Selective Oxidation of Benzylic sp<sup>3</sup> C–H Bonds using Molecular Oxygen in a Continuous-Flow Microreactor
Lei Yun, Jingnan Zhao, Xiaofei Tang, Cunfei Ma, Zongyi Yu, Qingwei Meng
Abstract
Selective aerobic oxidation of benzylic sp3 C–H bonds to generate the corresponding ketones was achieved under continuous-flow conditions. The catalysts N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) and tert-butyl nitrite (TBN) as the precursor of the radical under aerobic conditions motivated this process. Flow microreactors operating under optimized conditions enabled this oxidation with higher efficiency and a shortened reaction time of 54 s (total time was 10 min), which was improved 466 times compared with the batch parallel reaction (7.0 h). Notably, the catalyst and solvent recycling (92.6 and 94.5%) and scale-up experiments (0.87 g h–1 in 28 h) demonstrated the practicability of the protocol. The high product selectivity and functional group tolerance of the process allowed the production of ketones in yields of 41.2 to 90.3%. To reveal the versatility and applicability of this protocol, the late-stage modification of an antiepileptic drug to obtain oxcarbazepine was further conducted.