Communication
Green Chemistry
absence of oxidant, concluding that air is not a suitable
oxidant for this transformation using Mo catalysts.
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Conclusions
The results from these tests highlight the ability of the molyb-
date surfactants to act as catalysts to afford the oxidation of
DTBP to DPQ in water using H O . The mechanism of the
2 2
5 L. N. Vakhitova, S. V. Zhil`tsova, A. V. Skrypka,
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C–C bond formation, which most likely involves the formation
of phenol radicals and peroxomolybdate intermediates,
appears to be facilitated by the ability of the long chain alkyls
to position the active site at the boundary layer and is also
greatly affected by the concentration of oxidant, where
increased concentrations may substantially reduce the selectiv-
ity for the dimerized product. These preliminary results
emphasize the potential for specially designed catalytic surfac-
tants to afford the oxidation of organic substrates in water by
carefully selecting the reaction conditions. Indeed, results
involving other transition metal systems will be communicated
shortly. Studies are currently underway to explore the mechan-
ism of this reaction in greater detail, as well as to expand the
scope of the catalysis towards the oxidation of other substrates 10 P. C. Griffiths, I. A. Fallis, D. J. Willock, A. Paul,
of interest, using molybdate and other catalytically active tran-
sition metal centers.
C. L. Barrie, P. M. Griffiths, G. M. Williams, S. M. King,
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1
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Kathy Nielsen and Kristine Mattson for 12 M. Hassanein, M. Sakaran and S. Shendy, J. Iran Chem.
performing NAA studies and the Royal Military College and Soc., 2010, 7, 128.
the Department of National Defence of Canada, specifically 13 H. El-Hamshary, S. Al-Sigeny and M. M. Ibrahim, J. Macro-
DGLEPM, for funding this project.
mol. Sci. A, 2010, 47, 329.
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Notes and references
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3
64 | Green Chem., 2013, 15, 362–364
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