Reactions of Aluminium Tribromide with Tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)nickel(0) and Tetrakis(triethylphosphite)nickel(0) Complexes

Reactions of aluminium tribromide with the Ni(0) phosphine and phosphite complexes are studied by EPR method. AlBr₃was found to cause the oxidation of the transition metal in the (PPh₃)₄Ni complex to the univalent state with the formation of the tetracoordinated (PPh₃)₃NiBr complex. With an excess of AlBr₃, the phosphine ligands are eliminated from the coordination sphere of Ni(I), and the coordinatively unsaturated complexes are destroyed to give the colloidal nickel. In the reaction of (P(OEt)₃)₄Ni with AlBr₃, Ni(0) is also oxidized to Ni(I), but the acido ligand is not eliminated even with a 15-fold excess of the Lewis acid. The activity of catalytic systems on the basis of the Ni(0) phosphine complexes and the Lewis acids in the low-molecular oligomerization reactions of olefines is determined by the cationic coordinatively unsaturated Ni(I) complexes formed in these systems.     

A new and efficient method for the facile synthesis of N-acyl sulfonamides under Lewis acid catalysis

The N-acylation of sulfonamides with carboxylic acid anhydrides in the presence of Lewis acids is described. Several Lewis acids such as BF₃·Et₂O, ZnCl₂, MoCl₅, TiCl₄, B(C₆F₅)₃, Sc(OTf)₃ and I₂ were found to catalyze the reaction efficiently to furnish the N-acylated products in good yields under solvent-free conditions. The reactions of various sulfonamides were studied with different carboxylic acid anhydrides including the less reactive benzoic and pivalic anhydrides, in the presence of 3 mol % ZnCl₂ as the catalyst. Carboxylic acids were also successfully used as acylating agents via the mixed anhydride method.     

Lewis acid catalyzed asymmetric halohydrin reactions of chiral α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid derivatives with N-halosuccinimide (NXS) as the halogen source

Lewis acid catalyzed asymmetric halohydrin reactions—(halohydroxylation as well as halomethoxylation) of chiral α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid derivatives were performed using N-halosuccinimide (NXS; X = Br, I) as the halogen source. Regio- and anti-selectivity of 100% and moderate to good diastereoselectivity with good yields were observed when Oppolzer’s sultam was used as the chiral auxiliary. Among the Lewis acids, Yb(OTf)₃ was found to be the best catalyst. Alkenoyl and cinnamoyl substrates smoothly underwent bromohydrin reactions and the more electron-rich cinnamoyl substrates preferred to undergo iodohydrin reactions. However, electron-deficient cinnamoyl substrates did not respond to this Lewis acid catalyzed halohydrin reaction with NXS (X = Cl, Br, I).     

The determination of the stability constants of mixed ligand complexes of adenine and amino acids with Ni(II) by potentiometric titration method

A potentiometric titration technique has been used to determine the stability constants for the various complexes of Ni(II) with adenine (A) as primary ligand and selected amino acids (L) as secondary ligands. Ternary complexes of amino acids are formed in a stepwise mechanism, whereby (A) binds to Ni(II), followed by interaction with ligand (L), whereas thiol-containing ligands form ternary complexes through a simultaneous mechanism. The formation constants of the complexes were determined at 25 °C and ionic strength 0.1 M NaNO₃. The relative stabilities of the ternary complexes are compared with those of the corresponding binary complexes in terms of Δlog K values. The concentration distribution of the complexes are evaluated.     

Conjugate addition of aromatic amines to ethenetricarboxylates

The conjugate addition of amines is considered to be a useful reaction in synthetic organic chemistry. The reaction of reactive electrophilic olefins, ethenetricarboxylates, and aromatic amines with and without catalytic Lewis acids such as ZnCl₂ and ZnBr₂ at room temperature gave amine adducts in high yields. The products were converted to α-amino acid, dl-aspartic acid derivatives. Using Lewis acids such as Sc(OTf)₃ and Zn(OTf)₂ at higher temperature (40-80 °C), the reaction of ethenetricarboxylates and N-methylaniline gave an aromatic substitution product. A catalytic enantioselective conjugate addition using a chiral Lewis acid was also investigated. For example, the reaction of 1,1-diethyl 2-tert-butyl ethenetricarboxylate with N-methylaniline in the presence of chiral bisoxazoline-Cu(II) complex in THF at −20 °C for 17 h gave an amine adduct in 91% yield and 78% ee. On the other hand, the reaction with aniline and primary aniline derivatives gave adducts with almost no ee%.     

Indium trichloride catalyzed efficient one-pot synthesis of highly substituted furans

A one-pot synthesis of the substituted furans 3 could be achieved in good yields by reacting but-2-ene-1,4-diones 1 with acetoacetates 2 in the presence of a catalytic amount of InCl₃ (20 mol %) using i-PrOH as solvent at 80-90 °C for 4-8 h. InCl₃ was observed to give the optimum results among the various Lewis acids examined.     

