Chinese Journal of Catalysis

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Site-selective benzylic C-H oxidation through mediated electrolysis

Yi-Fan Xia, Rui-Xing Gaoa, Ping Fanga, Ya-Ping Hanb,*, Cong Maa, Tian-Sheng Meia,*   

  1. aState Key Laboratory of Organometallic Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China;
    bSchool of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China
  • Received:2024-09-02 Accepted:2024-09-10
  • Contact: *E-mail: mei7900@sioc.ac.cn (T.-S. Mei), 2019070@hebut.edu.cn (Y.-P. Han).
  • Supported by:
    National Key R&D Program of China (2021YFA1500100), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB0610000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21821002, 22361142834, 22425111, 22101294), the S&TCSM of Shanghai (21ZR1476500), and the Natural Science Foundation of Ningbo (2023J035).

Abstract: A novel strategy for site-selective benzylic C-H oxidation has been developed through mediated electrolysis. A bulky maleimide N-oxyl radical (MINO) generated by proton-coupled electrochemical oxidation of N-hydroxymaleimide (NHMI), serves as a hydrogen atom-transfer mediator. Good-to-excellent site selectivity was observed among different substrates, providing a practical approach for site-selective benzylic C-H oxidation. Additionally, the hydrogen-atom transfer mechanism for C-H electrochemical oxidation allows the oxidation to proceed at much lower anode potentials relative to direct electrolysis and with minimal reliance on the substrate's electronic properties.

Key words: Organic electrochemistry, Hydrogen atom transfer, Site-selective oxidation, N-Hydroxymaleimide, Radical oxidation