Highly Chemoselective Catalytic Coupling of Substituted Oxetanes and Carbon Dioxide

The chemoselective coupling of oxetanes and carbon dioxide to afford functional, heterocyclic organic compounds known as six‐membered cyclic carbonates remains a challenging topic. Here, an effective method for their synthesis relying on the use of Al catalysis is described. The catalytic reactions can be carried out with excellent selectivity for the cyclic carbonate product tolerating various (functional) groups present in the 2‐ and 3‐position(s) of the oxetane ring. The presented methodology is the first general approach towards the formation of six‐membered cyclic carbonates (6MCCs) through oxetane/CO₂ coupling chemistry. Apart from a series of substituted six‐membered cyclic carbonates, also the unprecedented room‐temperature coupling of oxetanes and CO₂ is disclosed giving, depending on the structural features of the substrate, a variety of five‐ and six‐membered heterocyclic products. A mechanistic rationale is presented for their formation and support for the intermediary presence of a carbonic acid derivative is given. The presented functional carbonates may hold great promise as building blocks in organic synthesis and the development of new, biodegradable polymers.     

Olefin Polymerization Catalyzed by Double‐Decker Dipalladium Complexes: Low Branched Poly(α‐Olefin)s by Selective Insertion of the Monomer Molecule

Dipalladium complexes of a cyclic bis(diimine) ligand with a double‐decker structure catalyze polymerization of ethylene and α‐olefins and copolymerization of ethylene with 1‐hexene. The polymerization of 1‐hexene yields a polymer that is mainly composed of the hexamethylene unit formed by 2,1‐insertion of the monomer into the palladium–carbon bond, followed by chain‐walking (6,1‐insertion). The polymerization of 4‐methyl‐1‐pentene proceeds by 2,1‐insertion with a selectivity of 92–97 %, and affords the polymer with methyl and 2‐methylhexyl branches. 2,1‐Insertion occurs selectively in all of the polymerization reactions of α‐olefins catalyzed by the dipalladium complexes. Ethylene polymerization with the catalyst at 100 °C lasts over 24 h, whereas the monopalladium–diimine catalyst loses its activity within 8 h at 60 °C. Polyethylene obtained by the dipalladium catalyst is less‐branched and has a higher molecular weight compared to that of the monopalladium catalyst under the same conditions. Copolymerization of ethylene with 1‐hexene affords solid products with melting points and molecular weights that vary depending on the polymerization time, suggesting formation of a block and/or gradient copolymer.     

Competitive Gold‐Promoted Meyer–Schuster and oxy‐Cope Rearrangements of 3‐Acyloxy‐1,5‐enynes: Selective Catalysis for the Synthesis of (+)‐(S)‐γ‐Ionone and (−)‐(2S,6 R)‐cis‐γ‐Irone

We report a simple, highly stereoselective synthesis of (+)‐(S)‐γ‐ionone and (‐)‐(2S,6R)‐cis‐γ‐irone, two characteristic and precious odorants; the latter compound is a constituent of the essential oil obtained from iris rhizomes. Of general interest in this approach are the photoisomerization of an endo trisubstituted cyclohexene double bond to an exo vinyl group and the installation of the enone side chain through a [(NHC)Au^I]‐catalyzed Meyer–Schuster‐like rearrangement. This required a careful investigation of the mechanism of the gold‐catalyzed reaction and a judicious selection of reaction conditions. In fact, it was found that the Meyer–Schuster reaction may compete with the oxy‐Cope rearrangement. Gold‐based catalytic systems can promote either reaction selectively. In the present system, the mononuclear gold complex [Au(IPr)Cl], in combination with the silver salt AgSbF₆ in 100:1 butan‐2‐one/H₂O, proved to efficiently promote the Meyer–Schuster rearrangement of propargylic benzoates, whereas the digold catalyst [{Au(IPr)}₂(μ‐OH)][BF₄] in anhydrous dichloromethane selectively promoted the oxy‐Cope rearrangement of propargylic alcohols.     

Synthesis and Catalytic Use of Gold(I) Complexes Containing a Hemilabile Phosphanylferrocene Nitrile Donor

Removal of the chloride ligand from [AuCl( 1 ‐κP)] ( 2 ) containing a P‐monodentate 1′‐(diphenylphosphanyl)‐1‐cyanoferrocene ligand ( 1 ), by using silver(I) salts affords cationic complexes of the type [Au( 1 )]X, which exist either as cyclic dimers [Au( 1 )]₂X₂ ( 3 a , X=SbF₆; 3 c , X=NTf₂) or linear coordination polymers [Au( 1 )]_nX_n ( 3 a′ , X=SbF₆; 3 b′ , X=ClO₄), depending on anion X and the isolation procedure. As demonstrated for 3 a′ , the polymers can be readily cleaved by the addition of donors, such as Cl^?, tetrahydrothiophene (tht) or 1 , giving rise to the parent compound 2 , [Au(tht)( 1 ‐κP)][SbF₆] ( 5 a ) or [Au( 1 ‐κP)₂][SbF₆] ( 4 a ), respectively, of which the last two compounds can also be prepared by stepwise replacement of tht in [Au( 1 ‐κP)₂][SbF₆]. The particular combination of a firmly coordinated (phosphane) and a dissociable (nitrile) donor moieties renders complexes 3/3′ attractive for catalysis because they can serve as shelf‐stable precursors of coordinatively unsaturated Au^I fragments, analogous to those that result from the widely used [Au(PR₃)(RCN)]X catalysts. The catalytic properties of the Au‐ 1 complexes were evaluated in model annulation reactions, such as the synthesis of 2,3‐dimethylfuran from (Z)‐3‐methylpent‐2‐en‐4‐yn‐1‐ol and oxidative cyclisation of alkynes with nitriles to produce 2,5‐disubstituted 1,3‐oxazoles. Of the compounds tested ( 2 , 3 a′ , 3 b′ , 3 a , 4 a and 5 a ), the best results were consistently achieved with dimer 3 c , which has good solubility in organic solvents and only one firmly bound donor at the gold atom. This compound was advantageously used in the key steps of annuloline and rosefuran syntheses.     

