Organic Solvent- and Halide-Free Oxidation with Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

A number of environmentally benign oxidation reactions with aqueous hydrogen peroxide were carried out, including chemoselective oxidation of allylic alcohols to corresponding α, β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds by using platinum black catalyst, 1, 2-dihydroxylation of olefins in the presence of catalytic amount of resin-supported sulfonic acid, and the oxidation of cycloalkanone with tungstic acid catalyst. These reactions were carried out under organic solvent- and halide-free conditions, and they successfully gave the desired products in high yield. Platinum black and resin-supported sulfonic acid catalysts could be easily recovered and reused several times without significant loss of activity. Immobilization of quaternary ammonium and phosphonium salts, and crown etherr on the magnetic nanoparticles (MNP), and their catalytic activities in the phase-transfer reaction were also investigated. The MNP-supported catalysts showed activity comparable to those of non-supported ones. Further, they could be easily recovered by using an external magnet, and reused several times without loss of activity.