Synthesis conditions and activity of various Lewis acids for the fluorination of trichloromethoxy-benzene by HF in liquid phase

The experimental conditions (temperature, reaction time, amount of hydrogen fluoride (HF)) for the comparison of the performances of various Lewis acids in the liquid phase fluorination by HF of the trichloromethoxy-benzene were determined by using SbCl₅ as the reference catalyst. After 1 h reaction at 50 °C, C₆H₅OCCl₃ was totally converted into C₆H₅OCF₃ requiring only 2 mol% of SbCl₅ and a stoichiometric amount of HF. The most efficient catalysts were found to be chlorinated Lewis acids in which the metal is at the state of oxidation +V (SbCl₅, MoCl₅, TaCl₅ and NbCl₅). The appropriate catalyst has to be able to form a nucleophilic complex with HF, which constitutes the actual fluorinating agent and is more efficient than HF alone.     

Lewis Acid Controlled Regioselectivity in Styrene Hydrocyanation

According to present knowledge, the Ni‐catalyzed hydrocyanation of styrene leads predominantly to the branched product 2‐phenylpropionitrile (98 %). We observed a dramatic inversion of the regioselectivity upon addition of a Lewis acid. Up to 83 % of the linear product 3‐phenylpropionitrile was obtained by applying phosphite ligands in the presence of AlCl₃. The mechanism of the Ni‐catalyzed reaction and the influence of additional Lewis acids have been investigated by means of deuterium labeling experiments, NMR studies, and DFT calculations. Furthermore, the behavior of different Lewis acids, such as CuCN, could be rationalized and predicted by DFT calculations.     

Effects of tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane on the activation of the Ni(II)-based catalyst in the addition polymerization of norbornene

The activity of the transition metal complex, such as Ni(2-ethyl hexanoate)₂ (1), Co(2-ethyl hexanoate)₂ (2), TiCl₄ (3), or CpTiCl₃ (4) (Cp = cyclopentadiene), in combination with MAO (methylaluminoxane), was investigated in the polymerization of norbornene. The Ni(II) complex 1 with MAO showed moderate activity to give 20.8 kg_polymer/mol_Ni h, while the other three complexes 2-4 with MAO just showed trivial activity. Effects of the Lewis acids on the activation of the catalyst of 1/MAO were examined. The employment of B(C₆F₅)₃ with 1/MAO significantly enhanced the activity to give up to around 133 kg_polymer/mol_Ni h. The use of other borane compounds, such as B(C₆H₅)₃ and BEt₃, or the stronger electron acceptor BF₃ · OBu₂, with 1/MAO in place of B(C₆F₅)₃ clearly showed the main functions of B(C₆F₅)₃. The high Lewis acidity of B(C₆F₅)₃ enabled it to develop matured active complexes, thus enhancing the activity. Several Ni(II) complexes were employed to determine whether their activity was comparable to that of complex 1 in norbornene polymerization. The study of the ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra of the polynorbornene produced with 1/B(C₆F₅)₃/MAO showed that the initiation of addition polymerization occurred through the insertion of the exo face of the norbornene into the active complex. Effects of the variation in the polymerization variables, such as the levels of B(C₆F₅)₃ and MAO, temperature, and solvent, on the polymerization were discussed.     

The very strong solid Lewis acids aluminium chlorofluoride (ACF) and bromofluoride (ABF)—Synthesis, structure, and Lewis acidity

Aluminium chlorofluoride, ACF, (AlCl_xF_3−x, x ≈ 0.05-0.25) is an amorphous solid Lewis acid with an extraordinary acid strength that was patented by DuPont in 1992. It reaches the acidity of antimony pentafluoride, SbF₅, and, in some cases, even exceeds it.In this review, an overview of known structural data of ACF and the corresponding bromine compound, ABF, is presented, together with additional unpublished data. This includes a discussion of soft chemistry synthesis, structure of bulk and surface, and Lewis acidities of molecular and solid group 13 halides. The order of Lewis acidity of gaseous halides is established to be AlF_3(g) < AlCl_3(g) < AlBr_3(g) ≈ AlI_3(g) and AlX_3(g) > GaX_3(g) > InX_3(g) (X = F, Cl, Br, I).ACF and ABF are highly distorted solids. Different spectroscopic bulk methods show that the heavy halogen, chlorine or bromine, is a necessary perturbation that generates “disorder”. Highly Lewis acidic centres have been detected by several methods on the surface of ACF and ABF, which are responsible for the high catalytic reactivity observed in many reactions.The data gained on ACF and ABF show that many published data about heterogeneously catalysed fluorine-halogen exchange reactions in presence of aluminium chloride and bromide must be treated critically. In general, ACF and ABF are the active species.     

