Gold(I) complexes bearing P-pyrrole phosphine ligands: Synthesis and catalytic activity towards cycloisomerization of 1,6-enynes

P-pyrrole phosphines (R₂Ppyr), in which a pyrrole group is directly bonded to the phosphorus atom, act as monodentate k-P ligands towards gold(I) center to afford either neutral or cationic mononuclear complexes as well as neutral dinuclear complexes. All of these new gold(I) complexes have been structurally characterized and their first uses in catalysis have demonstrated their effectiveness as precatalysts for the enyne cycloisomerization reactions.     

Alkyne/Alkene/Allene‐Induced Disproportionation of Cationic Gold(I) Catalyst

The first detailed experimental study of the deactivation of cationic gold was conducted, and the influence of each component in the reaction system (substrate, counterion, solvent) on the decay process was examined. It was found that a substrate (alkyne/allene/alkene)‐induced disproportionation of gold(I) may play a key role in the decay process. Our mechanism is supported by kinetic, XPS, voltammetry studies, and high‐resolution ESI‐MS data.     

Highly Efficient Reusable Sponge‐Type Catalyst Carriers Based on Short Electrospun Fibers

This study reports on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) immobilized in a sponge made of short electrospun fibers (Au‐sponge), which show surprisingly high reaction rates at extremely low gold amount. Au‐sponges are made by freeze‐drying of dispersions of short electrospun fibers with preimmobilization of AuNPs. The resulting Au‐sponges show very low densities around 7 mg cm⁻³ corresponding to a pore volume of about 150 mL g⁻¹, but low surface area and very low amount of AuNPs in the range of 0.29–3.56 wt%. In general, catalysts with immobilized AuNPs show much low reaction rates compared to systems with dispersed AuNPs. By contrast, the Au‐sponge catalyst with immobilized AuNPs is discerned here as an extremely efficient catalyst even superior to other systems with dispersed AuNPs. The fidelity of the Au‐sponges after reactions is good enough for manifold use and thereby provides a sustainable catalyst design as well.

     

Cationic Gold(I) Complexes: Highly Efficient Catalysts for the Addition of Alcohols to Alkynes

Gold complexes are almost unknown in homogeneous catalysis , and for a long time gold was even thought of as “catalytically dead”. This is clearly not the case for cationic phosphanegold(I ) complexes (see reaction below), which can catalyze the addition of alcohols to alkynes with turnover frequencies up to 1.5 s⁻¹ and total turnover numbers up to 10⁵! R=H, alkyl, Ph, CH₂OH.     

Porous Silica‐Coated Gold Nanorods: A Highly Active Catalyst for the Reduction of 4‐Nitrophenol

The successful coating of thin porous silica layers of various thicknesses [(10±1), (12±1), and (14±1) nm] on cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) capped gold nanorods was achieved through a modified Stöber procedure. The resulting material was applied as a novel catalyst for the reduction of 4‐nitrophenol. The catalytic activities of the gold nanorods increased up to eight times after coating with a layer of porous silica and the reaction followed a zero‐order kinetics, having a rate constant as high as 2.92×10^?1 mol L^?1 min^?1. The spectral changes during the reduction reaction of 4‐nitrophenol were observed within a very short span of time and a complete conversion to 4‐aminophenol occured within 5–6 mins, including the induction period of ≈2 mins. The reusability of the catalyst was studied by running the catalytic reaction during five consecutive cycles with good efficiency without destroying the nanostructure. The methodology can be effectively applied to the development of composite catalysts with highly enhanced catalytic activity.     

Air‐Stable Cationic Gold(I) Catalyst Featuring a Z‐Type Ligand: Promoting Enyne Cyclizations

An air‐stable cationic Au^I complex featuring a Z‐type ligand (boron atom) as a σ‐acceptor was developed for elucidating the effect of B on catalytic reactions. An enyne cyclization in the presence of either [Au→B]⁺ or [Au]⁺ showed that [Au→B]⁺ promotes the reactivity, which enabled the effective construction of not only five‐ and six‐membered rings, but also seven‐membered rings.     

Elementary Steps of Gold Catalysis: NMR Spectroscopy Reveals the Highly Cationic Character of a “Gold Carbenoid”

What are you? Even though the metal‐induced ring opening of 3,3‐disubstituted cyclopropenes is known to serve as a genuine carbene generator, the use of Au^I in this reaction leads to a reactive intermediate with highly cationic character. This result has important implications for gold catalysis in general, which in the past has been commonly attributed to the intervention of gold carbenes.

