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Chemistry LibreTexts

Swern Oxidation

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The oxidation of a primary or secondary alcohol to afford, respectively, an aldehyde or a ketone, when treated with oxalyl chloride and dimethyl sulfoxide at very low temperature (below -60 ºC), followed by triethylamine, is known as Swern oxidation. The procedure is especially useful with primary alcohols because the product aldehyde is not oxidized to the corresponding carboxylic acid under the reaction conditions.

eg:

swernoxidation1.png

mechanism:

swernoxidation2.png

swernoxidation3.png


This page titled Swern Oxidation is shared under a All Rights Reserved (used with permission) license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Gamini Gunawardena via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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