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Updated: Jul 29, 2026

The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Ruthenium-catalyzed oxidation of alkanes with tert-butyl hydroperoxide and peracetic acid
1Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3, Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan.
Abstract:
The ruthenium-catalyzed oxidation of alkanes with tert-butyl hydroperoxide and peracetic acid gives the corresponding ketones and alcohols highly efficiently at room temperature. The former catalytic system, RuCl(2)(PPh(3))(3)-t-BuOOH, is preferable to the oxidation of alkylated arenes to give aryl ketones. The latter system, Ru/C-CH(3)CO(3)H, is suitable especially for the synthesis of ketones and alcohols from alkanes. The ruthenium-catalyzed oxidation of cyclohexane with CH(3)CO(3)H in trifluoroacetic acid/CH(2)Cl(2) at room temperature gave cyclohexyl trifluoroacetate and cyclohexanone with 90% conversion and 90% selectivity (85:15). The mechanistic study indicates that these catalytic oxidations of hydrocarbons involve oxo-ruthenium species as key intermediates.
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