Catalysts activator-free

More detailed and theoretical explanations of the role of the catalyst, based on this scheme, have appeared (72, 74, 77-82). In order to obtain experimental evidence for this scheme, some investigators did experiments in which 1,2-dimethylcyclobutane or cyclobutane were brought into contact with an active metathesis catalyst. However, 1,2-dimethylcyclobutane was stable under conditions where propene gave a high conversion to ethene and 2-butene (63). The experiments with cyclobutane led to the same conclusion (83). From this, and from the fact that cyclobutanes are not reaction products, although this can be expected thermodynamically, it follows that cyclobutanes are not free intermediates. This prompted Lewandos and Pettit (83) to propose a tetramethylene complex as the key intermediate ... 

The Ru metal area was determined by volumetric H2 chemisorption in the quartz U-tube of an Autosorb 1-C set-up (Quantachrome) following the procedure described in ref. [16]. Prior to chemisorption, the catalysts were activated by passing 80 Nml/min high-purity synthesis gas (Pnj / Phj -1/3) from a connected feed system through the U-tube and heating to 673 K for alkali-promoted catalysts or to 773 K for alkali-free catalysts with a heating rate of 1 K/min. The BET area was measured by static N2 physisorption in the same set-up. 

In contrast, substituting the ort/to-methyl groups of SIMes with ortho-fluoride atoms profoundly alters the catalytic metathesis performance. In 2006, Grubbs and co-workers reported the synthesis of the fluorinated NHC-Ru catalysts 25 and 26 [41] (Fig. 3.8). Catalytic tests in the RCM of 1 to form 2 showed that the phosphine-free catalyst 26 was slower than the standard catalyst 16, which was consistent with theoretical investigations suggesting the electron-withdrawing fluoride atoms would lead to a decrease in catalyst activity [42]. However, in contrast to the computational... 

Arylsilanols, silanediols, and triols performed poorly under fluoride activation conditions, but instead required Ag20 (78X274 However, the cross-coupling of arylsilanediols and similar organosilicon reagents (formed in situ from the respective halosilanes) can be achieved under very mild conditions, using phosphine-free catalysts in water in the absence of any organic cosolvents.275... 

Simple Pd salts and complexes which contain neither phosphines nor any other deliberately added ligands are well known to provide catalytic activity in cross-coupling reactions. Such catalytic systems (often referred to as ligand-free catalysts ) often require the use of water as a component of the reaction medium.17 In the majority of cases such systems are applicable to electrophiles easily undergoing the oxidative addition (aryl iodides and activated bromides), although there are examples of effective reactions with unactivated substrates (electron-rich aiyl bromides, and some aryl chlorides).18,470... 

Therefore, a good catalyst leads to weak fluorescence in the Heck product (15). A relatively small library of 96 known phosphines was tested in the palladium-catalyzed Heck coupling. Several sterically hindered ligands led to high catalyst activity. Fluorescence tags have also been used in the combinatorial search for metal-free catalysts in other types of reaction.42,43... 

The use of weakly coordinating and fluorinated anions such as B(C6H4F-4)4, B(C6F5)4, and MeB(C6F5)3 further enhanced the activities of Group 4 cationic complexes for the polymerization of olefins and thereby their activity reached a level comparable to those of MAO-activated metallocene catalysts. Base-free cationic metal alkyl complexes and catalytic studies on them had mainly been concerned with cationic methyl complexes, [Cp2M-Me] +. However, their thermal instability restricts the use of such systems at technically useful temperatures. The corresponding thermally more stable benzyl complexes,... 

Noyori et al. recently used ESI-MS to characterize species present in catalytically active solutions during the hydrogenation of aryl-alkyl ketones using their base-free catalyst precursors trans-[Ru((R)-tol-BINAP)((R, RJ-dpenJfHXf/ -BH ] (tol-BI-NAP = 2,2 -bis(ditolylphosphino) -1, T-binaphthyl dpen = 1,2-diphenylethylenedia-mine) in 2-propanol [9b]. Based upon ESI-MS observations, deuterium-labeling studies, kinetics, NMR observations, and other results, the authors proposed that the cationic dihydrogen complex trans-[Ru((R)-tol-BINAP)((R, R)-dpen)(H)( 2-H2)]+ is an intermediate in hydrogenations carried out in the absence of base. 

As a result of steric constraints imposed by the channel structure of ZSM-5, new or improved aromatics conversion processes have emerged. They show greater product selectivities and reaction paths that are shifted significantly from those obtained with constraint-free catalysts. In xylene isomerization, a high selectivity for isomerization versus disproportionation is shown to be related to zeolite structure rather than composition. The disproportionation of toluene to benzene and xylene can be directed to produce para-xylene in high selectivity by proper catalyst modification. The para-xylene selectivity can be quantitatively described in terms of three key catalyst properties, i.e., activity, crystal size, and diffusivity, supporting the diffusion model of para-selectivity. 

Morimoto, Kakiuchi, and co-workers were the first to show that aldehydes are a useful source of CO in the catalytic PKR [68]. Based on 13C-labeling experiments, it was proposed that after decarbonylation of the aldehyde, an active metal catalyst is formed. This was proven by the absence of free carbon monoxide. As a consequence CO, which is directly generated by previous aldehyde decarbonylation, is incorporated in situ into the carbonylative coupling. The best results were obtained using C5F5CHO and cinnamaldehyde as CO source in combination with [RhCl(cod)]2/dppp as the catalyst system. In the presence of an excess of aldehyde the corresponding products were isolated in the range of 52-97%. 

The activity of elemental carbon as a metal-free catalyst is well established for a couple of reactions, however, most literature still deals with the support properties of this material. The discovery of nanostructured carbons in most cases led to an increased performance for the abovementioned reasons, thus these systems attracted remarkable research interest within the last years. The most prominent reaction is the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of ethylbenzene and other hydrocarbons in the gas phase, which will be introduced in a separate chapter. The conversion of alcohols as well as the catalytic properties of graphene oxide for liquid phase selective oxidations will also be discussed in more detail. The third section reviews individually reported catalytic effects of nanocarbons in organic reactions, as well as selected inorganic reactions. 

---