Substituent Effect on Oxidative Decomposition of Acylferrocenes

Acylferrocenes are oxidized by iron(III) chloride in methanol and then immediately decomposed. In this study, the oxidative decomposition of some alkanoyl- and aroylferrocenes was performed and the substituent effect on the reaction rate was investigated. It was found that the reaction was governed by the accessibility of the oxidizing agent to the iron atom and the degree of electron-withdrawing effect of the carbonyl group towards the ferrocene nucleus.