Energetics of hydride and electron pair attachment to EX3 (E = B, C, Al, Si and X = F, Cl, Br, I) and the study of bonding trends among EX3, EX3, and EX3H by use of ELF and NBO analyses

A theoretical gas-phase “ligand-free” or “electron pair affinity” (EPA) approach, based on CCSD(T)/(SDB-)cc-pVTZ//MP2/(SDB-)cc-pVTZ electronic structure calculations, is introduced as a possible means for determining Lewis acidity trends among planar EX₃^0/+ (E = B, C, Al, Si; X = F, Cl, Br, I) species. In this treatment, the free electron pair is considered to be an extreme Lewis base. The calculated EPA values are compared with experimental Lewis acidities, previously calculated fluoride ion affinity (FIA) and hydride ion affinity (HA) trends, and are found to exhibit reasonable correlations in all cases. The bonding in the planar and trigonal pyramidal conformations of EX₃^0/+ and of the trigonal pyramidal Lewis base EX₃^2−/− anions are assessed by use of natural bond orbital (NBO) and natural resonance theory (NRT) analyses. The NBO charges of the CX₃⁺ (X = Cl, Br, I, OTeF₅) cations are shown to correlate with the cation-anion and cation-solvent contacts in the recently determined crystal structures of [CCl₃][Sb(OTeF₅)₆], [CBr₃][Sb(OTeF₅)₆]·SO₂ClF, [CI₃][Al(OC(CF₃)₃)₄], and [C(OTeF₅)₃][Sb(OTeF₅)₆]·3SO₂ClF and known fluoro-carbocation structures. Topological electron localization function (ELF) basin lobe isosurfaces and volumes are used to rationalize the Lewis acidity trends and bond ionicities of the EX₃^0/+ species, and Lewis basicities of the EX₃^2−/− species.     

Carboxylation of indoles and pyrroles with CO2 in the presence of dialkylaluminum halides

The Lewis acid-mediated carboxylation of arenes with CO₂ has been successfully applied to 1-substituted indoles and pyrroles by using dialkylaluminum chlorides instead of aluminum trihalides. Thus, the carboxylation of 1-methylindoles, 1-benzyl-, and 1-phenylpyrroles proceeds regioselectively with the aid of an equimolar amount of Me₂AlCl under CO₂ pressure (3.0 MPa) at room temperature to afford the corresponding indole-3-carboxylic acids and pyrrole-2-carboxylic acids in 61-85% yields, while the same treatment of 1,2,5-trimethylpyrrole affords the 3-carboxylic acid in 52% yield.     

Microwave-assisted nickel(II) acetylacetonate-catalyzed arylation of aldehydes with arylboronic acids

Applying sealed vessel microwave heating at 180 °C in toluene the arylation of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes with arylboronic acids using 1-2 mol % of Ni(acac)₂ as a catalyst can be performed efficiently within 10-30 min providing the desired diarylmethanols or benzyl alcohols in good yields.     

Styrene polymerization using nickel(II) complexes as catalysts

Styrene polymerization is investigated with neutral and cationic Ni(II) complexes, i.e. Ni(bipy)Me₂, 1, Ni(bipy)Br₂, 2, Ni(phen)Br₂, 3, or Ni(Me₂phen)Br₂, 4, Ni(acac)₂, 5, (bipy = 2,2′-bipyridine, phen = phenanthroline, Me₂phen = 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline, acac = acetylacetonate), activated by [NHMe₂Ph][B(C₆F₅)₄] or B(C₆F₅)₃ as cocatalysts, in the presence of AlMe₃. The influence on the polystyrene features and the reaction kinetics of the nickel complex and boron activator, the Al/Ni or B/Ni molar ratios as well as the monomer concentration are studied. Catalytic systems derived from 2, 3 or 5 and [NHMe₂Ph][B(C₆F₅)₄] at a Ni:B:Al ratio of 1:1:5 are the most efficient at room temperature.     

Simple and highly efficient synthesis of oxaziridines by tetrabutylammonium Oxone

Oxygenation of various aldimines with tetrabutylammonium monoperoxysulfate produced the corresponding E- or a mixture of E- and Z-oxaziridines with very high yields (?90%) and good to excellent selectivities (75-100%) within 20 min to 10 h in CH₃CN at room temperature (∼25 °C). The E/Z isomer ratio critically depends on the stereo-electronic nature of the substituents in the oxaziridines, solvent, and the presence of Lewis acids and bases.     

