Alternative Metal Catalysts

The Suzuki-Miyaura coupling has traditionally been carried out using palladium as the metal catalyst however, there have been several reports that employ alternative metals as catalysts for the coupling reaction. In fact a rather controversial report even disclosed the use of no metal catalyst however, on careful examination of the reaction conditions it was found that palladium contaminants down to a level of 50 ppb found in commercially available sodium carbonate were responsible for the generation of the biaryl rather than an alternative non-palladium-mediated reaction.  

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The [Rh(COD)Cl]2- and Kl-mediated carbonylation of substituted A -alkylisothiazolidines 257 occurs regiospeci-fically at the S-N bond (Equation 23) <2004OL3489>. The most favorable solvent for this ring expansion of the A -alkylisothiazolidines to give tetrahydro-2/7-l,3-thiazin-2-ones 258 is toluene. The yields were dependent on the nature of the aryl group. A range of alternative metal catalysts were also screened, however carbonylation was observed with Co(CO)8, and Pd(OAc)2 only. 

More commonly reported is the insertion of the C3-4 unit. Palladium-catalyzed conditions can utilize iodobenzal-dimine with alkynes <19990L553, 1998JOC5306, 2005JOC10172> or allenes <1999TL4255> (Scheme 67). Alternative metal catalysts include nickel <20050L5179>. 

Heterogeneous vapor-phase fluorination of a chlorocarbon or chlorohydrocarbon with HP over a supported metal catalyst is an alternative to the hquid phase process. Salts of chromium, nickel, cobalt or iron on an A1P. support are considered viable catalysts in pellet or fluidized powder form. This process can be used to manufacture CPC-11 and CPC-12, but is hampered by the formation of over-fluorinated by-products with Httle to no commercial value. The most effective appHcation for vapor-phase fluorination is where all the halogens are to be replaced by fluorine, as in manufacture of 3,3,3-trifluoropropene [677-21 ] (14) for use in polyfluorosiHcones. 

All lation. Thiophenes can be alkylated in the 2-position using alkyl halides, alcohols, and olefins. Choice of catalyst is important the weaker Friedel-Crafts catalysts, eg, ZnCl2 and SnCl, are preferred. It is often preferable to use the more readily accompHshed acylation reactions of thiophene to give the required alkyl derivatives on reduction. Alternatively, metalation or Grignard reactions, on halothiophenes or halomethylthiophenes, can be utilized. 

Metal oxides, sulfides, and hydrides form a transition between acid/base and metal catalysts. They catalyze hydrogenation/dehydro-genation as well as many of the reactions catalyzed by acids, such as cracking and isomerization. Their oxidation activity is related to the possibility of two valence states which allow oxygen to be released and reabsorbed alternately. Common examples are oxides of cobalt, iron, zinc, and chromium and hydrides of precious metals that can release hydrogen readily. Sulfide catalysts are more resistant than metals to the formation of coke deposits and to poisoning by sulfur compounds their main application is in hydrodesulfurization. 

Starting with a ceramic and depositing an aluminum oxide coating. The aluminum oxide makes the ceramic, which is fairly smooth, have a number of bumps. On those bumps a noble metal catalyst, such as platinum, palladium, or rubidium, is deposited. The active site, wherever the noble metal is deposited, is where the conversion will actually take place. An alternate to the ceramic substrate is a metallic substrate. In this process, the aluminum oxide is deposited on the metallic substrate to give the wavy contour. The precious metal is then deposited onto the aluminum oxide. Both forms of catalyst are called monoliths. 

Base Metal Catalyst - An alternate to a noble metal catalyst is a base metal catalyst. A base metal catalyst can be deposited on a monolithic substrate or is available as a pellet. These pellets are normally extruded and hence are 100% catalyst rather than deposition on a substrate. A benefit of base metal extruded catalyst is that if any poisons are present in the process stream, a deposition of the poisons on the surface of the catalyst occurs. Depending on the type of contaminant, it can frequently be washed away with water. When it is washed, abraded, or atritted, the outer surface is removed and subsequently a new catalyst surface is exposed. Hence, the catalyst can be regenerated. Noble metal catalyst can also be regenerated but the process is more expensive. A noble metal catalyst, depending on the operation, will typically last 30,000 hours. As a rule of thumb, a single shift operation of 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year results in a total of 2,000 hours per year. Hence, the catalyst might have a 15 year life expectancy. From a cost factor, a typical rule of thumb is that a catalyst might be 10%-15% of the overall capital cost of the equipment. 

