Copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of alcohols under fluorous biphasic conditions

A catalytic amount of perfluoroalkyl substituted bipyridine 1 (2 mol%), CuBr·Me2S (2 mol%) and TEMPO (3.5 mol%) allow the oxidation of various alcohols to aldehydes and ketones in a fluorous biphasic system of chlorobenzene and perfluorooctane directly with oxygen. The catalyst can be used for several reaction runs without a loss of reactivity.