Bronsted catalysts, phosphoric acid

The reachon of benzene with ethylene or propylene to form ethylbenzene or isopropylbenzene (cumene) is an industrially important transformahon, with ethylbenzene as the key building block for polystyrene and cumene as the feedstock for phenol produchon [55]. Fthylbenzene was originally produced with a Lewis acid catalyst consishng of AlCfi or a Bronsted acidic solid phosphoric acid (SPA) catalyst [56]. Both catalyst systems suffered from equipment corrosion so, in the 1980s the Mobil-Badger vapor phase alkylation process was introduced, which... 

Examples of the Bronsted-acid catalysts and hydrogen-bond catalysts are shown in Figure 2.1. We have recently reported the Mannich-type reaction of ketene silyl acetals with aldimines derived from aromatic aldehyde catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid 7 (Figure 2.2, Scheme 2.6) [12]. The corresponding [5-amino esters were obtained with high syn-diastereoselectivities and excellent enantioselectivities. 

In the above example, although the hydrogen-bond complex was formed initially, the nucleophilic addihon reaction was supposed to proceed via protonated form CPli, which clearly indicated that the phosphoric acid worked as a Bronsted-acid catalyst. 

In contrast to some related reviews, which use reaction class or electrophiles as organizational elements, this chapter is divided into three main sections according to catalyst class (i) Bronsted acid catalysis by phosphoric acid and phosphoramide derivatives, (ii) N—H hydrogen bond catalysis by organic base and ammonium systems, and (iii) combined acid catalysis including Bronsted-acid-assisted Bronsted acid, Lewis-acid-assisted Bronsted acid, and Lewis-acid-assisted Br0nsted acid systems (Figure 5.1). 

In a continuation of their work, however, Heilmann and Maier found that their imprinted silica gels exhibited selective transesterification and lactonisation that was no better than control materials containing phosphoric acid [55]. In fact, the catalytic activity could be removed by rinsing the gel in water. The TSA apparently turns into phosphoric acid during the high temperature treatment and then remains on the gel as a Bronsted acid catalyst (Fig. 8.15). The enhancement of selectivity... 

The desirable features of phosphoric acids as chiral Bronsted acid catalysts are summarized as follows (Figure 3.1) ... 

The phosphoryl oxygen would function as a Bronsted basic site and hence it is anticipated that it would convey acid/base dual junction even to monofunctional phosphoric acid catalysts. 

Figure 3.1 Chiral phosphoric acids as chiral Bronsted acid catalysts.

In this chapter, we focus on recent achievements in the enantioselective synthesis of chiral amines using 1,1 bi 2 naphthol (BINOL) derived monophosphoric acid (1) or related phosphoric acids as chiral Bronsted acid catalysts 2, 3], The contents are arranged according to the type of bond forming reaction, including carbon carbon, carbon hydrogen, and carbon heteroatom bond forming reactions, followed by specific reaction types. 

The vinylogous Mannich reaction of 2 silyloxy furans and imines may also be catalyzed through chiral Brpnsted acids, as shown by Akiyama et al. [10]. Previously, Akiyama [11] and Terada [12] had independently discovered that 3,3 substituted BINOL based phosphoric acids were excellent Bronsted acids for a broad range of mainly imine addition reactions via protonation of the imines and in situ formation of chiral iminium contact ion pairs. Using the slightly modified phosphoric acid 28 as catalyst carrying additional iodine substituents in the 6,6 positions, the y amino substituted butenolides 27 were obtained in excellent enantioselectivity and variable diastereoselectivity (Table 5.4). 

Phosphoric acids 32 and 35 have been successfully employed as chiral Bronsted acid catalysts for vinylogous Mannich reactions of acyclic silyl dienolates with imines (Table 5.5 and Scheme 5.10). Why does the exchange of a para methyl group for a tert butyl group on the 3,3 aryl groups within the BINOL backbone have such a pronounced effect on the enantioselectivity of the reaction although this position appears to be quite remote from the reaction center ... 

Another Bronsted acid that can be used to treat Cr/silica catalysts is sulfuric acid [614]. The acid itself can be impregnated onto the silica, or ammonium sulfate or bisulfate can be used instead, or even gaseous S03 or organosulfur compounds. One easy way of incorporating sulfate onto the catalyst is to dry-mix ammonium sulfate with the catalyst before activation. During calcination, the ammonium sulfate decomposes and evaporates, and then the products react with the silica surface. Unlike phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid and the sulfates eventually evaporate off the catalyst as the temperature is raised. 

A number of Bronsted acidic organocatalysts have been applied to the asymmetric hydrophosphonylation of aldimines. Thiourea catalysts related to (6.130) catalyse the asymmetric hydrophosphonylation of a range of aliphatic and aromatic aldimines with high ee and BINOL-derived phosphoric acid derivatives similar in structure to (6.131) are effective catalysts in the asymmetric phosphonylation of cinnamaldehyde-derived aldimines. Asymmetric hydrophosphonylation of aromatic aldimines can also be achieved with high ee using cheap, commercially... 

A new approach to stereoselective transfer hydrogenation of imines was the application of chiral phosphoric acid esters as organocatalysts [50-52]. The mechanism is based on the assumption that the imine is protonated by a chiral Bronsted acid, which acts as the catalyst. The resulting diastereomeric iminium ion pairs, which may be stabilized by hydrogen bonding, react with the Hantzsch dihydropyridine at different rates to give an enantiomerically enriched amine and a pyridine derivative [50-52]. The exact mechanism is still under discussion however computational density functional theory (DFT) studies ]53, 54] suggest a three-point contact model. ... 

In the absence of a catalytic amount of Lewis acids such as Mg(OTf)2, weak Bronsted acids, such as thioureas, BINOL, and BINOL-derived phosphoric acids, could not promote this reaction alone. The reaction could not proceed with phosphoric acid salts, suggesting that the use of free acid is essential for effective catalysis. The combination of chiral phosphoric acid 13e and Lewis acid Mgp2 (4 1 ratio) was identified to be the optimal catalyst for the AFC alkylation reactions of phenols with p,y-unsaturated a-keto esters, affording the alkylation product in good yields with up to 99% ee. Not only free phenols but also indoles could be successfully applied in AFC reactions with P,y-unsaturated a-keto esters under the binary-acid catalysis (82-94% ee). 

Terada in 2004 explored the coupling of 2-methoxy substituted furan 123 with electron-rich and electron-poor A-BOC aryl aldimines 124a-j in the presence of 2 mol % binapthol phosphoric acid ( )-125, a chiral Bronsted acid, to afford adducts 126a-j in high yield (80-96%) and optical purity (86-97%). This reaction was performed on gram scale using even lower catalyst loading (0.5 mol %) with the added benefit the catalyst could be easily recovered and reused. The researchers demonstrated the synthetic utility of... 

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