Bifunctional Noyori

The most important progress in the last decade has been in the design and synthesis of [RuCl2(diphosphine)(l,2-diamine)] catalysts exploiting the metal-ligand bifunctional concept developed by Noyori and co-workers.29-31 The Noyori catalysts seem to possess all of the desired properties, such as high turnover number (TON), high turnover frequency (TOF), and operationally simple, safe, and environmentally friendly reaction conditions. 

A monohydride mechanism is not operating in reactions catalyzed by these complexes. Noyori observed that the presence of an NH or NH2 in the auxiliary ligands was crucial for catalytic activity, the corresponding dialkylamino analogs being totally ineffective. These findings indicate a novel metal-ligand bifunctional cycle (Scheme 28) KOH reacts with the pre-catalyst (87)... 

The concerted delivery of protons from OH and hydride from RuH found in these Shvo systems is related to the proposed mechanism of hydrogenation of ketones (Scheme 7.15) by a series of ruthenium systems that operate by metal-ligand bifunctional catalysis [86]. A series of Ru complexes reported by Noyori, Ohkuma and coworkers exhibit extraordinary reactivity in the enantioselective hydrogenation of ketones. These systems are described in detail in Chapters 20 and 31, and mechanistic issues of these hydrogenations by ruthenium complexes have been reviewed [87]. 

The applied catalytic system consisted of a Ru-Noyori-type racemization catalyst 1 (Fig. 12b) and Novozym 435. This catalyst combination tolerates a wide range of acyl donors, and it was expected that it would allow the use of bifunctional acyl donors for the formation of polycondensates. Before the start of the reaction, the monomer mixture showed the expected diastereomer ratio of (S,S) R,R) R,S) of 1 1 2 of the 1,4-diol employed. After 30 h of reaction the (5,5)-enantiomer almost completely disappeared, whereas the ratio of [R,R)- to (/ , 5)-monomer was ca. 3 1 (R S ca. 7 1). At a hydroxyl group conversion of 92% after 70h, no further conversion was observed and a final ratio of R,R) to R,S) of 16 1 (R S ca. 33 1) was obtained. Unfortunately, the molecular weights of the polymer were moderate at best (Mw = 3.4kDa) and Novozym 435 had to be added every few hours to compensate for the activity loss of the lipase. This suggests that Ru-catalyst 1 and Novozym 435 are not fully compatible. 

Noyori, R., Yamakawa, M. and Hashiquchi, S. Metal-Ligand Bifunctional Catalysis A Nonclassical Mechanism for Asymmetric Hydrogen Transfer between Alcohols and Carbonyl Compounds. J. Org. Chem. 2001, 66, 7931-7944. 

Within the monohydridic route, apart from the already explained inner-sphere mechanisms, there is another possibility involving the concerted outer-sphere transfer of one hydride and one proton to the corresponding substrate (Scheme 4b). This mechanism is very common to the so-called bifunctional catalysts. This term was proposed by Noyori for those catalysts having one hydrogen with hydridic character directly bonded to the metal center of the catalyst, a hydride ligand, and another hydrogen with protic character bonded to one of the ligands of the metal complex (20). In Scheme 9, examples of bifunctional catalysts that are synthesized... 

The discovery by the recent Nobel-laureate, Ryoji Noyori, of asymmetric hydrogenation of simple ketones to alcohols catalyzed by raras-RuCl2[(S)-binap][(S,S)-dpen] (binap = [l,l -binaphthalene-2,2/-diyl-bis(diphenylphosphane)] dpen = diphenylethylenediamine) is remarkable in several respects (91). The reaction is quantitative within hours, gives enantiomeric excesses (ee) up to 99%, shows high chemoselecti-vity for carbonyl over olefin reduction, and the substrate-to-catalyst ratio is >100,000. Moreover, the non-classical metal-ligand bifunctional catalytic cycle is mechanistically novel and involves heterolytic... 

Other chiral diamine-( -arene)ruthenium catalysts were developed by Noyori where the chirality was centred at the metal (see Figure 3.18). These complexes were effective catalysts for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of carbonyl compounds and a mechanism involving a metal-ligand bifunctional process was proposed. 

