Oxidation of α-Hydroxyl Acetophenone Promoted by Sulfone-based Iron Site on Hyper Cross-linked Polymers

Abstract

A sulfone-containing hyper-crosslinked polymer with in situ immobilized iron sites was synthesized from dapsone, an inexpensive surplus pharmaceutical molecule. It can be used as a recyclable additive in n-butanol to promote the aerobic oxidation of α-hydroxyphenyl ketone, a β-O-4 lignin platform compound, to α-keto acetal under air atmosphere. Moreover, this study proposes and validates a new strategy to facilitate oxidation through reconstruction of the reactant molecular skeleton. This work not only opens up new application scenarios for pharmaceutical molecules such as dapsone that face obsolescence due to narrowing indications, but also provides a novel approach for the value-added conversion of lignin platform without the need for complex and expensive transition metal complexes.