Bio-inspired amino acid oxidation by a non-heme iron catalyst.

This study reports the kinetics and mechanism of Fe(III)-catalyzed oxidative decarboxylation and deamination of a series of acyclic (α-aminoisobutyric acid, α-(methylamino)isobutyric acid, alanine, norvaline, and 2-aminobutyric acid) and cyclic (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, 1-amino-1-cyclobutanecarboxylic acid, 1-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid, and 1-aminocyclohexanecarboxylicacid) amino acids using hydrogen peroxide, t-butyl hydroperoxide, iodosylbenzene, m-chloroperbenzoic acid, and peroxomonosulphate as oxidant in 75% DMF-25% water solvent mixture. Model complex [Fe(IV)O(SALEN)](•+) (SALENH2: N,N'-bis(salicylidene)ethylenediamine) was generated by the reaction of Fe(III)(SALEN)Cl and H2O2 in CH3CN at 278 K as reported earlier. This method provided us high-valent oxoiron species, stable enough to ensure the direct observation of the reaction with amino acids.