Kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of alcohols

Article abstract of DOI:10.1007/s00706-012-0826-1

This paper describes the kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of several monohydric alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes and ketones by bis(quinuclidine)bromine(I) bromide in the presence of pyridinium trifluoroacetate. All evidence from the thermodynamic parameters, deuterium kinetic isotope effect, and Hammett reaction constants supports a two-step mechanism and suggests that the transfer of hydride ion from the substrate to the oxidant is the rate-determining step.

Full text of DOI:10.1007/s00706-012-0826-1

Monatsh Chem (2013) 144:307–312
DOI 10.1007/s00706-012-0826-1
ORIGINAL PAPER
Kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of alcohols
Abdulhameed Laila
Received: 9 March 2012 / Accepted: 10 July 2012 / Published online: 4 August 2012
Ó Springer-Verlag 2012
Abstract This paper describes the kinetics and mecha-
nism of oxidation of several monohydric alcohols to the
corresponding aldehydes and ketones by bis(quinucli-
dine)bromine(I) bromide in the presence of pyridinium
trifluoroacetate. All evidence from the thermodynamic
parameters, deuterium kinetic isotope effect, and Hammett
reaction constants supports a two-step mechanism and
suggests that the transfer of hydride ion from the substrate
to the oxidant is the rate-determining step.
Bis(quinuclidine)bromine(I) bromide (BQB), a two-
coordinate halogen(I) species containing a central hyper-
valent bromine, has been reported as an efficient oxidizing
reagent for alcohols [13], but the mechanistic pathway has
never been deeply investigated. We therefore aimed to
study the kinetics of the oxidation of primary and sec-
ondary alcohols with the oxidant BQB in the presence of
pyridinium trifluoroacetate.
One approach to elucidate the oxidation mechanism is
through the use of structure–reactivity profiles coupled
with isotope effect measurements. Therefore, the rates of
oxidation of meta- and para-substituted benzyl alcohol
have been determined in order to investigate the electronic
effects of substituents on the reaction. In addition, the
effect of temperature on the rate and primary kinetic iso-
tope effect (PKIE) measurements were undertaken to add
more insight into the reaction mechanism speculated by
Blair and co-workers [13].
Keywords Carbonyl compounds ꢀ Isotope effects ꢀ
Structure–reactivity relationship ꢀ Rate constants
Introduction
The oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes
and ketones is still one of the most important transforma-
tions in organic synthesis [1]. There are numerous methods
available in the literature [2]. Hypervalent iodine reagents
are of increasing interest as oxidants in organic reactions
owing to their mild, selective, and environmentally friendly
oxidizing properties [3]. I O was reported as a mild and
Results and discussion
Stoichiometry and product analysis
2
5
efficient reagent for oxidation of alcohols in water [4]. A
facile approach for oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl
compounds using iron(III) nitrate as a benign reagent was
recommended [5]. N-Halo compounds are known to be
versatile oxidizing agents, e.g., bromoamine-B [6],
N-chlorocarbamate [7], pyridinium fluorochromate (PFC)
The stoichiometry of the overall oxidation of secondary
alcohols to the corresponding ketones using BQB was
confirmed by material balance studies carried out by Blair
et al. using GC technique. Additionally, analyses of the
oxidation of cyclohexanol and 4-tert-butylcyclohexanol
showed that the respective ketones formed in 95.7 and
100 % yield, respectively [13]. Interestingly, the results
obtained from the current work in some ways resemble the
aforementioned data. Thus oxidation of 2-propanol and
benzyl alcohol afforded acetone and benzaldehyde in 96
and 94 % yield, respectively, being determined via their
[8], pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC) [9], N-bromoacetamide
[10], N-bromosuccinimide [11], and N-chlorosuccinimide [12].
A. Laila (&)
Chemistry Department, Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine
e-mail: alaila@birzeit.edu
123

3
08
A. Laila
Table 1 Effect of varying concentration on the rate of reaction of
2
(
NH
-propanol with BQB in the presence of pyridinium trifluoroacetate
C
OH
+
N Br
N
+
?
