Oxidation of secondary alcohols by N-methylmorpholine- N-oxide (NMO) catalyzed by Ru(II) halosulfoxide complexes. A kinetic study.

RuX(DMSO) (X=Cl, cis; Br, trans) undergoes ligand substitution in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) to give RuX(DMSO)DMF, which catalyzes the oxidation of secondary alcohols by NMO to ketones. Kinetics of the reaction catalyzed by trans-RuBr(DMSO) differed from that of cis-RuCl(DMSO). A mechanism is proposed involving the formation of Ru(IV)oxo species as the active intermediate and a rate expression is derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]