Abstract: In a palladium-catalyzed oxidative esterification, hydrosilanecan serve as an activator of palladium catalyst with bismuth, thus leading to a novel ligand- and silver-free palladium catalyst system for facile oxidative esterification of a variety of benzylic alcohols in good yields.

Conclusion: In summary, we have developed a novel palladium catalyst system for oxidative esterification reactions of primary benzylic alcohols that focus on the findings of catalytic activity of bismuth and PMHS in this reaction. This silver-free catalyst system for the oxidative esterification has several advantages of high yields, ligand-free, environmentally benign, direct use of air atmosphere as terminal oxidant or avoiding the use of oxygen balloon, and the reaction efficiency is high.

Published in Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 8592–8594