Investigation of Catalytic Activity of Bis[2-(p-tolyliminomethyl)phenolato] Copper(II) Complex in the Selective Oxidation of Alcohols with Hydrogen Peroxide

In this article, the catalytic activity of bis[2-(p-tolyliminomethyl)phenolato] copper(II) complex was studied, for the first time, in the oxidation of various primary and secondary alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes or ketones. The effect of different solvent was studied in the oxidation of benzyl alcohol and methanol was chosen as the reaction medium. Also the effect of different oxidants such as H2O2, urea-H2O2 (UHP), NaOCl, tert-BuOOH (TBHP) and NaIO4 was studied in the oxidation of benzyl alcohol and H2O2 was selected as oxygen donor. In this catalytic system, oxidation of benzyl alcohol required 4 mol% of catalyst for completion and with increasing the reaction temperature to 60 °C, the highest oxidation yield was observed. Results showed that this homogeneous catalyst, exhibited good catalytic activity in the selective oxidation of various alcohols with hydrogen peroxide and gave the corresponding aldehyde without further oxidation to carboxylic acids in good to excellent yields (56-95%).