Introduction
N -Methylmorpholine N -oxide [NMMO (2 )] is a light yellow powder with a melting point of 180–184 °C.[1 ] It is commercially available in both the monohydrate (C5 H11 NO2 ·H2 O) and anhydrous forms, and is stable under normal conditions.
Apart from being a powerful environmentally friendly solvent for dissolving cellulose,[2 ]
[3 ] NMMO (2 ) acts as a strong oxidizing agent and is generally utilized as a stoichiometric oxidant
together with TPAP and OsO4 for hydroxy group oxidation[4 ] and dihydroxylation of olefins.[5 ]
[6 ]
The oxidative dehydrogenation of amines utilizing gold as the catalyst is also carried
out in the presence of NMMO (2 ), where it acts as a base to afford imines in good yield.[7 ]
Moreover, NMMO (2 ) can react as a nucleophile, as is displayed during the reductive work-up of ozonolysis
intermediates to afford aldehyde products.[8 ]
[9 ] One of the advantages of using NMMO versus oxidants like hydrogen peroxide is found in the fact that the byproduct after oxidation
[NMM (1 )] is very low in basicity.
Preparation
Generally amine N -oxides can be prepared via the oxidation of the pyridine analogue or tertiary amine
[e.g., (1 )] with H2 O2 , Caro’s acid, or peracids like MCPBA.[10 ] Schwartz and co-workers[11 ] also proposed that NMM (1 ) can be converted into NMMO (2 ) in the presence of ozone as the oxidizing agent.
Scheme 1 Preparation of NMMO (2 )