The chemistry of copper is extremely rich because it can easily access Cu0, CuI, CuII, and CuIII oxidation states allowing it to act through one-electron or two-electron processes. As a result, both radical pathways and powerful two-electron bond forming pathways via organmetallic intermediates, similar to those of palladium, can occur. In addition, the different oxidation states of copper associate well with a large number of different functional groups via Lewis acid interactions or π-coordination. In total, these feature confer a remarkably broad range of activities allowing copper to catalyze the oxidation and oxidative union of many substrates.

Oxygen is a highly atom economical, environmentally benign, and abundant oxidant, which makes it ideal in many ways.1 The high activation energies in the reactions of oxygen require that catalysts be employed.2 In combination with molecular oxygen, the chemistry of copper catalysis increases exponentially since oxygen can act as either a sink for electrons (oxidase activity) and/or as a source of oxygen atoms that are incorporated into the product (oxygenase activity). The oxidation of copper with oxygen is a facile process allowing catalytic turnover in net oxidative processes and ready access to the higher CuIII oxidation state, which enables a range of powerful transformations including two-electron reductive elimination to CuI. Molecular oxygen is also not hampered by toxic byproducts, being either reduced to water, occasionally via H2O2 (oxidase activity) or incorporated into the target structure with high atom economy (oxygenase activity). Such oxidations using oxygen or air (21% oxygen) have been employed safely in numerous commodity chemical continuous and batch processes.3

However, batch reactors employing volatile hydrocarbon solvents require that oxygen concentrations be kept low in the head space (typically <5–11%) to avoid flammable mixtures, which can limit the oxygen concentration in the reaction mixture.4,5,6 A number of alternate approaches have been developed allowing oxidation chemistry to be used safely across a broader array of conditions. For example, use of carbon dioxide instead of nitrogen as a diluent leads to reduced flammability.5 Alternately, water can be added to moderate the flammability allowing even pure oxygen to be employed.6 New reactor designs also allow pure oxygen to be used instead of diluted oxygen by maintaining gas bubbles in the solvent, which greatly improves reaction rates and prevents the build up of higher concentrations of oxygen in the head space.4a,7 Supercritical carbon dioxide has been found to be advantageous as a solvent due its chemical inertness towards oxidizing agents and its complete miscibility with oxygen or air over a wide range of temperatures.8 An number of flow technologies9 including flow reactors,10 capillary flow reactors,11 microchannel/microstructure structure reactors,12 and membrane reactors13 limit the amount of or afford separation of hydrocarbon/oxygen vapor phase thereby reducing the potential for explosions.

Enzymatic oxidizing systems based upon copper that exploit the many advantages and unique aspects of copper as a catalyst and oxygen as an oxidant as described in the preceding paragraphs are well known. They represent a powerful set of catalysts able to direct beautiful redox chemistry in a highly site-selective and stereoselective manner on simple as well as highly functionalized molecules. This ability has inspired organic chemists to discover small molecule catalysts that can emulate such processes. In addition, copper has been recognized as a powerful catalyst in several industrial processes (e.g. phenol polymerization, Glaser-Hay alkyne coupling) stimulating the study of the fundamental reaction steps and the organometallic copper intermediates. These studies have inspiried the development of nonenzymatic copper catalysts. For these reasons, the study of copper catalysis using molecular oxygen has undergone explosive growth, from 30 citations per year in the 1980s to over 300 citations per year in the 2000s.

A number of elegant reviews on the subject of catalytic copper oxidation chemistry have appeared. Most recently, reviews provide selected coverage of copper catalysts14 or a discussion of their use in the aerobic functionalization of C–H bonds.15 Other recent reviews cover copper and other metal catalysts with a range of oxidants, including oxygen, but several reaction types are not covered.16 Several other works provide a valuable overview of earlier efforts in the field.17 This review comprehensively covers copper catalyzed oxidation chemistry using oxygen as the oxidant up through 2011. Stoichiometric reactions with copper are discussed, as necessary, to put the development of the catalytic processes in context. Mixed metal systems utilizing copper, such as palladium catalyzed Wacker processes, are not included here. Decomposition reactions involving copper/oxygen and model systems of copper enzymes are not discussed exhaustively. To facilitate analysis of the reactions under discussion, the current mechanistic hypothesis is provided for each reaction. As our understanding of the basic chemical steps involving copper improve, it is expected that many of these mechanisms will evolve accordingly.