     

Highly Efficient and Stereoselective Thioallylation of Alkynes: Possible Gold Redox Catalysis with No Need for a Strong Oxidant

Stereoselective thioallylation of alkynes under possible gold redox catalysis was accomplished with high efficiency (as low as 0.1 % catalyst loading, up to 99 % yield) and broad substrate scope (various alkynes, inter‐ and intramolecular fashion). The gold(I) catalyst acts as both a π‐acid for alkyne activation and a redox catalyst for Au^I/III coupling, whereas the sulfonium cation generated in situ functions as a mild oxidant. This novel methodology provides an exciting system for gold redox catalysis without the need for a strong oxidant.     

对烷氧基取代 MeO-BIPHEP 型手性双膦钌配合物催化 β-酮酸酯不对称加氢反应

 报道了对烷氧基取代的 MeO-BIPHEP 型手性双膦配体钌配合物催化的β-酮酸酯不对称加氢反应, 考察了反应温度、压力、底物/催化剂摩尔比和溶剂对反应的影响. 结果表明, 在乙醇中该配合物催化 3-丁酮酸乙酯加氢反应的对映选择性达 98.0%,且对含不同取代基的β-酮酸酯均表现出较高的活性和对映选择性.     

A Switchable Gold Catalyst by Encapsulation in a Self‐Assembled Cage

Dinuclear gold complexes have the ability to interact with one or more substrates in a dual‐activation mode, leading to different reactivity and selectivity than their mononuclear relatives. In this contribution, this difference was used to control the catalytic properties of a gold‐based catalytic system by site‐isolation of mononuclear gold complexes by selective encapsulation. The typical dual‐activation mode is prohibited by this catalyst encapsulation, leading to typical behavior as a result of mononuclear activation. This strategy can be used as a switch (on/off) for a catalytic reaction and also permits reversible control over the product distribution during the course of a reaction.     

复合仿生催化体系的构建与高效有氧氧化芳基烷烃

直接活化氧气氧化碳氢化合物是件挑战性的研究工作。根据生物酶很容易在温和条件下实现上述反应,以Keggin-型杂多酸[CuPW_(11)O_(39)]5-(简写为CuPW_(11))与金属-有机框架材料HKUST-1形成的复合材料Cu PW_(11)@HKUST-1为催化剂,以N-羟基邻苯二甲酰亚胺为助催化剂,构建模拟酶催化氧化反应体系。其中,CuPW_(11)@HKUST-1中的杂多酸作为氧化还原中心,N-羟基邻苯二甲酰亚胺作为电子供体。该复合模拟酶催化体系在催化活化氧气氧化芳基烷烃的反应中表现出了类似生物酶催化的性质,具有反应条件温和、转化率高、转化数高和选择性高等特点,其中产物产率与转化数分别高达99%和17700,为实现在温和条件下高效活化氧气氧化惰性有机物分子提供了一条切实可行的路线。     

A New Type of Chiral Sulfinamide Monophosphine Ligands: Stereodivergent Synthesis and Application in Enantioselective Gold(I)‐Catalyzed Cycloaddition Reactions

A simple, new type of chiral sulfinamide monophosphines, the so‐called Ming‐Phos ligands, is reported; these ligands could be easily prepared from inexpensive and commercially available starting materials. The Ming‐Phos ligands performed well in the enantioselective gold‐catalyzed cycloaddition reaction of 2‐(1‐alkynyl)‐alk‐2‐en‐1‐ones with nitrones. Both enantiomers of the products could be obtained in good yields and with excellent diastereo‐ and enantioselectivity through transformations that were catalyzed by gold complexes derived from two diastereomers of Ming‐Phos ligand M5 (Ar=1‐naphthyl).     

