The novel oxidant of sodium hypochlorite pentahydrate (NaOCl·5H2O) crystals is now available for industrial and laboratory use. It is superior to conventional aqueous sodium hypochlorite solutions (aq. NaOCl). The crystalline material is 44% NaOCl and contains minimal amounts of sodium hydroxide and sodium chloride, and the aqueous solution, which is prepared from NaOCl·5H2O and water, has a pH of 11–12. Examples of the selective organic synthesis using NaOCl·5H2O involve the oxidations of primary and secondary alcohols, selective oxidations to sulfoxide and sulfone, oxidative cleavage of disulfide to sulfonyl chloride and bromide, oxaziridine synthesis, and oxidative dearomatization of phenols.

A practical method for the preparation of (diacetoxyiodo)­arene ArI­(OAc)2 is described. The use of commercially available sodium hypochlorite pentahydrate (NaClO·5H2O) enabled safe, rapid, and inexpensive oxidation of iodoarenes with electron-withdrawing and -donating substituents. The method allows tandem divergent access to synthetically useful organo-λ3-iodanes such as hydroxyl­(tosyloxy)­iodobenzene, iodosylbenzene, iodonium ylide, etc.

Magnetic field effects (MFEs) on the photoinduced hydrogen abstraction reaction of benzophenone with phenol were investigated in ionic liquids (ILs) with a short alkyl chain (N,N,N-trimethyl-N-propylammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide (TMPA TFSA)) and long alkyl chains ((N,N,N-trimethyl-N-octylammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide (TMOA TFSA) and N-decyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide (DTMA TFSA)) by a nanosecond laser flash photolysis technique. In each ionic liquid, escaped radical yield of a benzophenone ketyl radical rapidly increased with increasing magnetic field strength (B) of 0 T < B≤ 0.01 T. At 0.01 T < B≤ 0.4 T, the escaped radical yield almost saturated in TMPA TFSA or gradually increased in TMOA TFSA and DTMA TFSA. At much higher fields of 0.4 T < B≤ 30 T, the yield gradually decreased, resulting in 10-15% decrease at 30 T. The observed MFEs can be explained by the hyperfine coupling and Δg mechanisms together with the relaxation mechanism. On the time profiles of the transient absorption observed for the benzophenone ketyl radical, MFEs were generated in the time range of 0 < t < 0.6 μs. The cage lifetimes of TMOA TFSA and DTMA TFSA were estimated to be at least 120 ns.