Surfactant mediated oxygen reuptake in water for green aerobic oxidation: mass-spectrometric determination of discrete intermediates to correlate oxygen uptake with oxidation efficiency.

A novel strategy of catalytic green aerobic oxidation by surfactant-mediated oxygen reuptake in water offers a new dimension to the applications of surfactants to look beyond as solubility aids and a conceptual advancement in understanding the role of surfactants in aquatic organic reactions through mass spectrometry guided identification of discrete intermediates.