PyH ) in chloroform at 323 K
?
[PyH ]/
-3
mol dm
[
mol dm
2-Propanol]/
-
[BQB]/
mol dm
k
s
ps
-1
/
3
-3
4
9 10
NH
O
+
2
+
+ Br
NH
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.5
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.004
0.003
0.002
0.001
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
0.10
10.62
8.64
6.62
3.84
2.21
5.31
5.41
5.45
5.38
5.40
5.76
7.07
7.50
9.12
.3
Scheme 1
.25
.18
.10
.25
.25
.25
.25
.25
.25
.25
2
,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) adducts. All the
results are in accordance with the overall reaction in
Scheme 1.
General kinetics description
The pseudo-first-order rate constant kps (Table 1) increases
with the increase in [alcohol] in the range 0.1–
-
3
0.25
.25
0
.5 mol dm , and plot of log [alcohol] against k is linear
ps
0
with slope *1, indicating the first-order dependence in
alcohol]. The rate is first order in BQB concentration
[
-
3
-3
-3
between 1 9 10 and 5 9 10 mol dm , as shown by
the nearly constant kps in each run. The rate increased
?
linearly with an increase in pyridinium ion (PyH ) con-
NH
N Br
N
+
?
centration, indicating the first-order dependence in [PyH ].
?
It is more likely that in the presence of PyH , the oxidant
N
NBr
+
NH
+
may be decomposed (Scheme 2) and the quinuclidinium
?
bromide ion (QBr ) may function as an effective oxidant
species similar to PFC oxidation [8].
Scheme 2
Rate law
Table 2 Temperature dependence of third-order rate constant of
oxidation of some alcohols
The measured pseudo-first-order rate constants (kps)
according to Eq. (1) were converted to third-order rate
-
2
6
-1
2
Alcohol
3
k /mol dm s 9 10
constants (k ) using the derived Eq. (3):
3
303 K 308 K 313 K 318 K 323 K
kps ¼ rate=½BQBꢁ
k3 ¼ rate=½BQBꢁ½Alcoholꢁ½PyH ꢁ
ð1Þ
ð2Þ
ð3Þ
2
-Propanol
Benzyl alcohol
-Ethylbenzyl alcohol
1.176 1.692 2.240 3.334 4.248
0.442 0.676 0.966 1.326 2.000
1.348 1.946 2.904 3.874 5.379
þ
4
þ
k ¼ k =½Alcoholꢁ½PyH ꢁ
3
ps
4-Methoxybenzyl alcohol 6.620 9.056 12.10 15.78 20.41
-Phenylethanol 2.346 3.416 4.70 6.48 8.608
1
Effect of temperature–activation parameters
-
Alcohol] = 0.25 mol dm , [BQB] = 5.0 9 10 mol dm , and
3
-3
-3
[
?
-2
PyH ] = 5.0 9 10 mol dm
-3
[
Table 2 lists the third-order rate constants of some alcohols
at different temperatures. The activation parameters eval-
uated from the linear Eyring plots of ln (k /T) versus 1/T
3
suggests that the reaction is an enthalpy-controlled one, the
analysis of activation parameters reveals the lowest entropy
of activation for the slowest reaction and vice versa indi-
cating that both parameters are important in controlling the
rate of the reaction.
with a correlation coefficient (r) better than 0.997 in the
temperature range 303–323 K are given in Table 3 and
Fig. 1.
The activation enthalpies and entropies are linearly
related and the isokinetic temperature is 258 °C. The
existence of a linear relationship between DH and DS
indicates that a similar mechanism is operating in the
The closest analogy to our reaction is the oxidation of
2-propanol by polypyridyl ruthenium(III) and ruthe-
nium(IV) complexes in the solvents water and acetonitrile.
The reported values for the enthalpy of activation and the
=
=
series. Even though the high isokinetic temperature
1
23

Kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of alcohols
309
Table 3 Activation parameters for the reaction of some alcohols with
?
