The present work addresses the development of an eco-friendly and cost-efficient protocol for the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes and ketones by mechanical processing under air. Ball milling was shown to promote the quantitative conversion of a broad set of alcohols into carbonyl compounds with no trace of an over-oxidation to carboxylic acids. The mechanochemical reaction exhibited higher yields and rates than the classical, homogeneous, TEMPO-based oxidation.
Keywords: TEMPO; aldehydes; ball milling; ketones; mechanochemistry; oxidation reactions.