are used as intermediates in fine chemicals mostly for the perfume industry.

Objective:

In the present work, we have reported an effective green route for the selective oxidation of alcohols to the carbonyl compounds using peroxide in an ionic liquid 1-carboxyethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetrahydroborate ([CEMIM]BH4)

Methods::

A mixture of alcohol (2 mmol), ([CEMIM]BH4) (0.2 mol%), H2O2 (2 mmol) were stirred thoroughly with the help of a magnetic stirrer for 10 min at ambient temperature

Results:

The catalytic activity of ([CEMIM]BH4) is very effective, which reflects its good solvating nature during the oxidation.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the series of experiments described represents a useful method for the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols to carbonyl compounds at room temperature. The catalyst can be easily prepared and is therefore extremely cost-effective. The rapid reaction times for the substrates mean a large number of materials may be screened in parallel over a short period of time.

Biomimetic Cu/Nitroxyl Catalyst Systems for Selective Alcohol Oxidation

The oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl products is an important organic transformation and the products are used in a variety of applications. The development of catalytic methods for selective alcohol oxidation have garnered significant attention in an attempt to find a more sustainable method without any limitations. Copper, in combination with 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidine N-oxyl (TEMPO) and supported by organic ligands, have emerged as the most effective catalysts for selective alcohol oxidation and these catalyst systems are frequently compared to galactose oxidase (GOase). The efficiency of GOase has led to extensive research to mimic the active sites of these enzymes, leading to a variety of Cu/TEMPO· catalyst systems being reported over the years. The mechanistic pathway by which Cu/TEMPO· catalyst systems operate has been investigated by several research groups, which led to partially contradicting mechanistic description. Due to the disadvantages and limitations of employing TEMPO· as co-catalyst, alternative nitroxyl radicals or in situ formed radicals, as co-catalysts, have been successfully evaluated in alcohol oxidation. Herein we discuss the development and mechanistic elucidation of Cu/TEMPO· catalyst systems as biomimetic alcohol oxidation catalysts.

Green chemical engineering in China

In China, the rapid development greatly promotes the national economic power and living standard but also inevitably brings a series of environmental problems. In order to resolve these problems fundamentally, Chinese scientists have been undertaking research in the area of green chemical engineering (GCE) for many years and achieved great progresses. In this paper, we reviewed the research progresses related to GCE in China and screened four typical topics related to the Chinese resources characteristics and environmental requirements, i.e. ionic liquids and their applications, biomass utilization and bio-based materials/products, green solvent-mediated extraction technologies, and cold plasmas for coal conversion. Afterwards, the perspectives and development tendencies of GCE were proposed, and the challenges which will be faced while developing available industrial technologies in China were mentioned.

Electrochemical Performance of ABNO for Oxidation of Secondary Alcohols in Acetonitrile Solution

The ketones was successfully prepared from secondary alcohols using 9-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane-N-oxyl (ABNO) as the catalyst and 2,6-lutidine as the base in acetonitrile solution. The electrochemical activity of ABNO for oxidation of 1-phenylethanol was investigated by cyclic voltammetry, in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and constant current electrolysis experiments. The resulting cyclic voltammetry indicated that ABNO exhibited much higher electrochemical activity when compared with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) under the similar conditions. A reasonable reaction mechanism of the electrocatalytic oxidation of 1-phenylethanol to acetophenone was proposed. In addition, a series of secondary alcohols could be converted to the corresponding ketones at room temperature in 80⁻95% isolated yields.

A comparison of the oxidation of lignin model compounds in conventional and ionic liquid solvents and application to the oxidation of lignin

The oxidation of lignin model compounds in ionic liquid solvents was investigated as a prelude to the oxidation of lignin in these solvents where the polymer is appreciably soluble.

Nitroxides: applications in synthesis and in polymer chemistry

This Review describes the application of nitroxides to synthesis and polymer chemistry. The synthesis and physical properties of nitroxides are discussed first. The largest section focuses on their application as stoichiometric and catalytic oxidants in organic synthesis. The oxidation of alcohols and carbanions, as well as oxidative C-C bond-forming reactions are presented along with other typical oxidative transformations. A section is also dedicated to the extensive use of nitroxides as trapping reagents for C-centered radicals in radical chemistry. Alkoxyamines derived from nitroxides are shown to be highly useful precursors of C-centered radicals in synthesis and also in polymer chemistry. The last section discusses the basics of nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization (NMP) and also highlights new developments in the synthesis of complex polymer architectures.