Selective catalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde by a mononuclear oxovanadium(V) complex of a bis(phenolate) ligand containing bulky tert-butyl substituents

A new mononuclear complex of vanadium(V), [V(O)(bp)(OCH3)] (1) has been synthesized, where H(2)bp is N,N'-bis(2-hydroxy-3,5-di-tert-butylbenzyl)-N',N'-dimethylethylene-1,2-diamine. The complex was characterized by elemental analyses, spectroscopic methods and X-ray diffraction measurement. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction structure analysis of the complex revealed that the vanadium atom is octahedrally coordinated and that the bis(phenolate) ligand (bp(2-)) is N2O2-bonded to the vanadium(V) center in a tetradentate dinegative fashion.