Composition and structure of the alpha-AlF3(0001) surface

Strong Lewis acid catalysts are widely used in a variety of industrial processes including Cl/F exchange reactions. Aluminum fluorides (AlF3) have great potential for use in such reactions. Despite the importance of the surface in the catalytic process little is known about the detailed atomic scale structure of AlF3 surfaces. In the current study we employ state of the art surface thermodynamics calculations based on hybrid-exchange density functional theory to predict the composition and structure of the basal plane surface of alpha-AlF3 for the first time. We examine four possible terminations of the alpha-AlF3 (0001) surface and demonstrate that the surface is terminated by a layer containing two fluorine atoms per cell at all realistic fluorine partial pressures. The fluorine ions in the outermost layer of the material reconstruct to mask the Al3+ ion from the external gas phase and consequently we would expect this surface to be inactive as a Lewis acid catalyst in line with experimental observation.     

Mixed metal fluorides as doped Lewis acidic catalyst systems: a comparative study involving novel high surface area metal fluorides

MF₃-doped/MgF₂ systems with enhanced Lewis acidity are reported, which are obtained either by the conventional aqueous route of co-precipitation or, by a novel non-aqueous soft chemistry route. The latter gives outstanding high surface areas and exhibits potent Lewis acid catalyst behaviour. The doped solid metal fluorides with dopant metals such as Ga, In, Fe, V are discussed in terms of the modified Tanabe model, which is adopted for metal fluoride systems. The two doped but differently prepared systems are analysed according to their surface characteristics by BET surface area, pore-size distribution and XPS/XAES as well as for the solid state structure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), XRD and -MAS-NMR. The surface properties were evaluated by photoacoustic IR-spectroscopy of pyridine adsorbates and selected catalytic reactions.The exemplarily investigated GaF₃-doped/MgF₂ system reveals modified intrinsic properties of the solid mixture culminating in very high surface areas of a structurally distorted mesoporous solid and electrostatic charge rearrangements causing increased Lewis acid sites.     

Structural insights into aluminum chlorofluoride (ACF)

The structure of the very strong solid Lewis acid aluminum chlorofluoride (ACF, AlCl(x)F(3-x), x = 0.05-0.3) was studied by IR, ESR, Cl K XANES, (19)F MAS NMR, and (27)Al SATRAS NMR spectroscopic methods and compared with amorphous aluminum fluoride conventionally prepared by dehydration of alpha-AlF(3) x 3H(2)O. The thermal behavior of both compounds was investigated by DTA and XRD. In comparison to ACF, amorphous AlF(3) prepared in a conventional way is not catalytically active for the isomerization reaction of 1,2-dibromohexafluoropropane, which requires a very strong Lewis acid. Both compounds are mainly built up of corner-sharing AlF(6) octahedra forming a random network. The degree of disorder in ACF is higher than in amorphous AlF(3). Terminal fluorine atoms were detected in ACF by (19)F NMR. The chlorine in ACF does not exist as a separate, crystalline AlCl(3) phase. Additionally, chlorine-containing radicals, remaining from the synthesis, are trapped in cavities of ACF. These radicals are stable at room temperature but do not take part in the catalytic reaction.     

A Lewis acid-promoted cyclization of ethenetricarboxylate derivative aromatic compounds. Novel syntheses of oxindoles and benzofuranones via Friedel-Crafts intramolecular Michael addition

A novel cyclization reaction of ethenetricarboxylate derivative aromatic compounds in the presence of various Lewis acids gave benzo-annulated cyclic compounds such as oxindole and benzofuran derivatives via Friedel-Crafts intramolecular Michael addition in high yields. For example, the reaction of diethyl 2-[(N-methyl-N-phenylcarbamoyl)methylene]malonate (1a) in the presence of ZnCl2 at room temperature gave diethyl 2-(1-methyl-2-oxoindolin-3-yl)malonate (2a) in 98% yield. The reactions also proceeded with a catalytic amount of a Lewis acid such as AlCl3, ZnCl2, ZnBr2, Sc(OTf)3, or InBr3.     