Direct Metallization of Gold Nanoparticles on a Polystyrene Bead Surface using Cationic Gold Ligands

Gold nanoparticles are formed to cover the surface of sulfonated‐polystyrene (PS) beads by the in‐situ ion‐exchange and chemical reduction of a stable cationic gold ligand, which makes it different from the physical adsorption or multiple electroless metallization methods. PS beads are synthesized by dispersion polymerization with a diameter of 2.7 µm, and their surface is modified by introducing sulfonic acid groups (SO) to give an ion exchange capacity of up to 2.25 mequiv. · g⁻¹, which provides 1.289 × 10¹⁰ SO per bead. Subsequently, the anionic surface of the PS beads is incorporated with a cationic gold ligand, dichlorophenanthrolinegold(III) chloride ([AuCl₂(phen)]Cl), through an electrostatic interaction in the liquid phase to give gold nanoparticles (ca. 1–4 nm in diameter) formed on the PS surface. Assuming that approximately three SO groups interact with one [AuCl₂(phen)]⁺ ion in the ion‐exchange process, the gold coverage on a PS bead is estimated as 12.0 wt.‐%, which compares well with the 16.8 wt.‐% of gold loading measured by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. Because of the adjustable IEC values of the polymer surface and the in‐situ metallization of Au in the presence of S atoms, both of which are of a soft nature, the developed methodology could provide a simple and controllable route to synthesize a robust metal coating on the polymer bead surface.

     

Acidic Co‐Catalysts in Cationic Gold Catalysis

A systematic study on the effects of Lewis or Brønsted acid co‐catalysts in gold‐catalyzed reactions was undertaken using representative reactions (O‐, N‐, and C‐nucleophilic additions to alkynes). Through these reactions, it was demonstrated that an acidic co‐catalyst can increase the catalyst turnover significantly, enabling practical reaction rates at competitive catalyst loadings (<1 mol %). Further investigation is currently underway to improve the understanding of the subtle principles underlying these experimental observations.     

Recent Advances in the Development of Chiral Gold Complexes for Catalytic Asymmetric Catalysis

Asymmetric gold catalysis has been rapidly developed in the past ten years. Breakthroughs have been made by rational design and meticulous selection of chiral ligands. This review summarizes newly developed gold-catalyzed enantioselective organic transformations and recent progress in ligand design (since 2016), organized according to different types of chiral ligands, including bisphosphine ligands, monophosphine ligands, phosphite-derived ligands, and N-heterocyclic carbene ligands for asymmetric gold(I) catalysis as well as heterocyclic carbene ligands and oxazoline ligands for asymmetric gold(III) catalysis.     

Efficient Computation of Geometries for Gold Complexes

Computationally obtaining structural parameters along a reaction coordinate is commonly performed with Kohn-Sham density functional theory which generally provides a good balance between speed and accuracy. However, CPU times still range from inconvenient to prohibitive, depending on the size of the system under study. Herein, the tight binding GFN2-xTB method [C. Bannwarth, S. Ehlert, S. Grimme, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2019 , 15, 1652] is investigated as an alternative to produce reasonable geometries along a reaction path, that is, reactant, product and transition state structures for a series of transformations involving gold complexes. A small mean error (1 kcal/mol) was found, with respect to an efficient composite hybrid-GGA exchange-correlation functional (PBEh-3c) paired with a double-ζ basis set, which is 2–3 orders of magnitude slower. The outlined protocol may serve as a rapid tool to probe the viability of proposed mechanistic pathways in the field of gold catalysis.     

Studies on the Recycling Efficiency of Thermoregulated Phase-separable Rh/PETPP Complex Catalyst

Effects on the recycling efficiency of thermoregulated phase-separable Rh/PETPP(P-[p-C6H4O(CH2CH2O)nH]3,N=3n) complex catalyst involved in hydroformylation of 1-decene are for the first time presented.It was found that the loss of Rh is dependent greatly on the composition of phosphine ligand PETPP and the organic solvent employed in the reaction.     

Cationic NHC-Phosphine Iridium Complexes: Highly Active Catalysts for Base-Free Hydrogenation of Ketones

Novel bidentate N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphine iridium complexes have been synthesized and evaluated in the hydrogenation of ketones. Reported catalytic systems require base additives and, if excluded, need elevated temperature or high pressure of hydrogen gas to achieve satisfactory reactivity. The developed catalysts showed extremely high reactivity and good enantioselectivity under base-free and mild conditions. In the presence of 1 mol % catalyst under 1 bar hydrogen pressure at room temperature, hydrogenation was complete in 30 minutes giving up to 96 % ee. Again, this high reactivity was achieved in additive-free conditions. Mechanistic experiments demonstrated that balloon pressure of hydrogen was sufficient to form the activate species by reducing and eliminating the 1,5-cyclooctadiene ligand. The pre-activated catalyst was able to hydrogenate acetophenone with 89 % conversion in 5 min.