Oxidative cleavage of 3-phenyllactic acid in presence of molybdenum complexes

► Oxidation products of 3-phenyllactic acid. ► Oxidation of α-hydroxycarboxylic acids. ► Coordination chemistry of molybdenum and α-hydroxycarboxylic acids. ► X-ray structure of {(C6H5)4P}2[(MoO2Cl2)2(C2O4)].