Three new homologous TEMPO oxoammonium salts and three homologous nitroxide radicals have been prepared and characterized. The oxidation properties of the salts have been explored. The direct 13C NMR and EPR spectra of the nitroxide free radicals and the oxoammonium salts, along with TEMPO and its oxoammonium salt, have been successfully measured with little peak broadening of the NMR signals. In the spectra of all ten compounds (nitroxides and corresponding oxoammonium salts), the carbons in the 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine core do not appear, implying paramagnetic properties. This unpredicted overall paramagnetism in the oxoammonium salt solutions is explained by a redox equilibrium as shown between oxoammonium salts and trace amounts of corresponding nitroxide. This equilibrium is confirmed by electron interchange reactions between nitroxides with an N-acetyl substituent and oxoammonium salts with longer acyl side chains.

Oxoammonium salt oxidations (using 4-acetylamino-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxoammonium tetrafluoroborate) of alcohols containing a β-oxygen atom in the presence of pyridine yield dimeric esters, while in the presence of 2,6-lutidine the product is a simple aldehyde. The formation of a betaine between pyridine and an aldehyde is presented to explain this disparity in reactivity. The betaine is oxidized by the oxoammonium salt to give an N-acylpyridinium ion that serves as an acylating agent for ester formation. Steric effects deter the formation of such a betaine with 2,6-disubstituted pyridines. A series of alcohols containing a β-oxygen substituent were oxidized to aldehydes in the presence of 2,6-lutidine, and a short study of the relative reactivity of various alcohols is given. An overall mechanism for oxoammonium cation oxidations is suggested, premised on nucleophilic additions to the oxygen atom of the positively charged nitrogen–oxygen double bond. Possible mechanisms for both dimeric oxidations and simple oxidations are given.

The oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes using stoichiometric 4-acetamido-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxoammonium tetrafluoroborate (1) in CH2Cl2 at room temperature is a highly selective process favoring reaction at the carbinol center best able to accommodate a positive charge. The oxidation of aldehydes to carboxylic acids by 1 in wet acetonitrile is also selective; the rate of the process correlates with the concentration of aldehyde hydrate. A convenient and high yield method for oxidation of alcohols directly to carboxylic acids has been developed.

Benzylic ethers and related ArCH2OR substrates are oxidatively cleaved by 4-acetamido-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxoammonium tetrafluoroborate (1) in wet CH3CN at room temperature to give the corresponding aromatic aldehyde and alcohol in high yield. Primary or secondary alcohol products are further oxidized by 1 to give carboxylic acids and ketones, respectively. The oxidation likely involves a formal hydride abstraction from the benzylic carbon as evidenced by slow reaction of substrates bearing electron-withdrawing substituents.