Na-promoted aerobic oxidation of alcohols to ketones

Aerobic oxidation of a number of diaryl and arylalkyl carbinols to ketones was promoted by Na in THF at room temperature with up to 99% yield. This new oxidation method is also selective with good efficiency for the oxidation of benzylic secondary alcohols but not for a primary alcohol or nonbenzylic secondary alcohols. Under nitrogen, a catalytic amount of Ni or transition metal halides such as CoCl3, FeCl3, and NiCl3 in combination with Na was also found to conduct a dehydrogenation of a secondary alcohol to the corresponding ketone in high yield at room temperature.