Conversion of alcohols to carboxylates using water and base with H 2 liberation

Abstract

Production of carboxylic acids from alcohols is an important process for both industry and laboratory. Traditional methods usually require environmentally unfriendly oxidants and generate stoichiometric waste. Recently, methods using O 2 as oxidant, oxidation processes applying stoichiometric hydrogen acceptors and acceptorless dehydrogenative coupling reactions to generate carboxylic acids/carboxylic acid salts have been developed. This chapter reviews the reported results on the generation of carboxylic acids/carboxylates by acceptorless dehydrogenative coupling of alcohols and water. The chapter is according to the types of catalysts used; reaction conditions, product yields, and mechanisms are also discussed.