Hydrogen-free homogeneous catalytic reduction of olefins in aqueous solutions

Herein we report a study involving the homogeneous catalytic reduction of unsaturated substrates in aqueous solutions or water-organic solvent mixtures. The reduction of olefins has been carried out in the presence of catalytic amounts of [Fe(CN)5NH3](3-) and excess of NH2OH, which under mild reaction conditions can be used to reduce carbon-carbon unsaturations without affecting carbonyl functionalities and aromatic rings. To explore the scope of the catalytic reduction, a wide variety of representative unsaturated substrates have been examined. The steric effects of the substituents on the carbon-carbon multiple bond as well as the regioselectivity and stereoselectivity of the catalyst have been studied. The deuterium kinetic isotope effect on the catalytic reduction of double bonds in olefins has been analyzed, and no significant kinetic isotope effect was found. Among the great advantages of this novel procedure for catalytic reduction are that hydrogen and high pressures are not needed, the catalyst is inexpensive and easily prepared, and water as well as water-organic solvent mixtures can be used as reaction media.     

Experimental determination of the absolute enantioselectivity of an antibody-catalyzed Diels-Alder reaction and theoretical explorations of the origins of stereoselectivity

The exo and endo Diels-Alder adducts of p-methoxycarbonylbenzyl trans-1,3-butadiene-1-carbamate and N,N-dimethylacrylamide have been synthesized, and the absolute configurations of resolved enantiomers have been determined. On the basis of this information, the absolute enantioselectivities of the Diels-Alder reaction catalyzed by antibodies 13G5 and 4D5 as well as other catalytic antibodies elicited in the same immunizations have been established. The effects of different arrangements of catalytic residues on the structure and energetics of the possible Diels-Alder transition states were modeled quantum mechanically at the B3LYP/6-311++G**//B3LYP/6-31+G** level of theory. Flexible docking of these enantiomeric transition states in the antibody active site followed by molecular dynamics on the resulting complexes provided a prediction of the transition-state binding modes and an explanation of the origin of the observed enantioselectivity of antibody 13G5.