Asymmetric Hydrogenation with Iridium C,N and N,P Ligand Complexes: Characterization of Dihydride Intermediates with a Coordinated Alkene

Previously elusive iridium dihydride alkene complexes have been identified and characterized by NMR spectroscopy in solution. Reactivity studies demonstrated that these complexes are catalytically competent intermediates. Additional H₂ is required to convert the catalyst‐bound alkene into the hydrogenation product, supporting an Ir^III/Ir^V cycle via an [Ir^III(H)₂(alkene)(H₂)(L)]⁺ intermediate, as originally proposed based on DFT calculations. NMR analyses indicate a reaction pathway proceeding through rapidly equilibrating isomeric dihydride alkene intermediates with a subsequent slow enantioselectivity‐determining step. As in the classical example of asymmetric hydrogenation with rhodium diphosphine catalysts, it is a minor, less stable intermediate that is converted into the major product enantiomer.     

反应控制相转移催化原位过氧化氢环氧化丙烯反应

 以原位 H₂O₂ 为氧源, 在新型反应控制相转移催化剂 (RCPTC) 作用下丙烯环氧化反应中, 考察了反应温度、反应时间、H₂O₂ 浓度和催化剂浓度对反应性能的影响. 结果表明, 在适宜的反应条件下, RCPTC 催化剂循环使用 5 次后, 环氧丙烷产率仍维持在 85.6% 以上, 且催化剂循环反应 3 次后, 其组成趋于稳定.     

Asymmetric epoxidation of 6-cyano-2,2-dimethylchromene on Mn(salen) catalyst immobilized in mesoporous materials

This article reports our recent work on the heterogeneous asymmetric epoxidation catalyzed by chiral Mn(salen) catalyst axially immobilized via phenoxyl groups and organic sulfonic groups. The asymmetric epoxidation of 6-cyano-2,2-dimethylchromene was especially presented in detail. The factors that affected the asymmetric induction, such as the nanopores and the external surface, the linkage length, and the modification of nanopores with methyl groups were discussed. It was found that the enantioselectivities increased with decreasing the nanopore sizes or increasing the linkage length in nanopore, and the Mn(salen) catalyst immobilized into nanopores generally gave higher ee values than those on the external surface. The heterogeneous Mn(salen) catalysts with modified nanopores gave a TOF of 14.8 h⁻¹ and an ee value of 90.6% for the asymmetric epoxidation of 6-cyano-2,2-dimethylchromene, which were higher than the results (TOF 10.8 h⁻¹, ee 80.1%) obtained for the homogeneous catalyst.     

Enantioselective total syntheses of (+)-decursin and related natural compounds using catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of an enone

The enantioselective total syntheses of (+)-decursin (1) and related natural dihydropyranocoumarins (−)-prantschimgin (3), (+)-decursinol (4), and (+)-marmesin (5) were achieved for the first time using catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of an enone as the key step. Catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of the enone was effectively promoted by the novel multifunctional asymmetric catalyst generated from La(O-i-Pr)₃, BINOL, and Ph₃AsO in a 1:1:1 ratio to afford epoxide in 94% yield and 96% ee, which was recrystallized to give optically pure epoxide. After conversion to the common key intermediate (−)-peucedanol (7), all natural dihydropyranocoumarins were synthesized through palladium-catalyzed intramolecular C-O coupling reactions. A possible reaction mechanism of the catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of enones is also described based on X-ray analysis, laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, kinetic studies, and asymmetric amplification studies.     

Asymmetric Allylation of Ketones and Subsequent Tandem Reactions Catalyzed by a Novel Polymer‐Supported Titanium–BINOLate Complex

By using a novel, simple, and convenient synthetic route, enantiopure 6‐ethynyl‐BINOL (BINOL=1,1‐binaphthol) was synthesized and anchored to an azidomethylpolystyrene resin through a copper‐catalyzed alkyne–azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction. The polystyrene (PS)‐supported BINOL ligand was converted into its diisopropoxytitanium derivative in situ and used as a heterogeneous catalyst in the asymmetric allylation of ketones. The catalyst showed good activity and excellent enantioselectivity, typically matching the results obtained in the corresponding homogeneous reaction. The allylation reaction mixture could be submitted to epoxidation by simple treatment with tert‐butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP), and the tandem asymmetric allylation epoxidation process led to a highly enantioenriched epoxy alcohol with two adjacent quaternary centers as a single diastereomer. A tandem asymmetric allylation/Pauson–Khand reaction was also performed, involving simple treatment of the allylation reaction mixture with Co₂(CO)₈/N‐methyl morpholine N‐oxide. This cascade process resulted in the formation of two diastereomeric tricyclic enones in high yields and enantioselectivities.     

