Phthalaldehyde → 1,3-Benzenedimethanol

Participants

Reaction Steps

A particularly advantageous feature of the oxidative method is shape selectivity, as illustrated by the oxidation of three benzenedimethanol isomers as shown in FIG. 1 (Example 6 below). Oxidation of 1,2-benzenedimethanol resulted in very low conversion, yielding a mixture of phthalide, phthalaldehyde, and 2-(hydroxymethyl)benzaldehyde (a mono-oxidized product). Oxidation of 1,3-benzenedimethanol yielded only the mono-oxidized product 3-(hydroxymethyl)benzaldehyde. Oxidation of 1,4-benzenedimethanol yielded terephthalaldehyde. These results show that the H-K-OMS-2 catalyst gives shape selective reaction products.

Provenance & Evidence