Efficient Alcohol Oxidation Reaction Catalyzed by a Cobalt (II) and an Iron (III) Complexes Containing DPEPhos Ligand using H2O2 as Oxidant

We have investigated the catalytic activities of a cobalt(II) complex, [CoCl2(η2-P,P-DPEphos)](1), and an iron(III) complex, [FeCl3(η1-P-DPEphos)(η2-P,P-DPEphos)](2), [DPEphos = bis[2-(diphenylphosphino)-phenyl]ether] for alcohol oxidation reaction. Under the same set of experimental conditions, the iron complex 2 exhibits superior results over its cobalt counterpart 1. With the iron complex 2, a broad range of alcohols including benzyl alcohols, cinnamyl alcohol, aliphatic alcohol, etc. are efficiently oxidized to corresponding aldehydes or ketones using H2O2 as oxidant, at a low loading of catalyst (0.2 mol %), in a base free environment.