BQB in the presence of PyH
Table 4 Pseudo-first-order rate constants of oxidation of alcohols at
323 K
=
=
=
-1
4
Alcohol
DH /
kJ mol
-DS /
J K mol
DG /
kJ mol
Alcohol
k
ps/s 9 10
Div/%
Relative rates
-
1
-1
-1
-1
X–C
6 4 2
H CH OH
2
-Propanol
52.2
58.5
54.7
110.3
97.5
86.8
89
X = H
2.50
4.73
3.49
6.72
25.5
1.81
0.922
1.67
0.695
5.31
10.8
-3
2.3
2.0
2.3
2.5
1.9
2.1
3.0
2.6
2.2
2.5
1.7
1.0
1.9
1.4
2.7
10.0
0.7
0.4
0.67
0.9
2.1
4.3
-3
Benzyl alcohol
4
3
4
4
4
3
4
3
-CH
3
3
4
4
1
-Ethylbenzyl
alcohol
100.4
86.1
-CH
-C
2
H
5
-Methoxybenzyl
alcohol
43.9
122.7
107.5
82.3
-CH
-Cl
-Cl
-Br
-Br
3
O
-Phenylethanol
51.1
84.7
-
Alcohol] = 0.25 mol dm , [BQB] = 5.0 9 10 mol dm , and
3
-3
-3
[
?
PyH ] = 5.0 9 10 mol dm
-2
-3
[
2
1
-Propanol
-Phenylethanol
-
7
-
-
-
7.5
-3
[
[
Alcohol] = 0.25 mol dm , [BQB] = 5.0 9 10 mol dm , and
?
PyH ] = 5.0 9 10 mol dm
-2
-3
-
8
8.5
-
9
-
2.9
3.1
9.5
10
10.5
11
11.5
-
2 5
4-C H
-
-
-
-3.3
4
-CH
3
-
-
3.5
3.7
3
-CH
3
4-Cl
H
-
-
12
3
.05E-03 3.10E-03 3.15E-03 3.20E-03 3.25E-03 3.30E-03 3.35E-03
-3.9
4.1
-4.3
4-Br
3-Cl
1
/(T/K)
-
3
-Br
Fig. 1 Eyring plots for oxidation of some alcohols with BQB in the
?
presence of PyH : diamonds 2-propanol, squares benzyl alcohol,
-0.2
-0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
triangles 4-ethylbenzyl alcohol, crosses 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol,
circles 1-phenylethanol
Fig. 2 Hammett plot of log kps versus r for the oxidation of m- and
p-substituted benzyl alcohols at 323 K
?
entropy of activation were varied, depending on the
ruthenium oxidation state and the solvent being used
The plot of kps versus the r and r values of the sub-
stituents under investigation leads to a sensitivity factor in
=
-1
DH = 33 ± 4 to 38 ± 4 kJ mol and -DS = 50 ±
=
?
(
the Hammett equation q = -1.69 (r = 0.933) and q =
-
1
-1
5 to 176 ± 20 J K mol ) [14].
2
-1.27 (r = 0.990) (Figs. 2, 3). This implies that the
reactions are accelerated by electron-donating groups and
decelerated by electron-withdrawing substituents. The rate
decreases in the order
Considerable differences between these values and the
energy parameters obtained from the work presented
=
-1
=
here are apparent (DH = 52.2 kJ mol
-
and DS
110.3 J K mol ). This discrepancy may be attributed
=
-
1
-1
p-OCH [ p-C H [ p-CH [ m-CH [ p-Cl [ p-Br [
3
2
5
3
3
to the extent of a-C–H bond-breaking in the transition state
of each reaction. However, this is not unexpected because
different oxidizing agents and solvents were used in the
indicated reactions.
m-Cl [ m-Br
The reaction with the p-methoxy substituent proceeds by
about 10 times faster than the parent benzyl alcohol and
about 36 times faster than m-bromobenzyl alcohol.