Imidazolium-modified poly(l-leucine) catalyst: an efficient and recoverable catalyst for Juliá-Colonna reactions

A novel, easily recyclable imidazolium-modified poly(amino acid) catalyst was prepared. This catalyst exhibits high activity for the asymmetric epoxidation of α,β-unsaturated ketones without any pre-activation. The enantioselectivity was up to 99% ee for epoxidation of p-methoxychalcone. Compared to classical Juliá-Colonna catalysts, this insoluble, powdery catalyst can dramatically reduce the reaction time and can be easily recycled by a simple filtration after the reaction. More importantly, the recycled catalyst has been successfully reused for seven cycles without deterioration in catalytic efficiency.     

A Cinchona Alkaloid‐Functionalized Mesostructured Silica for Construction of Enriched Chiral β‐Trifluoromethyl‐β‐Hydroxy Ketones over An Epoxidation‐Relay Reduction Process

A cinchona alkaloid‐functionalized heterogeneous catalyst is prepared through a thiol‐ene click reaction of chiral N‐(3,5‐ditrifluoromethylbenzyl)quininium bromide and a mesostructured silica, which is obtained by co‐condensation of 1,2‐bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane and 3‐(triethoxysilyl)propane‐1‐thiol. Structural analyses and characterizations disclose its well‐defined chiral single‐site active center, and electron microscopy images reveal its monodisperse property. As a heterogenous catalyst, it enables an efficient asymmetric epoxidation of achiral β‐trifluoromethyl‐β,β‐disubstituted enones, the obtained chiral products can then be converted easily into enriched chiral β‐trifluoromethyl‐β‐hydroxy ketones through a sequential epoxidation‐relay reduction process. Furthermore, such a heterogeneous catalyst can be recovered conveniently and reused in asymmetric epoxidation of 4,4,4‐trifluoro‐1,3‐diphenylbut‐2‐enone, showing an attractive feature in a practical construction of enriched chiral β‐CF₃‐substituted molecules.     

Enantioselective epoxidation of non-functionalised alkenes using a urea–hydrogen peroxide oxidant and a dimeric homochiral Mn(III)-Schiff base complex catalyst

The catalytic enantioselective epoxidation of chromenes, indene and styrene using a urea–hydrogen peroxide adduct as an oxidising agent and the novel dimeric homochiral Mn(III)-Schiff base catalyst 1 has been investigated in the presence of carboxylate salts and nitrogen and oxygen coordinating co-catalysts. Conversions of more than 99% were obtained with all alkenes except styrene. Absolute chiral induction, as determined by ¹H NMR using the chiral shift reagent (+)-Eu(hfc)₃, was obtained in the case of nitro- and cyanochromene. The catalyst could be re-used for up to five cycles with some loss of activity due to degradation of the catalyst under epoxidation condition with retention of e.e.'s.     

Asymmetric epoxidation of (Z)-enol esters catalyzed by titanium(salalen) complex with aqueous hydrogen peroxide

Titanium(salalen) complex 1 was an effective catalyst for asymmetric epoxidation of enol esters. Although (E)-enol esters were reluctant to proceed, (Z)-enol esters underwent asymmetric epoxidation to give the epoxides in high yields with high enantioselectivity ranging from 86 to >99% ee in the presence of aqueous hydrogen peroxide as the stoichiometric oxidant. Complete enantioselectivity was observed in the reaction of (Z)-3,3-dimethylbut-1-en-1-yl 4-methoxybenzoate. The obtained epoxide was readily transformed into the corresponding 1,2-diol by reduction with lithium borohydride without erosion of the high enantiomeric excess.     

Asymmetric epoxidation of cis-alkenes with arabinose-derived ketones: enantioselective synthesis of the side chain of Taxol

The ee values of asymmetric epoxidation of cis-ethyl cinnamate 15 with arabinose-derived ketones as catalyst and Oxone^® as the terminal oxidant were found to increase inversely with the size of the catalyst acetal blocking group. Ketone catalyst 2, with the least bulky methoxy acetal group, displayed the best enantioselectivity and afforded ethyl (2R,3R)-3-phenylglycidate 16 in 68% ee. Epoxide 16 was readily converted into a protected side chain of Taxol^® in five steps with an overall yield of 89%. The enantioselectivity of the epoxidation of other cis-alkenes was moderate to poor.     

