Palladium(II)-mediated oxidation of alcohols using 1,2-dichloroethane as Pd(0) reoxidant

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0040-4039(95)00286-3

The oxidation of primary and secondary, saturated, allylic or benzylic, alcohols is carried out in 1,2-dichloroethane at reflux using catalytic amounts of both PdCl₂ and Adogen 464 in the presence of an excess of sodium carbonate. High selectivities are obtained from saturated and benzylic, secondary alcohols. Primary alcohols afford mixtures of aldehydes and esters. The migration of the double bond of α,β-unsaturated alcohols is a competing reaction. It is clearly shown that 1,2-dichloroethane reoxidizes the Pd(0) species.