Bio-inspired lanthanum-ortho-quinone catalysis for aerobic alcohol oxidation: semi-quinone anionic radical as redox ligand

A decade ago the first rare-earth-metal dependent enzyme was discovered, in which a non-redox lanthanide ion is central in the active site of a methanol dehydrogenase. Inspired by this discovery, here the authors show that an open-shell semi-quinone anionic radical species, complexed with lanthanum, could serve as a very efficient aerobic oxidation catalyst under ambient conditions. Oxidation reactions are fundamental transformations in organic synthesis and chemical industry. With oxygen or air as terminal oxidant, aerobic oxidation catalysis provides the most sustainable and economic oxidation processes. Most aerobic oxidation catalysis employs redox metal as its active center. While nature provides non-redox metal strategy as in pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ)-dependent methanol dehydrogenases (MDH), such an effective chemical version is unknown. Inspired by the recently discovered rare earth metal-dependent enzyme Ln-MDH, here we show that an open-shell semi-quinone anionic radical species in complexing with lanthanum could serve as a very efficient aerobic oxidation catalyst under ambient conditions. In this catalyst, the lanthanum(III) ion serves only as a Lewis acid promoter and the redox process occurs exclusively on the semiquinone ligand. The catalysis is initiated by 1e(-)-reduction of lanthanum-activated ortho-quinone to a semiquinone-lanthanum complex La(SQ(-.))(2), which undergoes a coupled O-H/C-H (PCHT: proton coupled hydride transfer) dehydrogenation for aerobic oxidation of alcohols with up to 330 h(-1) TOF.

Automated summary

In this study, the authors demonstrate that an open-shell semi-quinone anionic radical species, complexed with lanthanum, can act as a highly efficient aerobic oxidation catalyst under ambient conditions. This research is of great importance for organic synthesis and the chemical industry as it provides a sustainable and economic oxidation process.