Y. Sh6o, V. Goldman-Le6 / Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 650 (2002) 151–156
153
Table 2
5. Attempts to oxidize ethyl lactate and 2,2,2-trifl-
uoroethanol failed. Electron withdrawing groups
next to the carbinol C atoms must impede the
oxidation reaction.
Experimental data for oxidation reactions of 2-octanol with
Pd(OAc)2 and various allyl systems a
Experiment
Allyl compound Time (h)
Conversion (%)
Finally, N-phenyl hydroxylamine could also be cata-
lytically oxidized with Pd(OAc)2 as catalyst in the pres-
ence of ADP–K2CO3 under the above reaction
conditions. A transient GC peak of nitrosobenzene
could be detected, which under the basic reaction con-
dition was slowly transformed to azoxybenzene. After
24 h at 75°, azoxybenzene was obtained in 32% yield.
It is of interest to study and compare the efficiency of
other allyl systems in the oxidation reaction of alcohols
with Pd(OAc)2 as catalyst. Several such systems were
examined under identical reaction conditions, and the
results are presented in Table 2. It can be seen from
Table 2 that ADP (Experiment 1) gave the best results.
Allyl methyl carbonate (Experiment 4) also exhibits a
good reactivity, while allyl acetate and bromide (Exper-
iments 2 and 3) are by far inferior.
1
2
3
4
ADP
2.0
7
7
97
18
0
Allyl acetate
Allyl bromide
Allyl methyl
carbonate
6
93
a The reactions were carried out under the same conditions de-
scribed in the footnote to Table 1, in DMF–K2CO3.
Table 3
Experimental data for oxidation reactions of 2-octanol with ADP and
various Pd compounds a
Experiment
Pd catalyst
Time (h)
Conversion (%)
1
2
3
4
Pd(OAc)2
Pd(OAc)2–PPh3
Pd–C (10%)
2.0
6
24
6
97
25
75
93
Examination of the catalytic activity of various Pd
compounds in the oxidation of 2-octanol with ADP
gave the following results (Table 3).
Pd2(dba)3·CHCl3
a The reactions were carried out under the same conditions de-
scribed in the footnote to Table 1, in DMF–K2CO3.
From the data of Table 3, it is evident that the
oxidation reaction proceeds with Pd(II) (Experiments 1
and 2) as well as with Pd(0) (Experiments 3 and 4) as
precatalysts. Thus, Pd(II) precatalyst is presumably re-
duced to Pd(0) in the presence of alcohols. Pd(0) is
most probably the initial active catalytic species (vide
infra). PPh3 (Experiment 2) slows down the oxidation
reaction, most probably through much stronger coordi-
nation to the Pd atom, as compared to a weaker solvent
coordination. It is however gratifying that Pd–C, al-
though slow, is reactive. A heterogeneous catalytic re-
action is usually preferred for practical reasons. When
Pd–C was used in the absence of ADP, no reaction
could be detected, thus reflecting on the similarity
between the heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions.
It will be of interest to briefly touch upon the mecha-
nism of the present reaction. First we have addressed
the question whether ADP is capable of forming a
p-allyl Pd complex. For technical reasons it was
difficult to determine its formation under the reaction
factor of 4 was recorded in experiments 3 and 4,
indicating the superiority of K2CO3.
3. Primary aliphatic alcohols, viz 1-octanol, gave octyl
octanoate as a sole product (Experiment 17). It
must have originated via the formation of octanal,
the subsequent formation of dioctyl hemiacetal, fol-
lowed by its fast oxidation to the ester (the transient
octanal was not dehydrogenated due to the fast
formation of dioctyl hemiacetal). However, no ben-
zyl benzoate ester could be detected with the pri-
mary benzyl alcohol (Experiment 7). This is
attributed to the substantial smaller K(Eq) for hemi-
acetal formation of aromatic aldehydes compared to
aliphatic aldehydes [11]. But 4-chlorobenzyl alcohol
(Experiment 10) gave a mixture of both ester and
aldehyde. The intermediate 4-chlorobenzaldehyde
has a more electrophilic carbonyl C atom compared
to benzaldehyde, thus inducing some hemiacetal
formation, and subsequently an ester. 4-Methoxy-
benzyl alcohol (Experiment 9) was selectively oxi-
dized to 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, faster than
4-chlorobenzyl alcohol (Experiment 10), as expected
for an oxidation reaction.
4. The oxidation of cyclohexanol was not selective.
Cyclohexenone, the dehydrogenation product of cy-
clohexanone, was generated as a by-product (Exper-
iment 18). This is in line with our previous finding
that saturated cyclic ketones were dehydrogenated
substantially faster than acyclic ketones [10a], which
were practically inert. In fact this behavior makes
feasible our oxidation reaction of secondary alco-
hols to ketones (acyclic).
1
conditions. The H-NMR spectra of equimolar quanti-
ties of Pd(PPh3)4 and ADP in CDCl3 or in benzene-d6
at room temperature indicated a gradual disappearance
of the allyl system H signals of the ADP. Broad ill-
defined signals appeared at higher magnetic field. We
have therefore resorted to the more stable and rigid
known complex, (bis(phenylimino)acenaphthene)Pd(0).
It was prepared from Pd2(dba)3·CHCl3 and the
(bis(phenylimino)acenaphthene) ligand [12]. The result-
ing Pd(0) complex was then reacted with ADP in
acetone (Eq. (4)), and after work-up, the H-NMR
spectrum was measured (we were unable to crystallize
the product). The chemical shifts (ppm) of the allyl
system H atoms are given below (Eq. (4)).