The catalytic dehydrogenation of alcohols to carbonyl products is a green sustainable oxidation with no production of waste except for hydrogen, which can be an energy source. Additionally, a reusable heterogeneous catalyst is valuable from the viewpoint of process chemistry and water is a green solvent. We have accomplished the palladium on carbon (Pd/C)‐catalyzed dehydrogenation of primary alcohols to carboxylic acids in water under a mildly reduced pressure (800 hPa). The reduced pressure can be easily controlled by the vacuum controller of the rotary evaporator to remove the excess of generated hydrogen, which causes the reduction (reverse reaction) of aldehydes to alcohols (starting materials) and other undesirable side reactions. The present method is applicable to the reaction of various aliphatic and benzylic alcohols to the corresponding carboxylic acids, and the Pd/C could be reused at least 5 times.magnified image

The efficient and catalytic dehydrogenation of alcohols is a clean approach for preparing carbonyl compounds accompanied only by the generation of hydrogen gas. We have accomplished the heterogeneous rhodium-on-carbon catalyzed dehydrogenation of secondary, as well as primary, alcohols to the corresponding ketones and carboxylic acids in water under basic conditions. † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: The typical procedure, the reusability tests of the catalyst, the ICP-OES results of metal leaching and the spectroscopic data of the products are depicted. See

Azidation: siloxy groups derived from secondary and tertiary benzyl alcohols can be transformed into azide groups at room temperature using TMSN(3) in the presence of an iron catalyst (TMS=trimethylsilyl). Secondary and tertiary benzylic silyl ethers can be transformed in the presence of primary silyl ethers, and other reactive functional groups, such as alkyl chlorides, α,β-unsaturated esters, and aldehydes, are stable under the reaction conditions.

An efficient and simple deuteration method of arenes using the platinum on carbon-isopropyl alcohol-cyclohexane-deuterium oxide combination under hydrogen gas-free conditions was accomplished. Since the hydrogen-deuterium exchange reaction cannot be promoted without isopropyl alcohol, zerovalent platinum metal (on carbon) is self-activated by the in situ-generated very low amount of hydrogen or hydrogen-deuterium gas derived from isopropyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol-d 1 . Deuterium-labeled compounds with high deuterium contents can be easily isolated by the filtration of platinum on carbon and simple extraction. The present hydrogen gas-free method is safe from the viewpoint of process chemistry and various arenes possessing a variety of reducible functionalities within the molecule could be effectively and directly deuterium-labeled without undesired reduction.

A mild and efficient deuterium labeling method of alkanes based on the synergistic effect of Pt–Rh combination was developed.