| Abstract
| - A mild and highly effective H2O2 oxidation of tertiary amines has been developed by the use offlavin catalysis. Eight aliphatic amines were oxidized to their corresponding N-oxides in fast andselective reactions. For all substrates a considerable rate enhancement was observed compared tothe noncatalyzed reactions. The product N-oxides were isolated in good yields using this mildoxidation system based on the environmentally attractive oxidant H2O2. As the catalyst, an N1,N5-dialkylated flavin was used as an analogue of the biologically important flavin redox cofactor. Thecatalytic cycle proposed for the flavin catalysis accounts for the observation that, in addition to thehydrogen peroxide oxidant, molecular oxygen is required for the initiation of the process.
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