Metal-free direct oxidation of α-isophorone to ketoisophorone by I2 under photoirradiation

Molecular iodine was first utilized for direct oxidation of alpha-isophorone (alpha-IP) to ketoisophorone (KIP) with molecule oxygen at room temperature and the effects of amount of iodine, solvents and reaction time were investigated extensively. The optimized result shows that 70.2% conversion of alpha-isophorone and 82.6% selectivity of ketoisophorone are obtained with 15% iodine (molar fraction) in acetonitrile under photoirradiation for 5 h. Moreover, the possible mechanism is proposed.