Catalysis of cobalt-Schiff base complexes in oxygenation of alkenes: On the mechanism of ketonization

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0304-5102(88)85009-0

A study showing a unique mechanism for a cobalt-Schiff base complex-catalyzed monooxygenation of alkenes is reported. Four-coordinate cobalt(II)-Schiff base chelate complexes catalyze efficiently, in primary or secondary alcohols under atmospheric oxygen pressure at 60°C, the oxygenation of alkenes substituted with an aromatic or an electron-withdrawing group, which results in ketonization without carbon-carbon bond cleavage. Kinetic studies on the oxyenation of styrene in benzyl alcohol show that the reaction proceeds as a co-oxidation of these substances with a 1:1 stoichiometry.