Selective oxidation of benzylic, allylic and propargylic alcohols using dirhodium(II) tetraamidinate as catalyst and aqueous tert‐butyl hydroperoxide as oxidant

We show that the dirhodium(II) tetraamidinate complex Rh 2 (Msip) 4 efficiently catalyzes the oxidation of activated secondary alcohols at only 0.1 mol% loading. In this approach, we oxidized various benzylic, allylic and propargylic alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl compounds under mild aqueous conditions using the inexpensive oxidant T‐HYDRO® (70 wt% aqueous tert ‐butyl hydroperoxide).