FeCl(2)py(4)(+) catalyzed transformation of aromatic amines by HOOH under mild conditions

FeCl(2)py(4)(+) is capable of activating HOOH for the selective and efficie nt (yields range roughly from 50 to 80%) transformation of anilines at room temperature using pyridine as the solvent. Initially, aniline yields mainl y nitrosobenzene that in turn reacts with more aniline to form the correspo nding azo and azoxybenzene derivatives. Replacing HOOH by t-BuOOH in the sy stem, changes the product distribution dramatically forming only nitrobenze ne. Under the same conditions FeCl(2)py(4)(+) efficiently catalyzes the mon o-demethylation of N,N'-dimethylaniline by HOOH. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.