Catalytic Asymmetric Epoxidation of α,β‐Unsaturated Esters with Chiral Yttrium–Biaryldiol Complexes

The full details of the asymmetric epoxidation of α,β‐unsaturated esters catalyzed by yttrium complexes with biaryldiol ligands are described. An yttrium–biphenyldiol catalyst, generated from Y(OiPr)₃–biphenyldiol ligand–triphenylarsine oxide (1:1:1), is suitable for the epoxidation of various α,β‐unsaturated esters. With this catalyst, β‐aryl α,β‐unsaturated esters gave high enantioselectivities and good yields (≤99 % ee). The reactivity of this catalyst is good, and the catalyst loading could be decreased to as little as 0.5–2 mol % (the turnover number was up to 116), while high enantiomeric excesses were maintained. For β‐alkyl α,β‐unsaturated esters, an yttrium–binol catalyst, generated from Y(OiPr)₃–binol ligand–triphenylphosphine oxide (1:1:2), gave the best enantioselectivities (≤97 % ee). The utility of the epoxidation reaction was demonstrated in an efficient synthesis of (?)‐ragaglitazar, a potential antidiabetes agent.     

Synthesis of titanium–triazine based MCM-41 hybrid materials as catalyst for the asymmetric epoxidation of cinammyl alcohol

A molecular precursor approach involving tethering procedures was used to produce site isolated titanium-supported asymmetric epoxidation catalysts. This was done by first modifying the support in one step with a mixture of silanes: the synthesized triazine propyl triethoxysilane as functional linker and hexamethyldisilizane as capped agent, to increase the hydrophobicity of the support and mask the remaining silanol groups. In addition, [Ti(OPrⁱ)₄] and [{Ti(OPrⁱ)₃(OMent)}₂] (MentO = 1R,2S,5R-(−)-menthoxo) complexes were heterogenized by reaction with the modified MCM-41. Finally, after [Ti(OPrⁱ)₄] immobilization on to the organomodified support the reaction with the chiral auxiliary (+)-diethyl-l-tartrate was accomplished. All the materials were characterized by elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption techniques, FT-IR, ICP-MS, DR-UV–vis, ²⁹Si and ¹³C MAS NMR and TGA. The different systems were tested in the asymmetric epoxidation of cinnamyl alcohol in order to evaluate their catalytic activity and enantioselectivity.     

A Homogeneous Chiral Manganese(III)–Salphe Catalyst for Enantioselective Epoxidation of Olefins

A new chiral Mn(III)–Salphe catalyst was synthesized from natural amino acid (R)-phenylalanine and 3,5-di-tert-butyl-hydroxybenzaldehyde and applied to the asymmetric epoxidations of unfunctionalized olefins in ionic liquids. Satisfactory enantioselectivities (79% < ee < 93%) and good yields were achieved when NaClO was used as oxidant. We found that both the pH value (11.3) and reaction temperature (15 °C) were crucial for the epoxidation reactions. In our reaction system, NH₄OAc was unnecessary. We proposed that alcoholic hydroxyls in the Mn(III)–Salphe compound played the role of axial ligand. However, the reaction time was longer than when using Jacobsen's catalyst because of the structure of the Mn(III)–Salphe compound, in which coordination geometries by the two alcoholic hydroxyls with certain angles affected the substrate approaching the Mn(V) = 0 center. The chiral ligand was characterized by the combination of infrared, ultraviolet, and visible spectra and ¹H NMR.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthetic Communications® to view the free supplemental file.     

A simple and effective catalytic system for epoxidation of aliphatic terminal alkenes with manganese(II) as the catalyst

A simple catalytic system that uses commercially available manganese(II) perchlorate as the catalyst and peracetic acid as the oxidant is found to be very effective in the epoxidation of aliphatic terminal alkenes with high product selectivity at ambient temperature. Many terminal alkenes are epoxidised efficiently on a gram scale in less than an hour to give excellent yields of isolated product (>90 %) of epoxides in high purity. Kinetic studies with some C9-alkenes show that the catalytic system is more efficient in epoxidising terminal alkenes than internal alkenes, which is contrary to most commonly known epoxidation systems. The reaction rate for epoxidation decreases in the order: 1-nonene>cis-3-nonene>trans-3-nonene. ESI-MS and EPR spectroscopic studies suggest that the active form of the catalyst is a high-valent oligonuclear manganese species, which probably functions as the oxygen atom-transfer agent in the epoxidation reaction.     

Catalytic Performance of Amorphous Ti/SiO2 in the Gas-Phase Epoxidation of Propylene with H2O2

The epoxidation of propylene with dilute H₂O₂ aqueous solution over titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) zeolite catalyst is a green chemical reaction for propylene oxide (PO) production. Carrying out the reaction in gas-phase can get rid of problems caused by using methanol solvent. This paper reports an attempt of using non-zeolite catalyst for the gas-phase epoxidation. Amorphous Ti/SiO₂, obtained by grafting amorphous SiO₂ with TCl₄ in ethanol solvent in a chemical liquid-phase deposition (CLD) process, has been used as the catalyst. Results show that the CLD Ti/SiO₂ with appropriate Si/Ti molar ratio is an active catalyst for gas-phase epoxidation, achieving 9.8 % propylene conversion and 66.9 % PO selectivity with 40.3 % H₂O₂ utilization, which indicates that this amorphous Ti/SiO₂ catalyst deserves extensive studies in the future.     