Unmasking the Action of Phosphinous Acid Ligands in Nitrile Hydration Reactions Catalyzed by Arene–Ruthenium(II) Complexes

The catalytic hydration of benzonitrile and acetonitrile has been studied by employing different arene–ruthenium(II) complexes with phosphinous (PR₂OH) and phosphorous acid (P(OR)₂OH) ligands as catalysts. Marked differences in activity were found, depending on the nature of both the P‐donor and η⁶‐coordinated arene ligand. Faster transformations were always observed with the phosphinous acids. DFT computations unveiled the intriguing mechanism of acetonitrile hydration catalyzed by these arene–ruthenium(II) complexes. The process starts with attack on the nitrile carbon atom of the hydroxyl group of the P‐donor ligand instead of on a solvent water molecule, as previously suggested. The experimental results presented herein for acetonitrile and benzonitrile hydration catalyzed by different arene–ruthenium(II) complexes could be rationalized in terms of such a mechanism.     

Synthesis of 8‐Aminoquinolines by Using Carbamate Reagents: Facile Installation and Deprotection of Practical Amidating Groups

Described herein is the development of practical routes to 8‐aminoquinolines by using readily installable and easily deprotectable amidating reagents. Two scalable procedures were optimized under Rh^III‐catalyzed conditions: i) the use of pre‐generated chlorocarbamates and ii) a two‐step one‐pot process that directly employs carbamates. Both approaches are highly convenient for the gram‐scale synthesis of 8‐aminoquinolines under mild conditions. Facile deprotection of the synthetically versatile amidating groups was achieved under the Pd‐catalyzed transfer hydrogenation conditions with simultaneous deoxygenation of quinoline N‐oxides, thus yielding 8‐aminoquinolines in excellent overall efficiency.     

Transition‐State Stabilization by a Secondary Substrate–Ligand Interaction: A New Design Principle for Highly Efficient Transition‐Metal Catalysis

A library of monodentate phosphane ligands, each bearing a guanidine receptor unit for carboxylates, was designed. Screening of the library gave some excellent catalysts for regioselective hydroformylation of β,γ‐unsaturated carboxylic acids. A terminal alkene, but‐3‐enoic acid, was hydroformylated with a linear/branched (l/b) regioselectivity up to 41. An internal alkene, pent‐3‐enoic acid was hydroformylated with regioselectivity up to 18:1. Further substrate selectivity (e.g., acid vs. methyl ester) and reaction site selectivity (monofunctionalization of 2‐vinylhept‐2‐enoic acid) were also achieved. Exploration of the structure–activity relationship and a practical and theoretical mechanistic study gave us an insight into the nature of the supramolecular guanidinium–carboxylate interaction within the catalytic system. This allowed us to identify a selective transition‐state stabilization by a secondary substrate–ligand interaction as the basis for catalyst activity and selectivity.     

Two Distinct Mechanisms of Alkyne Insertion into the Metal–Sulfur Bond: Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study and Application in Catalysis

The present study reports the evidence for the multiple carbon–carbon bond insertion into the metal–heteroatom bond via a five‐coordinate metal complex. Detailed analysis of the model catalytic reaction of the carbon–sulfur (C? S) bond formation unveiled the mechanism of metal‐mediated alkyne insertion: a new pathway of C? S bond formation without preliminary ligand dissociation was revealed based on experimental and theoretical investigations. According to this pathway alkyne insertion into the metal–sulfur bond led to the formation of intermediate metal complex capable of direct C? S reductive elimination. In contrast, an intermediate metal complex formed through alkyne insertion through the traditional pathway involving preliminary ligand dissociation suffered from “improper” geometry configuration, which may block the whole catalytic cycle. A new catalytic system was developed to solve the problem of stereoselective S? S bond addition to internal alkynes and a cost‐efficient Ni‐catalyzed synthetic procedure is reported to furnish formation of target vinyl sulfides with high yields (up to 99 %) and excellent Z/E selectivity (>99:1).     

Analytical evaluation for two-center nuclear attraction integrals over slater type orbitals by using Fourier transform method

In this study, we shall suggest analytical expressions for two-center nuclear attraction integrals over STO’s with a one-center charge distribution by using Fourier transform method. The derivation is based on partial-fraction decompositions and Taylor expansions of rational functions. Analytical expressions obtained by this method are expressed in terms of Gegenbauer, and binomial coefficients and linear combinations of STO’s. Finally, it is relatively easy to express the Fourier integral representations of two-center nuclear attraction integrals with a one-center charge distribution mentioned above as finite and infinite of series of STO’s and irregular solid harmonics which may be considered to be limiting cases of STO’s.