Catalytic reactions involving aldehydes

Bruice. T. C. and Dombardo, A., Catalytic reactions involving azomethines. XI. The kinetics of condensation of histamine with 3-hydroxypyridine-4-aldehyde. An intramolecular. Mannich reaction, / Am. Chem. Soc., 91. 3009, 1969. 

Asymmetric catalytic hetero Diels-Alder reactions give access to synthetically important substituted heterocycles [45]. Asymmetric oxa Diels-Alder reactions involving aldehydes and ketones and catalyzed by chiral Lewis acid catalysts can be performed with a high degree of chiral induction [46]. The field is much less advanced that of the corresponding catalytic enantioselective aza Diels-Alder reactions. 

Aldehyde CH bonds are reactive in oxidative addition, so it is not unexpected to find that aldehydes readily undergo catalytic reactions involving this oxidative addition. Several catalysts decarbonylate aldehydes as a result of the acyl hydride formed after the C-H addition undergoing deinsertion of CO, followed by reductive elimination of the alkane product (Eq. 2.49). The hard step in the process is the thermally induced dissociation of the resulting tightly bound CO. One such catalyst is [Rh(triphos)Cl] (triphos = PhP(CH2CH2PPh2)2) [134]. 

It is postulated that the mechanism of the silane-mediated reaction involves silane oxidative addition to nickel(O) followed by diene hydrometallation to afford the nickel -jr-allyl complex A-16. Insertion of the appendant aldehyde provides the nickel alkoxide B-12, which upon oxygen-silicon reductive elimination affords the silyl protected product 71c along with nickel(O). Silane oxidative addition to nickel(O) closes the catalytic cycle. In contrast, the Bu 2Al(acac)-mediated reaction is believed to involve a pathway initiated by oxidative coupling of the diene and... 

Early work on the asymmetric Darzens reaction involved the condensation of aromatic aldehydes with phenacyl halides in the presence of a catalytic amount of bovine serum albumin. The reaction gave the corresponding epoxyketone with up to 62% ee.67 Ohkata et al.68 reported the asymmetric Darzens reaction of symmetric and dissymmetric ketones with (-)-8-phenylmenthyl a-chloroacetate as examples of a reagent-controlled asymmetric reaction (Scheme 8-29). When this (-)-8-phenyl menthol derivative was employed as a chiral auxiliary, Darzens reactions of acetone, pentan-3-one, cyclopentanone, cyclohexanone, or benzophenone with 86 in the presence of t-BuOK provided dia-stereomers of (2J ,3J )-glycidic ester 87 with diastereoselectivity ranging from 77% to 96%. 

Crossed reactions of the two aldehydes under phase-transfer catalytic conditions with the intermediate thioacetates, which can be isolated under controlled reaction conditions [14], leads to the formation of three products [13], as result of retro-Michael reactions (Scheme 4.18). In the case of the reactions involving crotonaldehyde, the major product results from the reaction of the aldehyde with the released thiolacetic acid, with lesser amounts of the expected crossed reaction products (Table 4.23). In contrast, the reaction of acrolein with the thioacetate derived from crotonaldehyde produces, as the major product, the crossed cycloadduct. These observations reflect the relative stabilities of the thioacetates and the relative susceptibilities of acrolein and crotonaldehyde to the Michael reaction. 

In another example, a catalytic amount of cerium triflate hydrate was dispersed and isolated in [BMIMJPFg for the direct formation of tetrahydropyranol derivatives. The reaction involves a simple homoallyl alcohol and an aldehyde. When an organic solvent such as chloroform was employed, an undesired ether derivative formed as the major product. In the ionic liquid, however, the desired tetrahydropyranol was exclusive. Although the yield was moderate, this example constitutes the first relatively facile and direct formation of the synthetically useful pyranol derivative the only effective catalyst reported is the ionic liquid (168). 

