An investigation into the role of 2,6-lutidine as an additive for the RuCl3-NaIO4 mediated oxidative cleavage of olefins to ketones

2,6-Lutidine has been identified as a beneficial additive for the oxidative cleavage of olefins to ketones by NaIO4 in the presence of catalytic RuCl3, improving the yield and shortening the reaction times. In the absence of 2,6-lutidine reactions stalled at the diol intermediate with incomplete conversion to the desired ketones. The reaction protocol described herein also avoids the use of harmful solvents such as CCl4 and DCE and is tolerant of a range of functional groups. Crown Copyright (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.