The discovery in 1959 of stable nitroxide‐based free radicals such as the prototypical 2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine‐1‐oxyl (TEMPO) led to their use as electron spin resonance (ESR) spin labels in chemistry, biomedicine, and materials science. These nitroxides are prepared by the oxidation of secondary amines that contain no hydrogen atoms on the alpha‐carbons. The unique redox properties of nitroxides enable their use as oxidants in organic synthesis. The varied preparation and uses of oxoammonium salts as stoichiometric oxidants for alcohols are one subject of this review. Oxoammonium ions as oxidants for alcohols have a number of advantages, for example, the method is heavy‐metal free and some of the reactions can be performed in water or aqueous mixtures. A few side reactions are associated with these oxidations. The most serious is the fast reaction of the oxoammonium ion with free amines The several ways these oxidation reactions can be carried out are discussed in detail. They are: Oxidations using stoichimetric quantities of preformed oxoammonium salts carried out in either acidic, neutral, or basic conditions; reactions in which stoichiometric quantities of oxoammonium salts are generated in situ by disproportionation of a nitroxide in the presence of a strong acid; nitroxide‐catalyzed oxidations using a secondary oxidant; efficient nitroxide‐catalyzed oxidations of primary alcohols to carboxylic acids; and oxidations of primary alcohols or hemiacetals that can lead to lactones.

4-Acetylamino-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxoammonium perchlorate, 1, is a stable, nonhygroscopic oxoammonium salt that is easily prepared and can be used for the oxidation of alcohols to ketones or aldehydes in near quantitative yields. The reaction is colorimetric, does not require anhydrous conditions, does not involve heavy metals, and can be carried out conveniently. Furthermore, the oxidant can be easily regenerated. The oxidation is somewhat specific in that the relative reactivities of an allyl alcohol (geraniol), benzaldehyde, and 1-decanol are about 100:1:0.1. The reaction is catalyzed by silica gel.

The mechanism of the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols by the oxoammonium cation derived from 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) has been investigated computationally at the B3LYP/6-31+G* level, along with free energies of solvation, using a reaction field model. In basic solution, the reaction involves formation of a complex between the alkoxide anion and the oxoammonium cation in a pre-oxidation equilibrium wherein methoxide leads to a much larger formation constant than isopropoxide. The differences in free energy of activation for the rate-determining hydrogen transfer within the pre-oxidation complexes were small; the differences in complex formation constants lead to a larger rate of reaction for the primary alcohol, as is observed experimentally. In acidic solution, rate-determining hydrogen atom transfer from the alcohol to the oxoammonium cation had a large unfavorable free energy change and would proceed more slowly than is observed. A more likely path involves a hydride transfer that would be more rapid with a secondary alcohol than primary, as is observed. Transition states for this process were located.

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A new method for the selective oxidation of alcohols using organic oxoammonium salta generated by acidpromoted disproportionation of nitroxides in solution has been developed. Major advantages are high yields, ease of product isolation, and a high degree of selectivity in the presence of other functional groups.