title: Chloroacetate-promoted selective oxidation of heterobenzylic methylenes under copper catalysis.
abstract: The efficient selective oxidation and functionalization of C-H bonds with molecular oxygen and a copper catalyst to prepare the corresponding ketones was achieved with ethyl chloroacetate as a promoter. In this transformation, various substituted N-heterocyclic compounds were well tolerated. Preliminary mechanistic investigations indicated that organic radical species were involved in the overall process. The N-heterocyclic compounds and ethyl chloroacetate work synergistically to activate C-H bonds in the methylene group, which results in the easy generation of free radical intermediates, thus leading to the corresponding ketones in good yields.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 (P. R. China) http://aiwenlei.whu.edu.cn/Main_Website/; Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Province for Green Manufacturing of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan 453007 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Jianming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ren
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Heng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Kelei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.forename: Aiwen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lei
keywords: N-heterocycles; copper catalysis; ethyl chloroacetate; selective oxidations