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Oxidase catalysis via aerobically generated hypervalent iodine intermediates

Nature Chemistry volume 10, pages 200–204 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

The development of sustainable oxidation chemistry demands strategies to harness O2 as a terminal oxidant. Oxidase catalysis, in which O2 serves as a chemical oxidant without necessitating incorporation of oxygen into reaction products, would allow diverse substrate functionalization chemistry to be coupled to O2 reduction. Direct O2 utilization suffers from intrinsic challenges imposed by the triplet ground state of O2 and the disparate electron inventories of four-electron O2 reduction and two-electron substrate oxidation. Here, we generate hypervalent iodine reagents—a broadly useful class of selective two-electron oxidants—from O2. This is achieved by intercepting reactive intermediates of aldehyde autoxidation to aerobically generate hypervalent iodine reagents for a broad array of substrate oxidation reactions. The use of aryl iodides as mediators of aerobic oxidation underpins an oxidase catalysis platform that couples substrate oxidation directly to O2 reduction. We anticipate that aerobically generated hypervalent iodine reagents will expand the scope of aerobic oxidation chemistry in chemical synthesis.

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Figure 1: Oxygenase versus oxidase aerobic oxidation chemistry.
Figure 2: Radical-chain mechanism for aldehyde autoxidation.
Figure 3: Aerobic oxidation of PhI provides a broad platform to directly utilize O2 as the terminal oxidant in substrate oxidation reactions.
Figure 4: Aerobic oxidation of aryl iodides is accomplished by intercepting the oxidizing intermediates of aldehyde autoxidation chemistry.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Texas A&M University and the Welch Foundation (A-1907) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, 77843, Texas, USA

    Asim Maity, Sung-Min Hyun & David C. Powers

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Contributions

A.M. and D.C.P. conceived of the project. A.M. and S.-M.H. carried out the experimental work. A.M., S.-M.H. and D.C.P. analysed the data and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to David C. Powers.

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A provisional patent has been filed on the aerobic oxidation of aryl iodides.

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Maity, A., Hyun, SM. & Powers, D. Oxidase catalysis via aerobically generated hypervalent iodine intermediates. Nature Chem 10, 200–204 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2873

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