Treatment of alcohols with tert-butyl hydroperoxide in the presence of diaryl diselenide in refluxing benzene gives the corresponding aldehydes or ketones. Although some allylic alcohols undergo oxidation in the presence of 10-15 mol% of bis (p-chlorophenyl) diselenide, use of 0.5 equiv of bis (2, 4, 6-trimethylphenyl) diselenide gives satisfactory results in almost all cases. The procedure can be used for selective oxidation of alcohols ...