Regioselective hydrosilylations of propiolate esters with tris(trimethylsilyl)silane

Lewis acid and substituent dependency on the regioselectivity of hydrosilylation of propiolate esters 1a-c with tris(trimethylsilyl)silane (2a) was found. The reaction of methyl and ethyl propiolate esters and 2a without Lewis acid and in the presence of EtAlCl2 and Et2AlCl gave beta-silicon-substituted Z-alkenes 3 selectively. On the other hand, reaction in the presence of AlCl3 in dichloromethane gave alpha-silicon-substituted alkenes 4. In the case of trifluoroethyl propiolate ester 1c, reaction with aluminum chloride-based Lewis acids gave alpha-silicon-substituted alkenes 4 exclusively. Two competitive mechanisms, free-radical and ionic, are proposed as the source of the complementary regioselectivity displayed in these reactions. A transition state of the radical-forming step was obtained computationally. The reaction of various reactive acetylene substrates and 2a without Lewis acid and without solvent at room temperature gave beta-silicon-substituted Z-alkenes 3 selectively.     

Acceleration effect of Lewis acid in allylboration of aldehydes: catalytic,regiospecific, diastereospecific,and enantioselective synthesis of homoallyl alcohols

The addition of pinacol allylboronic esters to aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes smoothly occurred at -78 degrees C in toluene in the presence of a catalytic amount of AlCl3 or Sc(OTf)3 (10 mol %) to give the corresponding homoallyl alcohols in high yields. The reactions proceeded regio- and diastereospecifically, yielding the isomerically pure syn- and anti-homoallyl alcohols from (Z)- and (E)-allylboronic esters, respectively. The protocol was also applied to enantioselective reactions by using a chiral Lewis acid catalyst.     

凹凸棒黏土固载AlCl3的制备、表征及其催化水杨酸乙酰化活性

以凹凸棒黏土（ATP）为载体,采用回流吸附法制备了AlCl3负载型固体酸催化剂AlCl3/ATP,并将其用于催化阿司匹林合成反应。 利用红外光谱、X射线粉末衍射、比表面（BET）、能谱(EDS) 和Hammett指示剂等测试技术对催化剂结构、组成和酸强度进行了表征。 以催化合成阿司匹林收率为考察指标,对影响其催化性能的凹土酸处理浓度、热活化温度、催化剂用量和AlCl3负载量进行优化,并比较了载体和负载前后催化剂的催化性能。 结果表明, ATP经10 mol/L盐酸室温酸化12 h,300 ℃热活化2 h后对AlCl3的负载量达1.18 mmol/g,当AlCl3/ATP用量为水杨酸质量的5%时,其催化阿司匹林合成反应收率达92.5%,高于未负载的AlCl3催化剂及载体本身,且该催化剂重复使用多次仍可保持相当的活性。     

噻吩在稀土离子改性Y型分子筛上吸附与催化转化研究

以NaY、HY、液相Ce离子交换改性Y分子筛(L-CeY)和稀土离子改性超稳Y分子筛(HRSY-3)为研究对象,运用XRD、N₂吸附、NH₃-TPD和Py-FTIR表征样品的物化性能;采用原位红外光谱技术与程序升温脱附-同步质谱检测联用技术(TPD-MS)研究噻吩在活性中心上的吸附及催化转化行为.结果表明,稀土离子改性不改变分子筛晶体的基本结构但改变其精细结构,并形成一定的介孔,同时降低分子筛强酸位的强度,并生成与稀土离子物种有关的弱L酸位.REY与HY均可通过B酸中心的质子化作用活化噻吩,而稀土离子物种促进氢转移反应及低聚反应的进行,进而利于噻吩裂化反应的进行.     

