手性配体在钯催化不对称碳氢键活化反应中的应用

目前,手性配体辅助钯催化的区域和对映选择性碳氢键活化是过渡金属催化的前沿领域.在过去的十年中,它作为一种越来越重要的合成工具,用于合成含有各种不对称元素(中心手性、轴手性和平面手性)的手性分子,也是快速构建各种碳碳键和碳杂原子键的最有效方法之一.本文介绍了一些典型手性配体在钯催化不对称sp²和sp³碳氢键活化/官能团化反应中的应用,如单齿配体亚磷酰胺、手性磷酸(CPAs)和双功能氮端单保护的氨基酸(MPAAs)配体;探讨了这些手性配体辅助催化反应的创新性和特点,在理清这一研究领域发展脉络的同时,展望了未来研究工作的方向.此外,本文还介绍了这一不对称合成策略在天然产物、药物分子全合成中的应用.     

Ruthenium (II) Catalyzed C(sp2)−H Bond Alkenylation of 2-Arylbenzo[d]oxazole and 2-Arylbenzo[d]thiazole with Unactivated Olefins

Functionalization of the bio-relevant heterocycles 2-arylbenzo[d]oxazole and 2-arylbenzo[d]thiazole has been achieved through Ru(II)-catalyzed alkenylation with unactivated olefins leading to selective formation of the mono-alkenylated products. This approach has a broad substrate scope with respect to the coupling partners, affords high yields, and works for gram scale synthesis using a readily available Ru-based catalyst. Mechanistic studies reveal a C−H activation pathway for the dehydrogenative coupling leading to the alkenylation. However, the results of the ESI-MS-guided deuterium kinetic isotope effect studies indicate that the C−H activation stage may not be the rate-determining step of the reaction. The use of a radical scavenging agent such as TEMPO did not show any detrimental effect on the reaction outcome, eliminating the possibility of the involvement of a free-radical pathway.     

Adsorption of cationic methylene blue dye using microwave-assisted activated carbon derived from acacia wood: Optimization and batch studies

This study assesses the performance of optimized acacia wood-based activated carbon (AWAC) as an adsorbent for methylene blue (MB) dye removal in aqueous solution. AWAC was prepared via a physicochemical activation process that consists of potassium hydroxide (KOH) treatment, followed by carbon dioxide (CO₂) gasification under microwave heating. By using response surface methodology (RSM), the optimum preparation conditions of radiation power, radiation time, and KOH-impregnation ratio (IR) were determined to be 360 W, 4.50 min, and 0.90 g/g respectively, which resulted in 81.20 mg/g of MB dye removal and 27.96% of AWAC’s yield. Radiation power and IR had a major effect on MB dye removal while radiation power and radiation time caused the greatest impact on AWAC’s yield. BET surface area, mesopore surface area, and pore volume of optimized AWAC were found to be 1045.56 m²/g, 689.77 m²/g, and 0.54 cm³/g, respectively. Adsorption of MB onto AWAC followed Langmuir and pseudo-second order for isotherm and kinetic studies respectively, with a Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity of 338.29 mg/g. Mechanism studies revealed that the adsorption process was controlled by film diffusion mechanism and indicated to be thermodynamically exothermic in nature.     

Predicting Dinitrogen Activation via Transition-Metal-Involved [4+2] Cycloaddition Reaction

As the strongest triple bond in nature, the N≡N triple bond activation has always been a challenging project in chemistry. On the other hand, since the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1950, the Diels-Alder reaction has served as a powerful and widely applied tool in the synthesis of natural products and new materials. However, the application of the Diels-Alder reaction to dinitrogen activation remains less developed. Here we first demonstrate that a transition-metal-involved [4+2] Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction could be used to activate dinitrogen without an additional reductant by density functional theory calculations. Further study reveals that such a dinitrogen activation by 1-metalla-1,3-dienes screened out from a series of transition metal complexes (38 species) according to the effects of metal center, ligand, and substituents can become favorable both thermodynamically (with an exergonicity of 28.2 kcal mol⁻¹) and kinetically (with an activation energy as low as 13.8 kcal mol⁻¹). Our findings highlight an important application of the Diels-Alder reaction in dinitrogen activation, inviting experimental chemists’ verification.     

