Carbonyl compounds hydrogenation, homogeneous catalysis

Meerwein-Pondorf-Verley reduction, discovered in the 1920s, is the transfer hydrogenation of carbonyl compounds by alcohols, catalyzed by basic metal compounds (e.g., alkoxides) [56-58]. The same reaction viewed as oxidation of alcohols [59] is called Oppenauer oxidation. Suitable catalysts include homogeneous as well as heterogeneous systems, containing a wide variety of metals like Li, Mg, Ca, Al, Ti, 2r and lanthanides. The subject has been reviewed recently [22]. In this review we will concentrate on homogeneous catalysis by aluminium. Most aluminium alkoxides will catalyze MPV reduction. 

Nickel and other transition metal catalysts, when modified with a chiral compound such as (R,R)-tartaric acid 5S), become enantioselective. All attempts to modify solid surfaces with optically active substances have so far resulted in catalysts of only low stereoselectivity. This is due to the fact that too many active centers of different structures are present on the surface of the catalysts. Consequently, in asymmetric hydrogenations the technique of homogeneous catalysis is superior to heterogeneous catalysis56). However, some carbonyl compounds have been hydrogenated in the presence of tartaric-acid-supported nickel catalysts in up to 92% optical purity55 . 

The first successful achievements using asymmetric homogeneous transition metal catalysis were obtained in the asymmetric hydrogenation of alkenes24 25, This method has been successfully used in many synthetic applications (Section D.2.5.1.)26-29. In addition, chirally modified versions of the transition metal catalyzed hydrosilylation of olefins and carbonyl compounds (Sections D.2.3.1. and 2.5.1.) and olefin isomerization (Section D.2.6.2.) have been developed. Transition metal catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation constitutes one of the most powerful examples of this type (Section D.4.5.2.). 

The fourth part of the book is devoted to catalysis. The role of metals in their reactions with organic compounds can be stoichiometric or catalytic. The student will have carefully taken this important distinction into account. Chemists, especially those from industry, will seek transformation processes that involve metals in catalytic quantities, i.e. in small amounts (metal-to-substrate molar ratios much lower than one). These efforts are obviously driven by problems of cost, toxicity and sometimes corrosion. Catalytic processes mostly use transition metals, which makes this class of metals particularly important. Catalytic processes are numerous and very common in biology, industry and every-day operations in the laboratory. We will study the most important catalytic cycles with emphasis placed on homogeneous catalysis, because it is in this area that the mechanisms are mostly firmly established in this area. Emphasis is now placed not only on classic hydrogenation and carbonylation processes, but also on progress in the challenging catalytic activation of hydrocarbons that is the subject of a new chapter. Another new specific... 

A metal cluster can be considered as a polynuclear compound which contains at least one metal-metal bond. A better definition of cluster catalysis is a reaction in which at least one site of the cluster molecule is mechanistically necessary. Theoretically, homogeneous clusters should be capable of multiple-site catalysis. Many heterogeneous catalytic reactions require multiple-site catalysis and for these reasons discrete molecular metal clusters are often proposed as models of metal surfaces in the processes of chemisorption and catalysis. The use of carbonyl clusters as catalysts for hydrogenation reactions has been the subject of a number of papers, an important question actually being whether the cluster itself is the species responsible for the hydrogenation. Often the cluster is recovered from the catalytic reaction, or is the only species spectroscopically observed under catalytic conditions. These data have been taken as evidence for cluster catalysis. 

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