Ultrasound assisted oxidation of various alcohols to corresponding aldehydes by using KMnO4 and catalytic amount of Al2O3

A convenient approach for oxidation of structurally diverse alcohols has been developed using KMnO4 as an oxidant agent in the presence of a catalytic amount of Al2O3 in aqueous acetonitrile. In this method various alcohols generally afforded the corresponding carbonyl compounds directly in good to high yield under ultrasound irradiation conditions. It shows that this kind of catalysis system is very active, selective and suitable for oxidation of benzylic alcohols. Furthermore, all products were obtained through a simple filtration and washed with solvent, and there was no need for column chromatography. All products have been characterized by IR and 1HNMR spectral data.