Ruthenium-catalysed aerobic oxidation of alcohols via multistep electron transfer

Abstract

Aerobic oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes occurs under mild conditions at 20 °C via a triple catalytic system consisting of RuCl(OAc)(PPh3)3–hydroquinone–Co(salophen)(PPh3)[H2salophen =N,N′-bis(salicylidene)-o-phenylenediamine].