Oxidation of Alcohols using a novel Molybdenum catalyst

Markstein 205

Oxidation reactions on alcohols are classically carried out using environmentally unsafe, unstable, or costly reagents. This project explores alcohol oxidation using catalysts with a molybdenum metal center. Molybdenum is a cost-effective alternative to previously used oxidizers, and among metal oxidizers it is relatively cheap. The long term goal of this project is to develop catalysts that can be used in the breakdown of biomass such as lignin, a component of cell walls, into chemistry starting materials called platform chemicals. A novel diamine-bridged, bisphenolic dioxomolybdenum (VI) catalyst was found to oxidize 1-phenylethanol with 100% conversion to acetophenone when using dimethyl sulfoxide at 150 deg C, 24 hrs. Data is gathered using NMR and an internal standard. It is also shown to oxidize 3-octanol with 100% conversion to 3-octanone in DMSO at 150 deg C, 24 hrs. The presence of dimethyl sulfide in our product suggest that dimethyl sulfoxide serves as an oxidant which restores the catalyst back to its (VI) oxidation state.