Carbon-nitrogen catalysis

Compounds containing carbon-nitrogen double bonds can be hydrolyzed to the corresponding aldehydes or ketones. For imines (W = R or H) the hydrolysis is easy and can be carried out with water. When W = H, the imine is seldom stable enough for isolation, and hydrolysis usually occurs in situ, without isolation. The hydrolysis of Schiff bases (W = Ar) is more difficult and requires acid or basic catalysis. Oximes (W = OH), arylhydrazones (W = NHAr), and, most easily, semicarbazones (W = NHCONH2) can also be hydrolyzed. Often a reactive aldehyde (e.g., formaldehyde) is added to combine with the liberated amine. 

Lipases are the enzymes for which a number of examples of a promiscuous activity have been reported. Thus, in addition to their original activity comprising hydrolysis of lipids and, generally, catalysis of the hydrolysis or formation of carboxylic esters [107], lipases have been found to catalyze not only the carbon-nitrogen bond hydrolysis/formation (in this case, acting as proteases) but also the carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. The first example of a lipase-catalyzed Michael addition to 2-(trifluoromethyl)propenoic acid was described as early as in 1986 [108]. Michael addition of secondary amines to acrylonitrile is up to 100-fold faster in the presence of various preparations of the hpase from Candida antariica (CAL-B) than in the absence of a biocatalyst (Scheme 5.20) [109]. 

Enantioselective -Functionalization of Aldehydes and Ketones The direct and enantiosective functionalization of enolates or enolate equivalents with carbon-, nitrogen-, oxygen-, sulfur- or halogen-centered electrophiles represents a powerful transformation of chemical synthesis and of fundamental importance to modem practitioners of asymmetric molecule constmction. Independent studies from List, J0rgensen, Cordova, Hayashi, and MacMiUan have demonstrated the power of enamine catalysis, developing catalytic enantioselective reactions such as... 

The peculiar metal ion specificity of the ATP cleavage reaction may perhaps be explained by reference to some studies on the metal complexes of Schiff bases, which have provided clues to many aspects of biological metal catalysis. It was shown that metal ions will split the carbon-nitrogen double bond in thiophenalde-hyde-ethylenediamine (18, 21) as a consequence of the electronic-drift-to-metal... 

There are >40 distinct molybdenum enzymes that occur in all classes of living systems and are especially important in the biochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur (24b). The majority of the molybdenum enzymes, with notable exceptions including the nitrogenases (25-28) and a 2-hydroxyglutaryl-CoA dehydratase (10), catalyze a conversion of the type [Eq. 1], that is, the net effect of the catalysis corresponds to the transfer of an oxygen atom to or from the substrate. 

These resonance structures suggest the probability of ionic reactions, with electron donors attacking the carbonyl carbon, and electron acceptors attacking the oxygen or nitrogen. Catalysis by Lewis acids and bases should be common. 

The binding of the carbonyl oxygen of amides to zinc(II) of carboxypeptidase is based on X-ray studies of enzyme-inhibitor complexes. Of course, the amides studied may be inhibitors because they bind to the enzyme incorrectly. An alternative mechanism, which makes chemical sense, could involve metal-ion coordination to the amide nitrogen which would not only stabilise the tetrahedral intermediate (XVI) but also facilitate carbon-nitrogen bond cleavage. Such a mode of catalysis... 

In addition to transfer hydrogenation reactions, arene ruthenium complexes also display excellent activity in the catalytic hydrogenation of olefins and alkynes including asymmetric reduction [40]. Remarkably, this process occurs under milder conditions, than required for catalysis with the dissociation of arene-metal bond. Lately, arene iridium complexes have also been found to be effective hydrogenation catalysts [41 ]. It is noteworthy that iridium can also promotes addition to the carbon-nitrogen double bond. 

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