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Aerobic Copper-Catalyzed Organic Reactions

Oxidation of 2,6-disubstituted 4-methylphenols with dioxygen by using a CuCl2-poly(4-methyl-4′-vinyl-2,2′-bipyridine) catalyst gave the corresponding 4-hydroxybenzaldehydes in high yields. The activity of the catalyst and the selectivity of the products significantly depended on the reaction conditions and the composition of the catalyst. When the molar ratio of the bipyridine unit of the polymer ligand to Cu was unity, i.e., N/Cu = 2, the best results were obtained. Moreover, the reaction is likely to be promoted by coordination of the products to the catalyst. Similarly, 2,3,6-trimethylphenol and related compounds were converted to p-benzoquinones selectively with a CuCl2-poly(4-vinylpyridine) catalyst. These polymer-supported catalysts were readily recovered and are reusable without noticeable decrease of their activity.

Selective Oxidation of Phenols to Hydroxybenzaldehydes and Benzoquinones with Dioxygen Catalyzed by Polymer-Supported Copper

Chitosan-bound nitrobenzaldehyde metal complexes (m-CNBDM and o-CNBDM, where M is Mn or Ni) were prepared and characterized by infrared, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, solid-state 13C-NMR cross-polarity/magic-angle spinning, inductively coupled plasma, and elemental analysis. The complexes were found to be catalysts for the oxidation of hydrocarbons with molecular oxygen under mild conditions. o-CNBDNi has a certain catalytic activity in the oxidation of n-propylbenzene and isopropylbenzene and has no activity in the oxidation of ethylbenzene. Both o-CNBDMn and m-CNBDNi catalyze the oxidation of all the aforementioned hydrocarbons, whereas m-CNBDMn has no catalytic activity. The main oxidative products of ethylbenzene and n-propylbenzene are the same as α-ol and α-one, but they are 2-benzyl-isopropynol and isopropylbenzene peroxide for isopropylbenzene. A mechanism for the catalytic oxidative process is proposed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 2188–2194, 2002

Preparation of chitosan‐bound nitrobenzaldehyde metal complexes and studies on its catalytic oxidative activity and reactive mechanism

The current status, trends, and a specific role for macroligands in catalysis by heterogenized metallopolymeric complexes are considered. Relations between homogeneous catalysis, enzyme catalysis, and catalysis by heterogenized metal complexes are traced. The effects of various factors on the catalysis of the main reactions used in organic synthesis—hydrogenation, polymerization (in particular, under the action of immobilized metallocene and postmetallocene catalysts), and redox processes (such as the catalysis of oxygenation, hydroperoxide oxidation, epoxidation, and hydroformylation)—are analyzed. In this review, attention is focused on the nondestructive identification of intermediates and catalytically active species in heterogenized systems. Experimental evidence is presented in support of the fact that the high activity, stability, and selectivity of immobilized catalysts are associated with a dramatic inhibition of concerted reactions in the coordination sphere of a transition metal, which result in catalyst deactivation, as well as with substrate enrichment. Prospects for the development of these highly organized hybrid systems and possibilities to consider the main requirements imposed on metal complex catalysis even at the stage of designing them are predicted.

Catalysis by heterogenized metal polymers: Advances and prospects

Benzoquinone, diphenoquinones and its derivatives are important intermediates for industrial synthesis of a wide variety of special chemicals, such as pharmaceuticals, dyes and agricultural chemicals. The useful catalyst were obtained by aminolysis of vinylbenzyl chloride/divinylbenzene copolymer with ethylenediamine (1) or urotropine (2) and then modification by salicylaldehyde (1A, 2A) or picolinaldehyde (1B, 2B). The catalytic activity of Cu(II) complexes with Schiff base immobilized on the synthesized supports were tested in the oxidation reaction of 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol (DTBP) to diphenoquinone (PQ) with tert-butylhydroperoxide. The best oxidation degree of DTBP (60-70%) and the selectivity towards PQ (80%) is revealed by Cu(II) complexes with long Schiff base ligands derived from salicylaldimine (1A), which have CuL structure (EPR measurement).

P.C. Selvaraj

Papers

The oxidation of 2,6-xylenol catalysed by polymer supported copper complexes