A Sustainable Ruthenium(III) Chloride Catalyzed Alcohol Oxidation

Systematic optimization of the ruthenium-catalyzed oxidation of alcohols with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) as the oxidizing agent was carried out. This resulted in the development of a sustainable protocol with a water/tert-butanol mixture as the solvent and an optimum use of the oxidizing agent by continuous addition with a syringe pump. The protocol is applicable for a broad variety of substrates. High yields of ketones and aldehydes are accessible. By slow addition of tert-butyl hydroperoxide, the RuCl3 & sdot; (H2O) catalysed alcohol oxidation derivatives proceeds smoothly with high activity. This strategy prevents the decomposition of the oxidizing agent and provides the corresponding carbonyl derivatives with high yields and selectivity.image