Imidazole synthesis. A new synthesis of 4,5-diarylimidazoles (2) involves reaction of catalytic amounts of aqueous elhanolic K.CN with N-methyl-C-aryl nitrones (1), prepared by condensation of aryl aldehydes with N-methyl-hydroxylamine. The reaction involves an intermediate cyanoimine (n). 

Aluminum methoxide Al(OMe)3 is a solid which sublimes at 240 °C in vacuum. Aluminum isopropoxide melts in the range 120-140 °C to a viscous liquid which readily supercools. When first prepared, spectroscopic and X-ray evidence indicates a trimeric structure which slowly transforms to a tetramer in which the central Al is octahedrally coordinated and the three peripheral units are tetrahedral.162,153 Intramolecular exchange of terminal and bridging groups, which is rapid in the trimeric form, becomes very slow in the tetramer. There is MS and other evidence that the tetramer maintains its identity in the vapour phase.164 Al[OCH(CF3)2]3 is more volatile than Al[OCH(Me)2]3 and the vapour consists of monomers.165 Aluminum alkoxides, particularly Al(OPr )3, have useful catalytic applications in the synthetic chemistry of aldehydes, ketones and acetals, e.g. in the Tishchenko reaction of aldehydes, in Meerwein-Pondorf-Verley reduction and in Oppenauer oxidation. The mechanism is believed to involve hydride transfer between RjHCO ligands and coordinated R2C=0— A1 groups on the same Al atom.1... 

Currently available chiral Diels-Alder catalysts have major limitations with regard to the range of dienes to which they can be applied successfully. Indeed, most of the reported catalytic enantioselective Diels-Alder reactions involve reactive dienes such as cyclopentadiene, but 1,3-butadiene and 1,3-cyclohexadiene have not been successfully utilized without reactive 2-bromoacrolein. To solve this problem, a new class of super-reactive chiral Lewis acid catalysts has been developed from chiral tertiary amino alcohols and BBr3 [24] (Eq. 8A.13). This type of chiral super Lewis acid works well for a,fj-acetylenic aldehydes [25],... 

Both stoichiometric and catalytic reactions of allylic compounds via 7r-allyl complexes are known. Reactions of nucleophilic 71-allyl complexes with electrophiles involve oxidation of metals and hence constitutes stoichiometric reactions. 7i-Allyl complexes of Ni, Fe, Mo, Co and others are nucleophilic and undergo the stoichiometric reaction with electrophiles. However, electrophilic 71-allyl complexes react with nucleophiles, accompanying reduction of metals. For example, 71-allylnickel chloride (2) reacts with electrophiles such as aldehydes, generating Ni(II), and hence the reaction is stoichiometric. In contrast, electrophilic 7i-allylpalladium chloride (3) reacts with nucleophiles such as malonate and Pd(0) is generated. Thus repeated oxidative addition of allylic compounds to Pd(0) constitutes a catalytic reaction. 

The only useful Cannizzaro reactions involving the use of aldehydes having one or two a-hydrogen atoms are those already described, in which the aldehyde first undergoes an aldol condensation. The direct dismutation of aldehydes of these types has been carried out successfully only by means of enzyme systems or catalytic metals (p. 95). Such reactions do not represent the true Cannizzaro reaction and as yet have found little practical use. The smooth and practically quantitative dismutation of straight-chain aliphatic aldehydes of four to seven carbon atoms under the influence of the enzymes of hog-liver mash 6 suggests that practical applications of this method may be found. 

This section will give an outline of catalytic organic transformations where lanthanide alkoxides are, in particular, used as precatalysts. It must be assumed that other precatalysts underlie in situ formation of catalytically active Ln-O(alkoxide) moieties [229]. For example, in reactions involving ketones or aldehydes as substrates, enolate intermediates often act as the real active catalyst component. Many reactions are conducted in alcoholic solutions like MeOH or tBuOH or ethylene glycol [5]. Alcohols are often needed as proton source and their steric bulk can influence the product selectivities [230]. 

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