Vanadium-catalyzed green oxidation of benzylic alcohols in water under air atmosphere

The oxidation of alcohols using catalytic amounts of metal complexes is highly attractive from the viewpoint of green chemistry principles. However, examples of metal complex-catalyzed oxidations of alcohols with O2 using water as the solvent are still rare, and precious metals, high-pressure O2 or air, and a stoichiometric amount of base are often required. In this study, it was found that an oxovanadium-4,4′-t-Bubpy (4,4′-di-tert-butyl-2,2′-bipyridyl) complex exhibited high catalytic activity in the oxidation of benzhydrols under an atmosphere of O2 in water as the sole solvent. Interestingly, this catalytic oxidation method could be applied to the gram-scale aerobic oxidation of alcohols in water under the atmosphere.

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