Si. Murahashi et al., Ruthenium-catalyzed oxidation of alkanes with tert-butyl hydroperoxide andperacetic acid, J ORG CHEM, 65(26), 2000, pp. 9186-9193
The ruthenium-catalyzed oxidation of alkanes with tert-butyl hydroperoxide
and peracetic acid gives the corresponding ketones and alcohols highly effi
ciently at room temperature. The former catalytic system, RuCl2(PPh3)(3)-t-
BuOOH, is preferable to the oxidation of alkylated arenes to give aryl keto
nes. The latter system, Ru/C-CH3CO3H, is suitable especially for the synthe
sis of ketones and alcohols from alkanes. The ruthenium-catalyzed oxidation
of cyclohexane with CH3CO3H in trifluoroacetic acid/CH2Cl2 at room tempera
ture gave cyclohexyl trifluoroacetate and cyclohexanone with 90% conversion
and 90% selectivity (85:15). The mechanistic study indicates that these ca
talytic oxidations of hydrocarbons involve oxo-ruthenium species as key int
ermediates.