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Iron(III) Nitrate/TEMPO-Catalyzed Aerobic Alcohol Oxidation: Distinguishing between Serial versus Integrated Redox
Jordan E Nutting1, Kaining Mao1, Shannon S Stahl1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States.
Abstract:
Aerobic alcohol oxidations catalyzed by transition metal salts and aminoxyls are prominent examples of cooperative catalysis. Cu/aminoxyl catalysts have been studied previously and feature "integrated cooperativity", in which CuII and the aminoxyl participate together to mediate alcohol oxidation. Here we investigate a complementary Fe/aminoxyl catalyst system and provide evidence for "serial cooperativity", involving a redox cascade wherein the alcohol is oxidized by an in situ-generated oxoammonium species, which is directly detected in the catalytic reaction mixture by cyclic step chronoamperometry. The mechanistic difference between the Cu- and Fe-based catalysts arises from the use iron(III) nitrate, which initiates a NO-based redox cycle for oxidation of aminoxyl/hydroxylamine to oxoammonium. The different mechanisms for the Cu- and Fe-based catalyst systems are manifested in different alcohol oxidation chemoselectivity and functional group compatibility.
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