Vanadium complexes have been used extensively to catalyse olefin and alcohol oxidation. However, their application in C-H oxidation has not been well studied. US scientists say that commercially available Cp2VCl2 catalyses benzylic C-H oxidation selectively and effectively, giving no aromatic oxidation products.
Link to journal article
A Highly Selective Vanadium Catalyst for Benzylic C-H Oxidation
J-B Xia, K W Cormier and C Chen
Chem. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2sc20178j
