Catalysis Letters, Vol.130, No.3-4, 424-431, 2009
Palladium-Catalysed Oxidation of Bicycle Monoterpenes by Hydrogen Peroxide in Acetonitrile Solutions: A Metal Reoxidant-Free and Environmentally Benign Oxidative Process
Currently, the oxidative transformations of natural olefins are complicated for competitive reactions such as isomerization, skeletal rearrangements and nucleophilic addition. These concurrent reactions are promoted by metal reoxidant, normally a Lewis acid, and by protic solvent. In this article, the oxidation of terpenes, namely camphene, beta-pinene, alpha-pinene and 3-carene were performed in PdCl2/H2O2/CH3CN system. This metal reoxidant-free system showed highly efficient, especially on camphene and beta-pinene oxidation, which resulted in the selective conversion of these substrates into epoxy-derivates and allylic oxidation products, respectively. Additionally, the effects of the principal reactional parameters such as the peroxide/catalyst and substrate/catalyst molar ratio were also investigated.