Oxidation of anethole with hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by oxovanadium aromatic carboxylate complexes

Selective oxidation of anethole with hydrogen peroxide to anisaldehyde has been developed using a novel efficient catalytic process by oxovanadium complexes bearing aromatic carboxylate ligands such as phthalate, salicylate and benzoate. Under mild reaction conditions (4 h at 303 K), oxovanadium(IV) phthalate complex (OPC)(IV) provided the best results with 100% conversion of anethole and 73.5% selectivity for anisaldehyde at low catalyst loading (∼0.5 mol%). Inspiringly, H2O2 can be stoichiometrically used (H2O2:anethole = 2:1) for the complete conversion.