Alkynes anti-Markovnikov hydration

Enzyme-like Acceleration in Catalytic Anti-Markovnikov Hydration of Alkynes to... 

We are applying the principles of enzyme mechanism to organometallic catalysis of the reactions of nonpolar and polar molecules for our early work using heterocyclic phosphines, please see ref. 1.(1) Here we report that whereas uncatalyzed alkyne hydration by water has a half-life measured in thousands of years, we have created improved catalysts which reduce the half-life to minutes, even at neutral pH. These data correspond to enzyme-like rate accelerations of >3.4 x 109, which is 12.8 times faster than our previously reported catalyst and 1170 times faster than the best catalyst known in the literature without a heterocyclic phosphine. In some cases, practical hydration can now be conducted at room temperature. Moreover, our improved catalysts favor anti-Markovnikov hydration over traditional Markovnikov hydration in ratios of over 1000 to 1, with aldehyde yields above 99% in many cases. In addition, we find that very active hydration catalysts can be created in situ by adding heterocyclic phosphines to otherwise inactive catalysts. The scope, limitations, and development of these reactions will be described in detail. 

The hydration of alkynes represents a prime example in which simple coordinative activation by transition metal complexation greatly facilitates an otherwise very slow chemical process (Equation (107)). This reaction has been a long-studied problem, but only recently have alternatives to the classical use of catalysts such as Hg(n) salts been sought. These new catalyst systems typically display much enhanced reactivity, and some can mediate an anti-Markovnikov hydration through a novel mechanism (Table 1). 

A most significant advance in the alkyne hydration area during the past decade has been the development of Ru(n) catalyst systems that have enabled the anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal alkynes (entries 6 and 7). These reactions involve the addition of water to the a-carbon of a ruthenium vinylidene complex, followed by reductive elimination of the resulting hydridoruthenium acyl intermediate (path C).392-395 While the use of GpRuGl(dppm) in aqueous dioxane (entry 6)393-396 and an indenylruthenium catalyst in an aqueous medium including surfactants has proved to be effective (entry 7),397 an Ru(n)/P,N-ligand system (entry 8) has recently been reported that displays enzyme-like rate acceleration (>2.4 x 1011) (dppm = bis(diphenylphosphino)methane).398... 

It is noteworthy that the indenyl complex RuCl(ri -C9H7)(PPh3)2l4 provides an efficient catalyst precursor for the anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal alkynes in aqueous media, especially in micellar solutions with either anionic (sodium dode-cylsulfate (SDS)) or cationic (hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)) surfactants [38]. This system can be applied to the hydration of propargylic alcohols to selectively produce P-hydroxyaldehydes, whereas RuCl(Cp)(PMe3)2 gives a,P-unsat-urated aldehydes (the Meyer Schuster rearrangement products)(Scheme 10.8) [39]. 

Scheme 10.7 A mechanism proposed for the anti-Markovnikov hydration of alkynes.

The impressive activity achieved by Teles catalyst was improved some years later by the use of CO as an additive [92]. In this study, Hayashi and Tanaka reported a TOF of 15600h 1, at least two orders of magnitude higher than [as-PtCl2(tppts)2], for the hydration of alkynes, providing an alternative synthetic route to the Wacker oxidation. Although several solvents were tested, the best results were obtained with aqueous methanol, and sulfuric acid or HTfO as acidic promoters. Unlike Utimoto s observation, in this case terminal propargylic alcohols partially (17-20%) delivered anti-Markovnikov product, in addition to the Markovnikov species. Some years before, Wakatsuki et al. had already reported the anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal alkynes catalyzed by ruthenium(II) [93]. 

An anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal alkynes could be a convenient way of preparing aldehydes, but so far only a few ruthenium-complexes have been identified that catalyze this unusual hydration mode ]16]. The presence of bidentate phosphine ligands ]16b], the coordination of a water molecule stabilized by hydrogen bonding ]16e] and the use of phosphinopyridine ligands ]16f] seem to be of major importance in these processes. 

Chevalher, F. and Breit, B. (2006) Self-assembled bidentate ligands for Ru-catalyzed anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal alkynes. Angew. Chem., 118, 1629—1632 (2006) Selfassembled bidentate ligands for Ru-catalyzed anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal alkynes. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 45, 1599-1602. 

A highly regioselective, efficient, and clean anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal acetylenes has been realized through the use of catalytic amounts of Ru complexes.561 Typically, [CpRu(dppm)Cl] catalyzes the reaction at 100°C to give aldehydes in high yields (81-94%). Triflic acid or trifluoromethanesulfonimide effectively catalyzes the hydration of alkynes without a metal catalyst to afford Markovnikov products (ketones).562... 

As demonstrated below, a Lewis acid-mediated reaction was utilized in the synthesis of dihydro[b furan-based chromen-2-one derivatives from l-cyclopropyl-2-arylethanones and allenic esters <070L4017>. The TiCh-catalyzed anti-Markovnikov hydration of alkynes, followed by a copper-catalyzed O-arylation was applied to the synthesis of 2-substituted benzo[6]furan <07JOC6149>. In addition, benzo[6]furan-based heterocycles could be made from chloromethylcoumarins <07SL1951>, substituted cyclopropanes <07AGE1726>, as well as benzyne and styrene oxide <07SL1308>. On the other hand, DBU-mediated dehydroiodination of 2-iodomethyl-2,3-dihydrobenzo[6]furans was also useful in the synthesis of 2-methylbenzo[Z>]furans <07TL6628>. 

A Ni-catalyzed cyclization cross-coupling reaction of iodoalkenes with alkyl zinc halides has been employed for the synthesis of various tetrahydrofuran derivatives <2007AGE-ASAP>. The TiCU-catalyzed anti-Markovnikov hydration of alkynes has been applied to the synthesis of various benzo[3]furans <2007JOC6149>. 

Hydration. Anti-Markovnikov hydration of 1-alkynes to afford aldedydes is accomplished by treatment with the title complex and a 2-diphenylphosphino-6-arylpyridine. 

Anti-Markovnikov addition of H2O to olefins is of enormous importance in view of the production of linear alcohols directly from alkenes. It is a general phenomenon, however, that reaction of water with olefins and alkynes, as in the previous example, gives products of Markovnikov addition. The first anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal alkynes (Scheme 42) with transition metal catalysis was reported in 1998 (227). A series of aliphatic and aromatic alkynes... 

Grotjahn and coworkers used the same ruthenium catalyst as for anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal alkynes, [CpRuL2(CH3CN)] [PFg]... 

L=AZARYPHOS, see Scheme 7) [86], to synthesize indoles from homo-propargylic amines/amides in good yields [105]. The use of doubly ethynylated substrates in the presence of water gave rise to the product derived from cyclization to the indole plus anti-Markovnikov hydration of the second terminal alkyne (Scheme 21). 

Ruthenium complexes are often inexpensive, readily available, and active catalysts for the hydration of alkynes [177-179]. In contrast to most mercury and gold systems, several of the Ru-based catalysts displayed a propensity to generate the anti-Markovnikov hydration products. One of the more practical approaches to this anti-Markovnikov hydration chemistry was developed by Herzon (Scheme 2.115) [180]. His approach entailed the use of a ruthenium compound bearing a 5,5 -(bistrifluoromethyl)-2,2 -(bipyridine) as the supporting ligand. A variety of ruthenium complexes could be isolated, and at least one... 

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