Kinetic isotope effects
Effect of substituent on the aromatic ring
The oxidation of 2-propanol-2-d and 2-propan(ol-d) by
BQB was investigated to ascertain the importance of the
a-C–H and/or O–H bond cleavage in the rate-determining
step. The observed rate constants for oxidation of 2-propanol,
2-propanol-2-d, and 2-propan(ol-d) at concentrations
The rates of oxidation of a series of substituted benzyl
alcohols including electron-releasing and electron-with-
drawing groups were measured. Pseudo-first-order rate
constants (k ) are collated in Table 4.
ps
123

3
10
A. Laila
-
2
alcohols by PCC [16]. The proposed mechanism in this
work has been supported by Hammett reaction constants;
the modest negative q values obtained imply that electron-
releasing substituents facilitate the oxidation and suggest
the removal of hydride ion to be in the rate-limiting step.
-
-
-
-
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
4
3
-CH O
-
3
4
2 5
-C H
-
-
-
-
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
?
The values of reaction constants q and q obtained in
4
-CH
3
H
4-Br
this work, although not highly negative, are in agreement
with the suggested resonance structures of the developed
electron-deficient carbonyl carbon (step (ii) in Scheme 3),
and comparable to those obtained for the oxidation of
benzyl alcohols by chromic acid (q = -1.16) [17] and
nitrous acid (q = -1.07) [18]. The better correlation with
4
-Cl
-
4
-
1
-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
?
Fig. 3 Hammett plot of log kps versus r for the oxidation of
p-substituted benzyl alcohols at 323 K
?
r indicates the development of the positive charge in the
-
.25 mol dm alcohol, 5.0 9 10 mol dm BQB, and
3
-3
-3
0
0
0
transition state on a carbon atom adjacent to the ben-
zene nucleus which can be delocalized into the nucleus
itself.
-
.05 mol dm PyH at 308 K are (k /s ) 2.115 9 10
3
?
-l
-4
,
ps
-
4
.429 9 10 , and 1.28 9 10 , respectively. The indi-
-4
cated rate constant of each compound is the mean of five
kinetic runs with deviation of ± 2 % from the mean. Thus
the value k /k = 4.9 indicates the breakage of the a-C–H
This mechanism has also been supported by the deute-
rium isotope effect. The presence of substantial PKIE
(k /k = 4.9) shows that the reaction involves the cleav-
H D
H
D
bond in the slow rate-determining step. The kOH/kOD value
of 1.6 could represent a large secondary isotope effect or
extremely small primary effect, and the rupture of the O–H
bond in a rate-determining step can be ruled out.
age of the a-C–H bond in the slowest step of the reaction, a
feature which is quite similar to what was observed in the
oxidation of these substrates by PFC [8], chromic acid [17],
and 2,2-bipyridylchromic acid [19]. The small value for
Quite similar isotope effects have been found for the
oxidation of (CH ) CDOH and (CH ) CHOD in water by
kOH/kOD (1.6) excludes the cleavage of the O–H bond in a
rate-determining step.
3
2
3 2
ruthenium(IV) complexes (R /R = 5.2 ± 0.8 and 1.1 ±
H
Intrinsically, this is in complete agreement with the
D
0
.1, respectively), and in a similar way the importance of
work done by Thompson and Meyer in which a two-elec-
IV
the cleavage of the a-C–H bond in the slow rate-deter-
mining step was proposed [14]. Moreover, the isotope
kinetic values for the oxidation of a-methylbenzyl alcohols
by dimethyldioxirane are comparable to our results [15].
tron hydride transfer from the a-carbon atom to Ru =O
and one-electron H-atom oxidation for Ru(III) hydroxy
complexes and once again from the a-carbon group were
suggested in the oxidation of 2-propanol by polypyridyl
ruthenium complexes [14].
Mechanism
In conclusion, all the evidence presented above points to
the fact that the oxidation of monohydric alcohols by BQB
in the presence of pyridinium trifluoroacetate is consistent
with a mechanism involving more than one step and con-
firms that the cleavage of the a-C–H bond of the alcohol is
the slow rate-determining step followed by deprotonation
of the protonated carbonyl compound by pyridine in a fast
step (Scheme 3, step (iii)) in the proposed mechanism.
