Oxidation of benzyl alcohol by pyridinium dichromate in acetonitrile. Using the para/meta ratio of substituent effects for mechanism elucidation†
Abstract
Rate constants were measured for the oxidation reaction of
= 1.09 ± 0.05 for the para/meta ratio of inductive or Electra effects is obtained and negative Hammett reaction constants decreasing in magnitude with increasing temperature are found. A mechanism implicating the prior acid-catalysed formation of neutral benzyl hydrogen dichromate ester followed by intramolecular