Catalytic synthesis of C-alkylimidazoles over platinum-alumina catalysts

The synthesis of C-alkylimidazoles from 1,2-diamines and carboxylic acids over bifunctional platinum—alumina catalysts has been studied. It has been shown that this method is effective for the synthesis of 2-alkyl and 2,4-dialkylimidazoles including imidazoles with long-chain alkyls. The effect of the reaction temperature, space velocity of the flow of the raw materials, and dilution by hydrogen on the yield of product has been examined for the example of the synthesis of 2-methylimidazole from ethylenediamine and acetic acid, and the stability of the catalyst in continuous reaction cycles with intermediate oxidative regeneration has been studied. The composition of the accompanying products has been established and a mechanism proposed for their formation.N. D. Zelinskii Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117913. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 4, pp. 932–940, April, 1992.     

Aromatization of Heptene-2 on Pt/Al2O3 Catalysts

Heptene-2 aromatization on Pt/Al₂O₃ in a pulse microcatalytic reactor has been studied under H₂ and N₂ atmosphere at temperatures between 330 to 500°C and at a total pressure of 4.0 kg/cm². Results showed that the production of only cracked products (mainly methane) from deep fragmentation of heptene-2 in H₂ sharply contrasts with the reaction in N₂ in which the catalyst showed aromatic selectivity with the production of methane, benzene and toluene. In H₂-N₂ mixtures, 75% H₂ was required to reduce the aromatization activity of the catalyst to zero. A test of the kinetic data using Sica's method [15] of pulse kinetic analysis suggests a first order in heptene-2 with an activation energy of 102.61 kJ/mol in N₂ and 124.71 kJ/mol in H₂. The difference in activation energies has been attributed to a difference in reaction mechanisms in both gases.     

Hydrogenation of α- and β-isocinchonines on Pt-alumina catalyst in acetic acid

Summary The transformations of a-ICN and b-ICN were studied in the presence of hydrogen in AcOH over Pt-alumina catalyst under the conditions of the enantioselective hydrogenation of EtPy (hydrogen pressure 1-30 bar, temperature 298-323 K). It was established that the quinoline skeleton of the alkaloids is hydrogenated even under mild experimental conditions, whereas hydrogenolysis of the oxazacycloalkane structure only takes place at hydrogen pressures exceeding 1 bar. ESI-MS-MS, HPLC-ESI-ion-trap MS and NMR made possible the identification of several hydrogenated cinchona alkaloid derivatives with so far unknown structures. According to these experimental results, the conformation of isocinchona alkaloids remains unchanged under the conditions of the enantioselective hydrogenation of activated ketones, making them suitable for utilization as chiral modifiers of well-defined conformation.     

Hydrogenation ofmethyl 3a-acetoxy-23-oxo-5b-cholan-24-oatecatalyzed by cinchona alkaloid-modified Pt-alumina catalyst

Summary Methyl-3α-acetoxy-23-oxo-5β-cholan-24-oate is hydrogenated with 78% enantioselection at C23 atom over Pt-alumina catalyst modified with cinchona alkaloids, in liquid phase under mild experimental conditions (293-297 K, hydrogen pressure: 1 bar, concentration of modifiers: 0.1 mmol/L, solvent: THF).