Square‐Planar Carbonylchlororhodium(I) Complexes Containing trans‐Spanning Diphosphine Ligands as Catalysts for the Carbonylation of Methanol

The rhodium(I) complexes trans‐[Rh(diphos)(CO)Cl] 7 (diphos=pbpb), 8 (diphos=nbpb), and 9 (diphos=cbpb) were synthesized (Scheme 4) and used as catalysts for the carbonylation of MeOH to AcOH (Scheme 1). The trans coordination imposed by the rigid C‐spacer framework of the diphos ligands pbpb, nbpb, and cbpb, demonstrated by ³¹P‐NMR and IR spectroscopy of 7 – 9 and unambiguously confirmed by single‐crystal X‐ray structure analysis of 7 , improved the thermal stability of the rhodium(I) system under carbonylation conditions and, hence, the catalytic performance of the complexes. For the catalytic carbonylation of MeOH, the active catalyst could be prepared in situ from the mixture of [Rh(CO)₂Cl]₂ and the corresponding diphos ligand pbpb, nbpb, or cbpb, giving the same results as carbonylation in the presence of the isolated complexes 7, 8 or 9 (see Table). The highest activity was observed for complex 7 (or the mixture [Rh(CO)₂Cl]₂/pbpb, the catalytic turnover number (TON) being 950 after 15 min (170°, 22 bar).     

The Influence of Sulfate‐Doping on the Nature of V Sites in VOx/TiO2 Catalysts

EPR, UV/Vis and FTIR spectroscopy as well as thermal analysis (TA/MS) were applied to study the influence of sulfate species present in the anatase support on the specific nature of VO_x species in supported VO_x/TiO₂ catalysts. Those sulfate species modify the local structure of the supported vanadyl species and lead to the formation of two types of VO²⁺ sites instead of only one type being formed on sulfate‐free anatase. EPR and FTIR spectroscopic measurements revealed that a part of the VO²⁺ species are directly bound to the surface sulfate species. By TA/MS it was found that SO₂ is released at lower temperature from VO_x/TiO₂ in comparison to the vanadium‐free support. The direct bonding between sulfate and VO_x species stabilizes the latter on the surface of VO_x/TiO₂ resulting in three effects: 1) a higher V site dispersion in comparison to sulfate‐free TiO₂, 2) a better resistance of surface vanadyls against diffusion into the bulk of the support and 3) a much faster reoxidation of reduced V sites than observed on sulfate‐free TiO₂.     

Diastereoselective Electrophilic Amination of Chiral 1‐Benzoyl‐2,3,5,6‐tetrahydro‐3‐methyl‐2‐(1‐methylethyl)pyrimidin‐4(1H)‐one for the Asymmetric Syntheses of α‐Substituted α,β‐Diaminopropanoic Acids

The chiral compounds (R)‐ and (S)‐1‐benzoyl‐2,3,5,6‐tetrahydro‐3‐methyl‐2‐(1‐methylethyl)pyrimidin‐4(1H)‐one ((R)‐ and (S)‐ 1 ), derived from (R)‐ and (S)‐asparagine, respectively, were used as convenient starting materials for the preparation of the enantiomerically pure α‐alkylated (alkyl=Me, Et, Bn) α,β‐diamino acids (R)‐ and (S)‐ 11 – 13 . The chiral lithium enolates of (R)‐ and (S)‐ 1 were first alkylated, and the resulting diasteroisomeric products 5 – 7 were aminated with ‘di(tert‐butyl) azodicarboxylate’ (DBAD), giving rise to the diastereoisomerically pure (≥98%) compounds 8 – 10 . The target compounds (R)‐ and (S)‐ 11 – 13 could then be obtained in good yields and high purities by a hydrolysis/hydrogenolysis/hydrolysis sequence.     

Synthesis and characterization of chitosan-graft-polycaprolactone copolymers

The graft copolymers of chitosan with polycaprolactone (PCL) were prepared through a protection-graft-deprotection route using phthaloylchitosan as intermediate. PCL macromonomers terminated with isocyanate groups reacted with hydroxyl groups of phthaloyl-protected chitosan regioselectively, and then phthaloyl groups were deprotected to give the free amino groups. The graft reaction was carried out in homogeneous system and yielded copolymers with high grafting content due to solubilization. FTIR, NMR and XRD were detected to characterize the resultant chitosan-graft-PCL copolymers.