Solvation of uranyl(II), europium(III) and europium(II) cations in "basic" room-temperature ionic liquids: a theoretical study

We report a molecular dynamics study of the solvation of UO2(2+), Eu3+ and Eu2+ ions in two "basic" (Lewis acidity) room-temperature ionic liquids (IL) composed of the 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium cation (EMI+) and a mixture of AlCl4- and Cl- anions, in which the Cl-/AlCl4- ratio is about 1 and 3, respectively. The study reveals the importance of the [UO2Cl4]2- species, which spontaneously form during most simulations, and that the first solvation shell of europium is filled with Cl- and AlCl4- ions embedded in a cationic EMI+ shell. The stability of the [UO2Cl4]2- and [Eu(III)Cl6]3- complexes is supported by quantum mechanical calculations, according to which the uranyl and europium cations intrinsically prefer Cl- to the AlCl4- ion. In the gas phase, however, [Eu(III)Cl6]3- and [Eu(II)Cl6]4- complexes are predicted to be metastable and to lose two to three Cl- ions. This contrasts with the results of simulations of complexes in ILs, in which the "solvation" of the europium complexes increases with the number of coordinated chlorides, leading to an equilibrium between different chloro species. The behavior of the hydrated [Eu(OH2)8]3+ complex is considered in the basic liquids; the complex exchanges H2O molecules with Cl- ions to form mixed [EuCl3(OH2)4] and [EuCl4(OH2)3]- complexes. The results of the simulations allow us to better understand the microscopic nature and solvation of lanthanide and actinide complexes in "basic" ionic liquids.     

The Role of Lewis Acid Sites in γ-Al2O3 Oligomerization

Olefin oligomerization by γ-Al₂O₃ has recently been reported, and it was suggested that Lewis acid sites are catalytic. The goal of this study is to determine the number of active sites per gram of alumina to confirm that Lewis acid sites are indeed catalytic. Addition of an inorganic Sr oxide base resulted in a linear decrease in the propylene oligomerization conversion at loadings up to 0.3 wt %; while, there is a >95 % loss in conversion above 1 wt % Sr. Additionally, there was a linear decrease in the intensity of the Lewis acid peaks of absorbed pyridine in the IR spectra with an increase in Sr loading, which correlates with the loss in propylene conversion, suggesting that Lewis acid sites are catalytic. Characterization of the Sr structure by XAS and STEM indicates that single Sr²⁺ ions are bound to the γ-Al₂O₃ surface and poison one catalytic site per Sr ion. The maximum loading needed to poison all catalytic sites, assuming uniform surface coverage, was ∼0.4 wt % Sr, giving an acid site density of ∼0.2 sites per nm² of γ-Al₂O₃, or approximately 3 % of the alumina surface.     

Surface chemistry of porous magnesium fluoride

Porous preparations of magnesium fluoride were obtained from magnesium sulphate and magnesium carbonate and their surface properties have been studied. It has been shown that pure magnesium fluoride has a weak surface acidity of the Lewis type and no protonic sites stronger than H_R?0.82. Base properties of MgF₂ surfaces are more pronounced than acid ones, but the base strength is low. Surfaces of MgF₂ also bear oxidizing and reducing centres capable of forming ion radicals with adsorbed perylene and tetracyanoethylene. The low catalytic activity of magnesium fluoride for acid catalysed reactions suggests the application of MgF₂ as a catalyst support rather than as a catalyst.     

Bifunctional Gyroidal MOFs: Highly Efficient Lewis Base and Lewis Acid Catalysts

A family of gyroidal metal–organic frameworks (STUs) composited with transition metal ions and bi‐imidazolate ligands (BIm) were prepared and applied as both Lewis base and acid catalysts. Benefiting from the intrinsic basicity of the ligands and the Lewis acidic sites of the open metal centres, the STUs materials show excellent catalytic activities as Lewis base for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction between various aldehydes and malononitrile, and as Lewis acid for cyanosilylation reactions. Among these STUs, STU‐4 (Ni(BIm)) shows the best catalytic efficiency (conversions >99 %) in both Knoevenagel condensation and cyanosilylation reactions under mild conditions, providing thus an advanced material for both Lewis base and Lewis acid catalysis.     

Tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane: a special boron Lewis acid for special reactions

Tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane is best known for its role as an excellent activator component in homogeneous Ziegler-Natta chemistry. However, the special properties of B(C6F5)3 have made this strong boron Lewis acid an increasingly used catalyst or stoichiometric reagent in organic and organometallic chemistry. This includes catalytic hydrometallation reactions, alkylations and catalyzed aldol-type reactions. B(C6F5)3 catalyzes tautomerizations and can sometimes stabilize less favoured tautomeric forms by adduct formation. It induces some rather unusual reactions of early metal acetylide complexes and can help in stabilizing uncommon coordination geometries of carbon. The growing number of such examples indicates an increasing application potential of the useful Lewis acid B(C6F5)3 aside from its established role in olefin polymerization catalysis.     

Enantioselective Organocatalysis

The last few years have witnessed a spectacular advancement in new catalytic methods based on metal-free organic molecules. In many cases, these small compounds give rise to extremely high enantioselectivities. Preparative advantages are notable: usually the reactions can be performed under an aerobic atmosphere with wet solvents. The catalysts are inexpensive and they are often more stable than enzymes or other bioorganic catalysts. Also, these small organic molecules can be anchored to a solid support and reused more conveniently than organometallic/bioorganic analogues, and show promising adaptability to high-throughput screening and process chemistry. Herein we focus on four different domains in which organocatalysis has made major advances: 1) The activation of the reaction based on the nucleophilic/electrophilic properties of the catalysts. This type of catalysis has much in common with conventional Lewis acid/base activation by metal complexes. 2) Transformations in which the organic catalyst forms a reactive intermediate: the chiral catalyst is consumed in the reaction and requires regeneration in a parallel catalytic cycle. 3) Phase-transfer reactions: The chiral catalyst forms a host-guest complex with the substrate and shuttles between the standard organic solvent and the second phase (i.e. a solid, aqueous, or fluorous phase in which the organic transformation takes place). 4) Molecular-cavity-accelerated asymmetric transformations: the catalyst can select between competing substrates, depending on size and structure criteria. The rate acceleration of a given reaction is similar to the Lewis acid/base activation and is the consequence of the simultaneous action of different polar functions. Herein it is shown that organocatalysis complements rather than competes with current methods. It offers something conceptually novel and opens new horizons in synthesis.     

A Three-Center Orbital Interaction in the Diels-Alder Reactions Catalyzed by Lewis Acids

Ab initio calculations were performed on title reactions between butadiene and acrolein with BCl(3), AlCl(3), GaCl(3), InCl(3), ZnCl(2), SnCl(2), and SnCl(4). A dimethyl ether molecule is explicitly considered in various reaction systems to examine solvent effects. First, the reaction path of an AlCl(3)-promoting reaction was examined thoroughly. This reaction has two channels. The first one involves a weak reactant-like complex (precursor) and a normal [4 + 2] addition. The second does three elementary processes, one-center addition, ring closing, and Claisen shift. The first channel is more favorable by 12.1 kcal/mol (B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p) SCRF//B3LYP/6-31G SCRF) than the second one. Then the first channels with other Lewis acids were traced with and without an ether molecule. The ether molecule has an appreciable effect not on geometries but on activation energies. BCl(3) is desolvated and has extraordinarily strong catalytic ability. Even with the strongest catalyst, not a [2 + 4] but a normal [4 + 2] cycloaddition takes place. Except for BCl(3), SnCl(4) is the strongest Lewis acid with the ether molecule. The frontier orbital, LUMO, of acrolein is distorted in the course of the reaction so that the formation of two C-C covalent bonds is possible. The precursor formation and the one-center addition were discussed also by the frontier orbital theory.     

Asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions catalyzed by a triflic acid activated chiral oxazaborolidine

This paper reports a new method for the generation of chiral Lewis superacids by protonation of a non-Lewis acidic oxazaborolidine (1) with triflic acid. The resulting cationic species (3) are powerful and highly enantioselective catalysts for the Diels-Alder reaction of various 1,3-dienes with alpha,beta-enals. An optimization study (see Table 1) led to the selection of reaction conditions and catalysts (6A and 6B) which are very effective. The reactions are simple to conduct, reproducible, and economical, since only ca. 6 mol % of catalyst is required. In addition, the chiral catalyst precursor is readily recovered for reuse (>95% efficiency) and is commercially available. The broad scope of the process is documented by the 14 examples listed in Table 2. The absolute stereochemical course of the Diels-Alder reactions catalyzed by 6A and 6B was successfully predicted on the basis of the mechanistic principles which have recently been formulated for this type of catalytic enantioselective reaction involving re-face attack by the diene on complex 7. The mode of generation of Lewis superacids 6A and 6B allows an approximate comparison (or scale) connecting the catalytic power Lewis and protic acids.     

Preparation of a carbon-based solid acid catalyst by sulfonating activated carbon in a chemical reduction process

Sulfonated (SO(3)H-bearing) activated carbon (AC-SO(3)H) was synthesized by an aryl diazonium salt reduction process. The obtained material had a SO(3)H density of 0.64 mmol·g-1 and a specific surface area of 602 m2·g-1. The catalytic properties of AC-SO(3)H were compared with that of two commercial solid acid catalysts, Nafion NR50 and Amberlyst-15. In a 10-h esterification reaction of acetic acid with ethanol, the acid conversion with AC-SO(3)H (78%) was lower than that of Amberlyst-15 (86%), which could be attributed to the fact that the SO(3)H density of the sulfonated carbon was lower than that of Amberlyst-15 (4.60 mmol·g-1). However, AC-SO(3)H exhibited comparable and even much higher catalytic activities than the commercial catalysts in the esterification of aliphatic acids with longer carbon chains such as hexanoic acid and decanoic acid, which may be due to the large specific surface area and mesoporous structures of the activated carbon. The disadvantage of AC-SO(3)H is the leaching of SO(3)H group during the reactions.     

Synthesis and Application of Graphene Oxide-supported Aluminium Chloride as a Novel and an Environmentally Friendly Catalyst for the Preparation of Bis(pyrazolyl)methanes

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - The immobilization of AlCl3, an extremely hygroscopic Lewis acid, on graphene oxide as a support material with a high surface area was studied. The obtained...     

离子液体超酸清洁催化苯的烷基化反应

研究了在具有Lewis酸性的离子液体体系中进行的苯与烯烃及卤代烃的烷基化反应.以氯化1-甲基-3-乙基咪唑(MEIC)、氯化1-丁基吡啶(BPC)、氯化l-甲基-3-丁基咪唑(MBIC)及盐酸三甲胺(TMHC)季铵盐分别与AlCl3原位合成法制备离子液体催化体系.结果表明:以上各种离子液体均有很高的催化活性,反应转化率在较短的时间内达到100%.其中TMHC-A1Cl3离子液体单烷基化选择性达98.6%.与AlCl3相比,催化活性显著提高,生成烷基化产物不溶于离子液体,因而易于分离,催化剂可重复使用.     

双酸体系下有序介孔SO42-/ZrO2-SiO2材料的合成

采用一锅合成法通过调变自组装过程中硫酸和盐酸的体积比,成功制备了系列介孔SO₄^2-/ZrO₂-SiO₂固体酸材料(Zr/Si物质的量为1.1).XRD、UV-Vis DRS、HR-TEM等表征结果表明,所得材料均具有高度有序的二维介孔结构及四方相氧化锆的晶体结构.氮吸附和FT-IR表征结果进一步发现,通过改变硫酸/盐酸体积比可有效调变材料比表面积、孔容、孔径及表面L酸与B酸的相对强度.与纯硅介孔分子筛SBA-15不同,此系列SO₄^2-/ZrO₂-SiO₂固体酸材料均在正戊烷的异构化反应中表现出较高的催化活性和稳定性.其原因在于,在合成过程中硫酸的加入不仅促使了酸基的形成,而且稳定了催化剂的晶体结构;盐酸的存在则保持了有序的介孔结构.由此可见,混酸合成体系有望制备出结构有序、酸性可调、催化性能优越的新型催化材料,并在众多酸催化反应中取得应用.