NF3 was first prepared by Otto Ruffs group in Germany by the electrolysis of molten NH4F/HF and this process is still used commercially. An alternative is the controlled fluorination of NH3 over a Cu metal catalyst. 

Chiral epoxides and their corresponding vicinal diols are very important intermediates in asymmetric synthesis [163]. Chiral nonracemic epoxides can be obtained through asymmetric epoxidation using either chemical catalysts [164] or enzymes [165-167]. Biocatalytic epoxidations require sophisticated techniques and have thus far found limited application. An alternative approach is the asymmetric hydrolysis of racemic or meso-epoxides using transition-metal catalysts [168] or biocatalysts [169-174]. Epoxide hydrolases (EHs) (EC 3.3.2.3) catalyze the conversion of epoxides to their corresponding vicinal diols. EHs are cofactor-independent enzymes that are almost ubiquitous in nature. They are usually employed as whole cells or crude... 

An alternative sequence utilized 2-oxazolidone, which was readily synthesized from urea and ethanolamine, as the glycine equivalent. Subsequent treatment with phosphorous acid and formaldehyde produced iV-phosphonomethyl-2-oxazolidone 12 (16). Upon hydrolysis, and loss of CO2,12 provided the related derivative, iV-phosphonomethylethanolamine 13, which was oxidized at high temperature with a variety of metal catalysts including cadmium oxide (16) or Raney copper (17) to give GLYH3, after acidification. A similar oxidation route has also been reported starting from iV-phosphonomethy 1-morpholine (18). 

Precious metals have faced a significant price increase and the fear of depletion. By contrast, iron is a highly abundant metal in the crust of the earth (4.7 wt%) of low toxicity and price. Thus, it can be defined as an environmentally friendly material. Therefore, iron complexes have been studied intensively as an alternative for precious-metal catalysts within recent years (for reviews of iron-catalyzed organic reactions, see [12-20]). The chemistry of iron complexes continues to expand rapidly because these catalysts play indispensable roles in today s academic study as well as chemical industry. 

Hydrogenation of substrates having a polar multiple C-heteroatom bond such as ketones or aldehydes has attracted significant attention because the alcohols obtained by this hydrogenation are important building blocks. Usually ruthenium, rhodium, and iridium catalysts are used in these reactions [32-36]. Nowadays, it is expected that an iron catalyst is becoming an alternative material to these precious-metal catalysts. 

C-C and C-E (E = heteroatom) bond formations are valuable reactions in organic synthesis, thus these reactions have been achieved to date by considerable efforts of a large number of chemists using a precious-metal catalysts (e.g., Ru, Rh, and Pd). Recently, the apphcation range of iron catalysts as an alternative for rare and expensive transition-metal catalysts has been rapidly expanded (for recent selected examples, see [12-20, 90-103]). In these reactions, a Fe-H species might act as a reactive key intermediate but also represent a deactivated species, which is prepared by p-H elimination. 

Enantiometrically pure alcohols are important and valuable intermediates in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other fine chemicals. A variety of synthetic methods have been developed to obtain optically pure alcohols. Among these methods, a straightforward approach is the reduction of prochiral ketones to chiral alcohols. In this context, varieties of chiral metal complexes have been developed as catalysts in asymmetric ketone reductions [ 1-3]. However, in many cases, difficulties remain in the process operation, and in obtaining sufficient enantiomeric purity and productivity [2,3]. In addition, residual metal in the products originating from the metal catalyst presents another challenge because of the ever more stringent regulatory restrictions on the level of metals allowed in pharmaceutical products [4]. An alternative to the chemical asymmetric reduction processes is biocatalytic transformation, which offers... 

An alternative approach for the preparation of supported metal catalysts is based on the use of a microwave-generated plasma [27]. Several new materials prepared by this method are unlikely to be obtained by other methods. It is accepted that use of a microwave plasma results in a unique mechanism, because of the generation of a nonthermodynamic equilibrium in discharges during catalytic reactions. This can lead to significant changes in the activity and selectivity of the catalyst. 

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