On the basis of the kinetic data, a probable mechanism for
the oxidation of the alcohols under study by BQB has been
proposed (Scheme 3). It has been suggested that the BQB
ion acts as an effective oxidizing species and the reaction is
presumed to follow a direct hydride shift in a slow rate-
determining step. This is much the same as the oxidation of
Scheme 3
C
OH
+
N
+
HBr
(
i) HO
C
H
+
Br
N
HN
+
Br
(ii)
C
OH
C OH
N
NH
(iii)
C
OH
+
C O +
1
23

Kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of alcohols
Materials and methods
311
3
(55 mmol) in 10 cm chloroform was stirred for 8 h at
40 °C. After addition of DNPH to the cooled solution, the
General methods
hydrazone adduct formed immediately and the reaction
mixture was allowed to stand 12 h to ensure complete
precipitation. We obtained 0.296 g of the hydrazone (94 %
yield of benzaldehyde).
A Bausch and Lomb 2000 spectronic UV spectrophotom-
eter was used for kinetic measurements. Proton NMR
spectra were obtained on a Varian T-60 spectrometer at
6
0 MHz using CDCl as the solvent.
3
Kinetic measurements
Materials
All the kinetic measurements were carried out under pseudo-
first-order conditions keeping an excess of alcohol over BQB.
Taking 2-propanol as the representative alcohol, solutions in
Alcohols of reagent grade were obtained from various
sources. The solid alcohols were purified by recrystalliza-
tion from suitable solvents to constant melting point and
liquid alcohols by distillation either at atmospheric pres-
sure or in vacuo. 2-Propanol-2-d (98 %) and 2-propan(ol-d)
-3
chloroform were made up to contain 0.1–0.5 mol dm of
-3
-3
-propanol, 1.0–5.0 9 10 mol dm of BQB, and 0.01–
2
0
-3
.1 mol dm of pyridinium trifluoroacetate.
Solutions were thermostated separately to the required
(
98 %) were purchased from Cambridge Isotope Labora-
temperature in a water bath and mixed together at zero
time, placed in the spectrophotometer using 1-cm-path-
length silica cells, and the reaction was followed by
recording the decrease in the oxidant BQB absorbance at
tories and Aldrich Chemical Company, respectively.
Chloroform was washed with water, dried (CaCl2),
refluxed with CaSO , then distilled and stored in the dark.
4
BQB was prepared by the literature method from quinu-
clidine [13]. The crude product was crystallized from
CH Cl to give 97 % yield of nonhygroscopic, homoge-
4
00 nm, where alcohols and products have negligible
absorbance. The temperature was maintained constant at
0.01 °C by means of a Julabo FLO water thermostat,
2
2
±
1
neous material identified by its H NMR spectrum.
the water being circulated through the cell holder. The
reactions were followed for about three half-lives in the
case of slow reactions and for more than four half-lives
for the faster ones. The kinetic runs were performed
at least in duplicates and indicate a reproducibility of
Product analysis
The product analysis was carried out under kinetic condi-
tions, i.e., with excess substrate over the oxidant. The
products of oxidation were the corresponding aldehydes
and ketones and were identified by their DNPH derivatives.
Typical experiments were represented by the oxidation of
2–3 %. Pesudo-first-order rate constant, activation
parameters, and Hammett reaction constants were deter-
mined using a least-squares procedure, and standard
deviation was in the range 1–3 %.
2
-propanol and benzyl alcohol as follows.
Acknowledgments The author thanks Mr. Mohanad Al-Darawshah
and Mr. Ibrahim Shalash at the Chemistry Department, Birzeit Uni-
versity, for their help with the drawings.
Oxidation of 2-propanol
Bis(quinuclidine)bromine(I) bromide (0.381 g, 1.0 mmol),
1
.925 g pyridinium trifluoroacetate (10 mmol), and 3 g
3
isopropyl alcohol (50 mmol) were dissolved in 10 cm
chloroform. The reaction mixture was stirred for 6 h at
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