Mechanism of the Catalytic Oxidation of Tertiary Alcohols by the Water-Soluble Mn-TMPyP/KHSO5 System: β-Fragmentation versusO-Neophyl Rearrangement

Abstract

Oxidation of 4-(1-hydroxy-1-phenylethyl)benzoic acid HPEBA with a water-soluble metalloporphyrin as catalyst and KHSO5 as oxygen atom donor gives the major products, acetophenone AC and acetylbenzoic acid ABA, by a Caliph–CAr bond cleavage, but a minor product, benzoyloxybenzoic acid BOBA, requires the insertion of an oxygen atom to form the ester. This compound becomes the main oxidation product on increasing the amount of acetonitrile in the reaction medium, and its formation is oxygen-dependent. The conversion is drastically lowered by using D2O instead of H2O, suggesting that an alkoxyl radical is formed in the rate-determining step. Labeling experiments using 18O2 or H218O under different reaction conditions show that the carbonyl oxygen atoms of AC and ABA originate either from substrate, water or dioxygen. However, the carbonyl oxygen atom in the ester group of BOBA originates from dioxygen while the other oxygen atom of the ester remains unlabeled. These results can be explained by an O-neophyl rearrangement of the initial alkoxyl radical to afford a carbon-based radical which then reacts with dioxygen or MnIV-OH/water. In a competitive reaction pathway, direct β-scission of the alkoxyl radical leads to unlabeled products. The oxidation of other tertiary diaryl alcohols is also discussed.