Alkene elimination catalysts

When the same [NiI (NHC)2] complexes are employed as alkene dimerisation catalysts in ionic liquid (IL) solvent [l-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, AICI3, A-methylpyrrole (0.45 0.55 0.1)] rather than toluene, the catalysts were found to be highly active, with no evidence of decomposition. Furthermore, product distributions for each of the catalyst systems studied was surprisingly similar, indicating a common active species may have been formed in each case. It was proposed that reductive elimination of the NHC-Ni did indeed occur, as outlined in Scheme 13.8, however, the IL solvent oxidatively adds to the Ni(0) thus formed to yield a new Ni-NHC complex, 15, stabilised by the IL solvent, and able to effectively catalyse the dimerisation process (Scheme 13.9) [25-27],... 

Fig. 4. Isosteric alkene substitution eliminates catalyst selectivity...

Reductive elimination regenerates the catalyst and forms HBr. Triethylamine reacts with HBr to prevent it from adding to the alkene. The catalyst can now react with another molecule of alkyl halide. 

This method is specific for metallacyclopentanes. The alkene-coupling process is favored by metal reduction. A typical synthetic strategy is the in situ reduction of a metal halide precursor in the presence of the alkene see, for example, the synthesis of 79 in Scheme 34.1 An alkylidene precursor may also lead to a metallacycle with elimination of the car-bene ligand as in the synthesis of 81, representing a deactivation pathway for alkene metathesis catalysts. Ilie two alkenes may be generated in situ in the coordination sphere by rearrangement processes, such as intramolecular hydrogen transfer from an alkyl-vinyl precursor. I ... 

A combined experimental and computational study of substrate-induced decomposition pathways for alkene metathesis catalysts reveals the importance of / -hydride transfer from ruthenacyclobutane intermediates. Subsequent steps afford allyl hydride species, which then eliminate H2 to give catalytically inactive unsaturated complexes of the form [RuL(77 -alkene)Gl2]. ... 

The most useful reaction of Pd is a catalytic reaction, which can be carried out with only a small amount of expensive Pd compounds. The catalytic cycle for the Pd(0) catalyst, which is understood by the combination of the aforementioned reactions, is possible by reductive elimination to generate Pd(0), The Pd(0) thus generated undergoes oxidative addition and starts another catalytic cycle. A Pd(0) catalytic species is also regenerated by /3-elimination to form Pd—H which is followed by the insertion of the alkene to start the new catalytic cycle. These relationships can be expressed as shown. 

Dehydration of alcohols (Sections 5 9-5 13) Dehydra tion requires an acid catalyst the order of reactivity of alcohols IS tertiary > secondary > primary Elimi nation is regioselective and proceeds in the direction that produces the most highly substituted double bond When stereoisomeric alkenes are possible the more stable one is formed in greater amounts An El (elimination unimolecular) mechanism via a carbo cation intermediate is followed with secondary and tertiary alcohols Primary alcohols react by an E2 (elimination bimolecular) mechanism Sometimes elimination is accompanied by rearrangement... 

Quaternary ammonium salts as we have seen are useful m synthetic organic chem istry as phase transfer catalysts In another more direct application quaternary ammo mum hydroxides are used as substrates m an elimination reaction to form alkenes... 

Mild acid converts it to the product and ethanol. With the higher temperatures required of the cyano compound [1003-52-7] (15), the intermediate cycloadduct is converted direcdy to the product by elimination of waste hydrogen cyanide. Often the reactions are mn with neat Hquid reagents having an excess of alkene as solvent. Polar solvents such as sulfolane and /V-m ethyl -pyrrol i don e are claimed to be superior for reactions of the ethoxy compound with butenediol (53). Organic acids, phenols, maleic acid derivatives, and inorganic bases are suggested as catalysts (51,52,54,59,61,62) (Fig. 6). 

Quaternaiy ammonium salts, as we have seen, aie useful in synthetic organic chemistry as phase-transfer catalysts. In another, more direct application, quaternaiy ammonium hydroxides aie used as substrates in an elimination reaction to fonn alkenes. 

Nitronates derived from primary nitroalkanes can be regarded as a synthetic equivalent of nitrile oxides since the elimination of an alcohol molecule from nitronates adds one higher oxidation level leading to nitrile oxides. This direct / -elimination of nitronates is known to be facilitated in the presence of a Lewis acid or a base catalyst [66, 72, 73]. On the other hand, cycloaddition reactions of nitronates to alkene dipolarophiles produce N-alkoxy-substituted isoxazolidines as cycloadducts. Under acid-catalyzed conditions, these isoxazolidines can be transformed into 2-isoxazolines through a ready / -elimination, and 2-isoxazolines correspond to the cycloadducts of nitrile oxide cycloadditions to alkenes [74]. 

Ion 21 can either lose a proton or combine with chloride ion. If it loses a proton, the product is an unsaturated ketone the mechanism is similar to the tetrahedral mechanism of Chapter 10, but with the charges reversed. If it combines with chloride, the product is a 3-halo ketone, which can be isolated, so that the result is addition to the double bond (see 15-45). On the other hand, the p-halo ketone may, under the conditions of the reaction, lose HCl to give the unsaturated ketone, this time by an addition-elimination mechanism. In the case of unsymmetrical alkenes, the attacking ion prefers the position at which there are more hydrogens, following Markovnikov s rule (p. 984). Anhydrides and carboxylic acids (the latter with a proton acid such as anhydrous HF, H2SO4, or polyphosphoric acid as a catalyst) are sometimes used instead of acyl halides. With some substrates and catalysts double-bond migrations are occasionally encountered so that, for example, when 1 -methylcyclohexene was acylated with acetic anhydride and zinc chloride, the major product was 6-acetyl-1-methylcyclohexene. ... 

Direct elimination of a carboxylic acid to an alkene has been accomplished by heating in the presence of palladium catalysts.Carboxylic esters in which the alkyl group has a P hydrogen can be pyrolyzed, most often in the gas phase, to give the corresponding acid and an alkene. No solvent is required. Since rearrangement and other side reactions are few, the reaction is synthetically very useful and is often carried out as an indirect method of accomplishing 17-1. The yields are excellent and the work up is easy. Many alkenes have been prepared in this manner. 

Acyl chlorides containing an a hydrogen are smoothly converted to alkenes, with loss of HCI and CO, on heating with chlorotris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium, with metallic platinum, or with certain other catalysts. The mechanism probably involves conversion of RCH2CH2COCI to RCH2CH2—RhCO(Ph3P)2Cl2 followed by a concerted syn elimination of Rh and H. See also 14-39 and 19-12. 

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