Oxidative cleavage reactions of catechol and phenol to monoester of cis,cis,-muconic acid with the oxidizing systems of O2/CuCl, KOH/CuCl2

Oxidative cleavage reactions of catechol with CuCI to give monoester of cis,cis-muconic acid in pyridine containing alcohol was investigated under various conditions. The same oxidation was carried out also with the systems of KO2/CuCl2 and KOH/CuCl2 in pyridine containing alcohol in the absence of oxygen. Phenol was oxidized with the same oxidizing systems to give the same monoester of muconic acid.