Oxidation of alkanes by dioxygen catalysed by photoactivated iron porphyrins

Cycloalkanes were oxidized by O2 itself under mild conditions (22 °C; 200 Torr of O2) in the presence of catalytic amounts of a polyhalogenated porphyrin–iron(III)—hydroxo complex irradiated with light of wavelength between 350 and 450 nm; these oxidations occurred without consumption of a reducing agent, selectively transformed cyclohexane into cyclohexanone under appropriate conditions (about 0. 2 turnover per min), and did not involve FeVO active species but, more probably, iron-alkylperoxo intermediates.