Diimino Nickel Complex Anchored into the MOF Cavity as Catalyst for Epoxidation of Chalcones and Bischalcones

Nickel-pyridylimine complex was incorporated into (Cr)NH₂-MIL-101 through condensation of 2-pyridine carboxaldehyde and NiCl₂ in presence of (Cr)NH₂-MIL-101-MOF in a one pot method. The prepared catalyst was characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM and NMR methods. The obtained catalyst demonstrates an appropriate pattern for a post-synthetic covalent modification with catalytic active sites. This heterogeneous catalyst showed efficiency in the epoxidation reaction of chalcones and bischalcones, and exhibited appropriate recyclability, rather short reaction times and high yields.     

Titanium Salalen Catalyzed Enantioselective Benzylic Hydroxylation

The titanium complex of the cis-1,2-diaminocyclohexane (cis-DACH) derived Berkessel-salalen ligand is a highly efficient and enantioselective catalyst for the asymmetric epoxidation of terminal olefins with hydrogen peroxide (“Berkessel-Katsuki catalyst”). We herein report that this epoxidation catalyst also effects the highly enantioselective hydroxylation of benzylic C−H bonds with hydrogen peroxide. Mechanism-based ligand optimization identified a novel nitro-salalen Ti-catalyst of the highest efficiency ever reported for asymmetric catalytic benzylic hydroxylation, with enantioselectivities of up to 98 % ee, while overoxidation to ketone is marginal. The novel nitro-salalen Ti-catalyst also shows enhanced epoxidation efficiency, as evidenced by e.g. the conversion of 1-decene to its epoxide in 90 % yield with 94 % ee, at a catalyst loading of 0.1 mol-% only.     

Synthesis,structural characterization,and catalytic reactivity of a new molybdenum(VI) complex containing 1,3,4-thiadiazole derivative as a tridentate NNO donor ligand

A new cis-dioxo molybdenum(VI) complex was obtained by reaction of 2,4-dihydroxybenzylidene(5-N,N-methylphenylamino-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)hydrazone as ligand and [MoO₂(acac)₂] in methanol and was characterized by elemental analyses, ¹H NMR, IR, and electronic spectroscopic studies. The complex was also analyzed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure determination revealed a distorted octahedral coordination geometry around molybdenum in which the tridentate NNO donor (L^2–) is bonded to [MoO₂]²⁺ through phenolic oxygen, hydrazinic nitrogen, and thiadiazole nitrogen. The sixth coordination site is occupied by a weakly bonded methanol. The complex was tested as a catalyst for homogeneous epoxidation of olefins using tert-butyl hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant. In the homogeneous catalytic system, the reactions are efficiently carried out with high yields and selectivity.     

在水中由钼(VI)或钨(VI)吡啶醇络合物进行的顺丙烯膦酸的异相催化不对称环氧化

合成了手性吡啶醇二氧合钼(VI)及二氧合钨(VI)配合物, 采用这两种配合物作为催化剂, 实现了在水中对顺丙烯膦酸(CPPA)的催化不对称环氧化. 这两种催化剂不溶于水, 因此, 这是一个发生在固液两相界面上的异相催化不对称环氧化反应. 其中手性吡啶醇二氧合钼在0 ℃下的对映选择性ee值达到71%; 加入相转移催化剂四正丁基溴化铵, 催化剂的活性和对映选择性有显著提高, 其中手性吡啶醇二氧合钨在50 ℃下ee值由54%提高到78%. 手性吡啶醇二氧合钼和二氧合钨催化剂可以回收再使用.     

Influence of the built-in pyridinium salt on asymmetric epoxidation of substituted chromenes catalysed by chiral (pyrrolidine salen)Mn(III) complexes

Chiral (pyrrolidine salen)Mn(III) complexes 1 with an N-benzoyl group and 2 with an N-isonicotinoyl group as well as the corresponding N-methyl (3) and N-benzyl (4) pyridinium salts of 2 were synthesized. The catalytic properties of 1–4 and 2 with excess CH₃I were explored to figure out the influence of the internal pyridinium salt in the catalyst on asymmetric epoxidation of substituted chromenes with NaClO/PPNO as an oxidant system in the aqueous/organic biphasic medium. The (pyrrolidine salen)Mn(III) complexes with an internal pyridinium salt, either formed in situ or isolated, displayed higher activities than analogous complexes 1, 2 and Jacobsen's catalyst in the aforementioned reaction, with comparable high yields and ee values. The acceleration of the reaction rate is attributed to the phase transfer capability of the built-in pyridinium salt of the (salen)Mn(III) catalyst. The effect of the internal pyridinium salt on the epoxidation of substituted chromenes is similar to that of the external pyridinium salts and ammonium halides.