Autoxidation Reaction Mechanism for l-Ascorbic Acid in Methanol without Metal Ion Catalysis

The autoxidation reaction of l-ascorbic acid (ASA) in methanol without metal ion catalysis was studied. Besides l-threonolactone (THL) and oxalic acid (OXA), methyl l-threonate, and threonic acid were identified as initial autoxidation products of ASA, which were the C(2)-C(3) fission product via the C(2) oxygen adduct of ASA. This pathway is different from the one via dehydro-l-ASA (DASA), which has long been believed to be the only oxidation pathway of ASA. It was confirmed that this reaction also occurred in both water and other polar solvents, including methanol. It was clarified that mono-dissociated ASA was more reactive than the non-dissociated ASA in this pathway, and that the main reaction products formed from these two forms of ASA were also somewhat different. Determination of the amount of remaining ASA and the yields of THL and OXA, C(2)-C(3) fission products, and of DASA were carried out doing the autoxidation of ASA under various reaction conditions.