Switch From Pauli-Lowering to LUMO-Lowering Catalysis in Brønsted Acid-Catalyzed Aza-Diels-Alder Reactions

Brønsted acid-catalyzed inverse-electron demand (IED) aza-Diels-Alder reactions between 2-aza-dienes and ethylene were studied using quantum chemical calculations. The computed activation energy systematically decreases as the basic sites of the diene progressively become protonated. Our activation strain and Kohn-Sham molecular orbital analyses traced the origin of this enhanced reactivity to i) “Pauli-lowering catalysis” for mono-protonated 2-aza-dienes due to the induction of an asynchronous, but still concerted, reaction pathway that reduces the Pauli repulsion between the reactants; and ii) “LUMO-lowering catalysis” for multi-protonated 2-aza-dienes due to their highly stabilized LUMO(s) and more concerted synchronous reaction path that facilitates more efficient orbital overlaps in IED interactions. In all, we illustrate how the novel concept of “Pauli-lowering catalysis” can be overruled by the traditional concept of “LUMO-lowering catalysis” when the degree of LUMO stabilization is extreme as in the case of multi-protonated 2-aza-dienes.     

A New Approach for Controlling Mesoporosity in Activated Carbon by the Consecutive Process of Air Oxidation,Thermal Destruction of Surface Functional Groups,and Carbon Activation (the OTA Method)

A new and simple method, based entirely on a physical approach, was proposed to produce activated carbon from longan fruit seed with controlled mesoporosity. This method, referred to as the OTA, consisted of three consecutive steps of (1) air oxidation of initial microporous activated carbon of about 30% char burn-off to introduce oxygen surface functional groups, (2) the thermal destruction of the functional groups by heating the oxidized carbon in a nitrogen atmosphere at a high temperature to increase the surface reactivity due to increased surface defects by bond disruption, and (3) the final reactivation of the resulting carbon in carbon dioxide. The formation of mesopores was achieved through the enlargement of the original micropores after heat treatment via the CO₂ gasification, and at the same time new micropores were also produced, resulting in a larger increase in the percentage of mesopore volume and the total specific surface area, in comparison with the production of activated carbon by the conventional two-step activation method using the same activation time and temperature. For the activation temperatures of 850 and 900 °C and the activation time of up to 240 min, it was found that the porous properties of activated carbon increased with the increase in activation time and temperature for both preparation methods. A maximum volume of mesopores of 0.474 cm³/g, which accounts for 44.1% of the total pore volume, and a maximum BET surface area of 1773 m²/g was achieved using three cycles of the OTA method at the activation temperature of 850 °C and 60 min activation time for each preparation cycle. The two-step activation method yielded activated carbon with a maximum mesopore volume of 0.270 cm³/g (33.0% of total pore volume) and surface area of 1499 m²/g when the activation temperature of 900 °C and a comparable activation time of 240 min were employed. Production of activated carbon by the OTA method is superior to the two-step activation method for better and more precise control of mesopore development.     

Rational Development of a Metal-Free Bifunctional System for the C−H Activation of Methane: A Density Functional Theory Investigation

The activation or heterolytic splitting of methane, a challenging substrate usually restricted to transition metals, has so far proven elusive in experimental frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) chemistry. In this article, we demonstrate, using density functional theory (DFT), that 1-aza-9-boratriptycene is a conceptually simple intramolecular FLP for the activation of methane. Systematic comparison with other FLP systems allows to gain insight into their reactivity with methane. The thermodynamics and kinetics of methane activation are interpreted by referring to the analysis of the natural charges and by employing the distortion-interaction/activation strain (DIAS) model. These showed that the nature of the Lewis base influences the selectivity over the reaction pathway, with N Lewis bases favoring the deprotonation mechanism and P bases the hydride abstraction one. The lower barrier of activation for 1-aza-9-boratriptycene and the higher products stability are due to a better interaction energy than its counterparts, itself due to electrostatic interactions with the methane moiety, favorable orbital overlaps allowed by the side-attack, and space proximity between the B and N atoms.     

