Alkane Oxidation by Osmium Tetroxide

摘要

The selective oxidation of alkanes is of great fundamental and practical importance.Much of the current research in this area utilizes electrophilic late transition metals,such as platinum,and involves initial binding of a C-H bond to the metal center.Alternatively,high oxidation state metal complexes can oxidize alkanes by radical pathways involving hydrogen atom abstraction.We describe here stoichiometric and catalytic oxidations of alkanes by OsO_4,including primary,secondary,and tertiary C-H bonds.The available evidence suggests a nonradical,nonorganometallic mechanism involving [3+2] addition of a C-H bond to two oxo ligands of OsO_4.