Mechanistic Investigations of the Iridium(III)-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Primary and Secondary Alcohols

Abstract

The commercially available catalysts [(Cp*IrCl2)2] is employed with O2 as the terminal oxidant in the presence of catalytic amounts of Et3N for the aerobic oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols. A new mechanism for the Ir-catalyzed aerobic oxidation is also presented that suggests that the transition metal maintains its +3 oxidation state throughout the entire catalytic cycle.