Photo-induced deep aerobic oxidation of alkyl aromatics

Oxidation is a major chemical process to produce oxygenated chemicals in both nature and the chemical industry. Presently, the industrial manufacture of benzoic acids and benzene polycarboxylic acids (BPCAs) is mainly based on the deep oxidation of polyalkyl benzene, which is somewhat suffering from environmental and economical disadvantage due to the formation of ozone-depleting MeBr and corrosion hazards of production equipment. In this report, photo-induced deep aerobic oxidation of (poly)alkyl benzene to benzene (poly)carboxylic acids was developed. CeCl3 was proved to be an efficient HAT (hydrogen atom transfer) catalyst in the presence of alcohol as both hydrogen and electron shuttle. Dioxygen (O2) was found as a sole terminal oxidant. In most cases, pure products were easily isolated by simple filtration, implying large-scale implementation advantages. The reaction provides an ideal protocol to produce valuable fine chemicals from naturally abundant petroleum feedstocks.