Acylation of N-p-toluenesulfonylpyrrole under Friedel-Crafts conditions: evidence for organoaluminum intermediates

The Friedel-Crafts acylation of N-p-toluenesulfonylpyrrole under Friedel-Crafts conditions has been reinvestigated. Evidence is presented in support of the hypothesis that when AlCl₃ is used as the Lewis acid, acylation proceeds via reaction of an organoaluminum intermediate with the acyl halide. This leads to the production of the 3-acyl derivative as the major product. With weaker Lewis acids (EtAlCl₂, Et₂AlCl) or less than 1 equiv of AlCl₃ the relative amount of 2-acyl product is increased. A mechanistic rationalization is presented to explain these data.     

3D nanostructured Ni(OH)2 microspheres as an efficient immobilization matrix of Ru(bpy)3 for high-performance electrochemiluminescence sensor

The electrochemistry and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) of novel three-dimensional nanostructured Ru(bpy)₃²⁺/Ni(OH)₂ microspheres were investigated for the first time. The negatively charged porous Ni(OH)₂ microspheres composed of Ni(OH)₂ nanowires were specifically designed to interact with Ru(bpy)₃²⁺. The large surface area and porous structure of Ni(OH)₂ microspheres enhance loading of Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ and mass transport of the model analyte, tripropylamine (TPA). Excellent ECL performance of the presented sensor was achieved including good stability and wide linear range from 7.7 × 10⁻¹⁰ to 3.8 × 10⁻³ M with the detection limit of 2.6 × 10⁻¹⁰ M to TPA.     

The synthesis,characterization and melting properties of thiophene-containing dithiocarboxylate complexes of nickel(II)

The reactions of a series of 5-alkyl-2-thiophenedithiocarboxylates with nickel(II) chloride afforded two types of complexes, blue nickel(II) complexes with two terminal dithiocarboxylate ligands, [Ni(S₂CTR)₂] and violet nickel(II) complexes with perthio- and dithiocarboxylate ligands, [Ni(S₂CTR)(S₃CTR)] (where T = 2,5-disubstituted thiophene, R = C_nH_2n+1, n = 4, 6, 8, 12, 16). The blue monomers are preferred for the shorter chains (C₄ and C₆) and the violet compounds form exclusively for the longer chains (C₈, C₁₂, and C₁₆) in the alkylthiophene complexes. In addition to the above series, [Ni(S₂CTCH₃)₂], was prepared in a one-pot reaction in THF and both the blue and violet products were isolated. It was possible to convert the blue complexes [Ni(S₂CTR)₂] (R = butyl, hexyl) into the corresponding violet complexes [Ni(S₂CTR)(S₃CTR)] after stirring in THF solutions for prolonged periods of time. Liquid-crystalline properties of these complexes were examined by DSC and POM. The violet complexes with C₈ and C₁₂ alkyl chains showed liquid-crystalline properties.     

Stereocontrol during photo-initiated controlled/living radical polymerization of acrylamide in the presence of Lewis acids

Poly(acrylamide) (PAM) with controlled molecular weight and tacticity was prepared by UV-irradiation-initiated controlled/living radical polymerization in the presence of dibenzyl trithiocarbonate (DBTTC) and Y(OTf)₃. The rapid and facile photo-initiated controlled/living polymerization at ambient temperature led to controlled molecular weight and narrow polydispersity (M_w/M_n = 1.12-1.24) of PAM. The coordination of Y(OTf)₃ with the last two amide groups in the growing chain radical effectively enhanced isotacticity of PAM. The isotactic sequence of dyads (m), triads (mm) and pentads (mmmm) in PAM were 70.32%, 50.95%, and 29.97%, respectively, which were determined by the resonance of methine (CH) groups in PAM under ¹³C NMR experiment. Factors affecting stereocontrol during the polymerization were studied, including the type of Lewis acids, concentration of Y(OTf)₃, and monomer conversion. It is intriguing that the meso tacticity increased gradually with chain propagation and quite higher isotacticity (m = 93.01%, mm = 86.57%) was obtained in the later polymerization stage (conversion 65-85%).     

H2O + Fe(NO3)3 + Ni(NO3)2 ternary system isotherms at 0 °C and 30 °C

H₂O + Ni(NO₃)₂ binary system were investigated in the temperature range from −25 °C to 55 °C. The solid-liquid equilibria of the ternary system H₂O + Fe(NO₃)₃ + Ni(NO₃)₂ were studied using a synthetic method based on conductivity measurements. Tow isotherms were established at 0 °C and 30 °C, and the appearing stable solid phases are iron nitrate nonahydrate (Fe(NO₃)₃·9H₂O), iron nitrate hexahydrate (Fe(NO₃)₃·6H₂O), nickel nitrate hexahydrate (Ni(NO₃)₂·6H₂O) and nickel nitrate tetrahydrate (Ni(NO₃)₂·4H₂O).