''meta''-Chloroperoxybenzoic acid (mCPBA or ''m''CPBA) is a peroxycarboxylic acid. A white solid, it is used widely as an

oxidant An oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant, oxidizer, electron recipient, or electron acceptor) is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or " accepts"/"receives" an electron from a (called the , , or ). In other words, an oxi ...

organic synthesis Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the intentional construction of organic compounds. Organic molecules are often more complex than inorganic compounds, and their synthesis has developed into one o ...

. mCPBA is often preferred to other peroxy acids because of its relative ease of handling. mCPBA is a strong oxidizing agent that may cause fire upon contact with flammable material.

Preparation and purification

mCPBA can be prepared by reacting m-Chlorobenzoyl chloride with a basic solution of

hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3 ...

, followed by acidification. It is sold commercially as a shelf-stable mixture that is less than 72% mCPBA, with the balance made up of ''m''-chlorobenzoic acid (10%) and water. The peroxyacid can be purified by washing the commercial material with a sodium hydroxide and potassium phosphate solution buffered at pH = 7.5. Peroxyacids are generally slightly less acidic than their carboxylic acid counterparts, so one can extract the acid impurity by careful control of pH. The purified material is reasonably stable against decomposition if stored at low temperatures in a plastic container. In reactions where the exact amount of mCPBA must be controlled, a sample can be titrated to determine the exact amount of active oxidant.

Reactions

The main areas of use are the conversion of

ketone In organic chemistry, a ketone is a functional group with the structure R–C(=O)–R', where R and R' can be a variety of carbon-containing substituents. Ketones contain a carbonyl group –C(=O)– (which contains a carbon-oxygen double b ...

s to

ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides ...

s ( Baeyer-Villiger oxidation),

epoxidation In organic chemistry, an epoxide is a cyclic ether () with a three-atom ring. This ring approximates an equilateral triangle, which makes it strained, and hence highly reactive, more so than other ethers. They are produced on a large scale ...

alkenes In organic chemistry, an alkene is a hydrocarbon containing a carbon–carbon double bond. Alkene is often used as synonym of olefin, that is, any hydrocarbon containing one or more double bonds.H. Stephen Stoker (2015): General, Organic, a ...

(

Prilezhaev reaction The Prilezhaev reaction, also known as the Prileschajew reaction or Prilezhaev epoxidation, is the chemical reaction of an alkene with a peroxy acid to form epoxides. It is named after Nikolai Prilezhaev, who first reported this reaction in 1909 ...

), conversion of

silyl enol ethers Silyl enol ethers in organic chemistry are a class of organic compounds that share a common functional group composed of an enolate bonded through its oxygen end to an organosilicon group. They are important intermediates in organic synthesis. Syn ...

to silyl α-hydroxy ketones ( Rubottom oxidation), oxidation of

sulfide Sulfide (British English also sulphide) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to chemical compounds la ...

s to

sulfoxide In organic chemistry, a sulfoxide, also called a sulphoxide, is an organosulfur compound containing a sulfinyl () functional group attached to two carbon atoms. It is a polar functional group. Sulfoxides are oxidized derivatives of sulfides. E ...

s and

sulfone In organic chemistry, a sulfone is a organosulfur compound containing a sulfonyl () functional group attached to two carbon atoms. The central hexavalent sulfur atom is double-bonded to each of two oxygen atoms and has a single bond to each of ...

s, and oxidation of

amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are formally derivatives of ammonia (), wherein one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by a substituent ...

s to produce

amine oxide In chemistry, an amine oxide, also known as an amine ''N''-oxide or simply ''N''-oxide, is a chemical compound that contains the functional group , a nitrogen-oxygen coordinate covalent bond with three additional hydrogen and/or substituent-grou ...

s. The following scheme shows the epoxidation of

cyclohexene Cyclohexene is a hydrocarbon with the formula C6H10. This cycloalkene is a colorless liquid with a sharp smell. It is an intermediate in various industrial processes. Cyclohexene is not very stable upon long term storage with exposure to light ...

with mCPBA. : Reaction of cyclohexene with mCPBA

The epoxidation mechanism is concerted: the ''cis'' or ''trans'' geometry of the alkene starting material is retained in the epoxide ring of the product. The transition state of the Prilezhaev reaction is given below: Mcpbaepoxidation-updated

The geometry of the transition state, with the peracid bisecting the C-C double bond, allows the two primary frontier orbital interactions to occur: π_C=C (HOMO) to σ*_O-O (LUMO) and n_O (HOMO, regarded as a filled p orbital on a sp² hybridized oxygen) to π*_C=C (LUMO), corresponding, in arrow-pushing terms, to formation of one C-O bond and cleavage of the O-O bond and formation of the other C-O bond and cleavage of the C=C π bond.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chloroperoxybenzoic acid, meta- Chlorobenzenes Oxidizing agents Organic peroxy acids Reagents for organic chemistry