Solubility,volumetric properties and viscosity of the sustainable systems of liquid poly(ethylene glycol) 200 with imidazolium- and phosphonium-based ionic liquids: Cation and anion effects

In this work, solubility, volumetric and viscosity behavior were studied for the systems containing the environmentally acceptable compounds: liquid poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG200) and three ionic liquids: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([C₄mim][dca]), trihexyltetradecyl phosphonium dicyanamide ([P_6,6,6,14][dca]) and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis{(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl}amide ([C₆mim][NTf₂]). The studies were performed in a temperature range (288.15 to 328.15) K and at a pressure of 0.1 MPa. For the only system that evidenced limited miscibility, namely (PEG200 + [P_6,6,6,14][dca]), the temperature-composition phase diagram at 0.1 MPa was determined, mapping the existing one- and two-phase regions. In the homogeneous region of this diagram, densities and viscosities were measured and the excess molar volumes, as well as deviations in viscosity were calculated. For the other two systems, as they are always homogeneous in the temperature ranges of the present work, these measurements and calculations were performed in the full range of compositions. The molecular interactions in the studied systems were scrutinized using the obtained excess molar volumes, deviations of viscosity, as well as Kamlet–Taft parameters of PEG200 and the ionic liquids. In addition, the excess molar Gibbs free energies of activation of viscous flow and the related enthalpies and entropies were calculated and introduced to take into consideration the differences in size of the molecules.     

Dividing a complex reaction involving a hypervalent iodine reagent into three limiting mechanisms by ab initio molecular dynamics

The electrophilic N‐trifluoromethylation of MeCN with a hypervalent iodine reagent to form a nitrilium ion, that is rapidly trapped by an azole nucleophile, is thought to occur via reductive elimination (RE). A recent study showed that, depending on the solvent representation, the S_N2 is favoured to a different extent over the RE. However, there is a discriminative solvent effect present, which calls for a statistical mechanics approach to fully account for the entropic contributions. In this study, we perform metadynamic simulations for two trifluoromethylation reactions (with N‐ and S‐nucleophiles), showing that the RE mechanism is always favoured in MeCN solution. These computations also indicate that a radical mechanism (single electron transfer) may play an important role. The computational protocol based on accelerated molecular dynamics for the exploration of the free energy surface is transferable and will be applied to similar reactions to investigate other electrophiles on the reagent. Based on the activation parameters determined, this approach also gives insight into the mechanistic details of the trifluoromethylation and shows that these commonly known mechanisms mark the limits within which the reaction proceeds. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

介质阻挡放电甲醇脱氢偶联一步合成乙二醇反应中氢气的催化作用

利用原位发射光谱表征和在线色谱分析,研究了甲醇介质阻挡放电脱氢偶联一步合成乙二醇反应中氢气的催化作用,考察了放电频率、甲醇和氢气进料量以及反应压力的影响.结果表明,在介质阻挡放电产生的非平衡等离子体中,H2不但能显著提高甲醇转化率,而且能显著提高乙二醇的选择性.在300°C,0.1 MPa,反应器注入功率为11 W,放电频率为12.0 k Hz,甲醇气体进料量为11.1 m L/min,氢气进料量为80–180 m L/min的条件下,甲醇转化率接近30%,乙二醇选择性大于75%.乙二醇收率与激发态氢原子的Hα谱线强度之间存在同增同减关系.由此推测,氢原子是起催化作用的活性氢物种.活性氢物种的生成途径是:基态氢分子通过与电子碰撞变成激发态,激发态氢分子通过第一激发态氢自动解离为基态氢原子.放电反应条件通过影响氢分子解离来影响氢气的催化作用.氢气在非平衡等离子体中显示的催化作用有可能为开辟新的化学合成途径提供重要机遇.