T. Okada, Y. Kamiya
Sep 1, 1981
Citations
0
Influential Citations
14
Citations
Journal
Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan
Abstract
The liquid-phase oxidation of methylbenzenes catalyzed by a catalyst system composed of cobalt(II) and copper(II) acetates and sodium bromide was carried out in acetic acid at 150 °C. The corresponding benzyl acetates and benzaldehydes were obtained in high selectivities in most cases. A nuclear-brominated product, i.e., 3-bromo-4-methoxytoluene was also obtained in the oxidation of p-methoxytoluene, which has two different reaction sites, i.e., o-positions to the electron-donating methoxyl substituent and the benzyl position. However, the substitution of the bromide ion for the acetate ion in the catalyst system gave satisfactory selectivities for the side-chain oxidation products. In p-xylene oxidation, α,α′-diacetoxy-p-xylene and p-(acetoxymethyl)benzonic acid were also obtained, as well as p-methylbenzyl acetate, though their amounts were small. The oxidation of polymethylbenzenes was also carried out.