Additional catalyst development identified the positive effect of 1,2-diamines as additives in the (BlNAP)Ru(OAc)2-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenations of ketones [24], This discovery ultimately led to the synthesis of a class of (diphosphine) Ru(diamine)X2 (X = H, halide) compounds [25] (Figure 4.1) which have emerged as some of the most active and selective hydrogenation catalysts ever reported [26]. Mechanistic studies by Noyori [14] and Morris [27] have established bifunctional hydrogen transfer to substrate from the cis Ru-H and N-H motifs and identified the importance of ruthenium hydridoamido complexes for the heterolytic splitting of H2. This paradigm allows prediction of the absolute stereochemistry of the chiral alcohols produced from these reachons. 

One of the most successful areas of bifunctional ligand effects in the last decade is the development of highly successful ruthenium hydrogenation catalysts (see Figure Most notably, Noyori and his group have... 

Ligand-metal bifunctional catalysis provides an efficient method for the hydrogenation of various unsaturated organic compounds. Shvo-type [83-85] Ru-H/OH and Noyori-type [3-7] Ru-H/NH catalysts have demonstrated bifimctionality with excellent chemo- and enantioselectivities in transfer hydrogenations and hydrogenations of alkenes, aldehydes, ketones, and imines. Based on the isoelectronic analogy of H-Ru-CO and H-Re-NO units, it was anticipated that rhenium nitrosyl-based bifunctional complexes could exhibit catalytic activities comparable to the ruthenium carbonyl ones (Scheme 29) [86]. 

Noyori R, Yamakawa M, Hashiguchi S (2001) Metal-ligand bifunctional catalysis a non-classical mechanism for asymmetric hydrogen transfer between alcohols and carbonyl compounds. J Org Chem 66 7931-7944... 

Outer Coordination Sphere Catalysts. In the classical hydrogenation catalysis shown previously, the substrate must be coordinated to the metal prior to its insertion into a metal-hydrogen bond. However, in recent years, it has been found that unsaturated polar bonds can be hydrogenated without coordination of the substrate to the metal (37). Two well-known, nonclassical possibilities for the hydrogenation of unsaturated polar bonds, such as ketones, are the metal-ligand bifunctional mechanism (38) and the ionic mechanism (39). In the metal-ligand bifunctional mechanism discovered by Noyori (recipient of the Nobel Prize in 2001) for highly efficient ruthenium amine complexes, the hydridic RuH and... 

The Concerted Bifunctional Mechanism. At the end of the 20th century, Noyori and co-workers reported a new hydrogen transfer mechanism in which a metal-hydride participates together with a primary or secondary amine NH bond (38,278,283,298). The hydrogen transfer catalytic activity of the isolated hydride intermediate allowed the authors to propose the outer-sphere mechanism outlined in Figure 93. The key intermediate is the six-membered metallacyle represented in the figure in which the metal-hydride and the NH functionality are interacting with the carbonyl bond. Theoretical studies support this mechanism and explain the encountered enantioselectivity (301,363-365). 

In this species, there is no direct coordination of the ketone to the Ru, but rather an outer-sphere association with an orientation of the ketone such that two H atoms can be transferred from the 18-electron hydride, one coming from the hydridic H and the other from the NHj group. This nonclassical mechanistic pathway is now widely accepted for this class of catalysts and is referred to as metal-ligand bifunctional catalysis. Theoretical work of Andersson and co-workers and Noyori et al. provided support for the mechanism and further details are discussed in a review by Noyori et al. ... 

There is general agreement that these systems also are proceeding via metal-ligand bifunctional catalysis, but the details of the reactive species remain somewhat obscure. A somewhat simplified version of the proposal by Noyori and co-workers for the system under basic conditions is shown in the following Scheme ... 

After the milestone discovery of bifunctional catalysts reported by Noyori and co-workers, a large number of related or novel ligands and catalysts for the ATH of prochiral ketones have been developed that display a broad substrate scope and provide optically active alcohols in a high enantiomeric purity [9, 53, 54]. 

---