Iron/ABNO-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Alcohols to Aldehydes and Ketones under Ambient Atmosphere

Abstract

We report a new Fe(NO3)3·9H2O/9-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-N-oxyl catalyst system that enables efficient aerobic oxidation of a broad range of primary and secondary alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes and ketones at room temperature with ambient air as the oxidant. The catalyst system exhibits excellent activity and selectivity for primary aliphatic alcohol oxidation. This procedure can also be scaled up. Kinetic analysis demonstrates that C-H bond cleavage is the rate-determining step and that cationic species are involved in the reaction.