Efficient selective oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds catalyzed by Ru-terpyridine complexes with molecular oxygen

The oxidation of alcohols with molecular oxygen is a promising approach to produce corresponding carbonyl compounds. In this work, efficient aerobic oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds catalyzed by ruthenium-terpyridine [(tpy-PhCH3)RuCl3] with isobutyraldehyde as co-substrate was developed. Various alcohols including primary and secondary alcohols are smoothly converted to corresponding carbonyl compounds in good yield. In a 100 times large-scale oxidation of benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde was obtained with 92% isolated yield. Moreover, a plausible mechanism involving high-valence ruthenium species was proposed based on in situ UV-vis spectroscopy.