Chemoselectivity ketone hydrogenation

Recently, several catalysts based on ligands containing an NH2 or NH grouping within the phosphine ligand, such as PI12PCH2CH2NH2, have been shown to have considerable activity and chemoselectivity for ketone hydrogenation [54—56]. 

Chen JX, Daeuble JF, Brestensky DM, Stryker JM (2000) Highly chemoselective catalytic hydrogenation of unsaturated ketones and aldehydes to unsaturated alcohols using phosphine-... 

The solvent is very important for the hydrogenation of ketones. One of the most important factors in the liquid-phase hydrogenation of ketones is whether the medium is acidic, neutral, or basic, and a great deal of work has gone into attempting to understand chemoselectivity and stereoselectivity based on combinations of the metal catalyst and the reaction medium. 

Yu J-Q, Wu H-C, Ramarao C, Spencer JB, Ley SV 2003) Transfer hydrogenation using recyclable polyurea-encapsulated palladium efficient and chemoselective reduction of aryl ketones. J Chem Soc Chem Commun 678-679... 

Trost et alJ2 also explored the compatibility of di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted allenes with their intermolecular Alder-ene protocol. Multiple substituents present the opportunity for a mixture of products to arise from differing regio- and chemoselectivity. 1,1-Disubstituted allenes were coupled to methyl vinyl ketone with excellent chemo-selectivity only when one set of /3-hydrogens was activated by an cy-ester or amide (Equation (69)). If the /3-hydrogens were of similar acidity, a mixture of products was obtained, as in the coupling of allenol 103 with methyl vinyl ketone dienes 104 and 105 are produced in a 1.3 1 mixture (Equation (70)). 

Bianchini and coworkers [126] found a difference in the chemoselectivity between the metals Fe, Ru, and Os in the complexes [M(H2)H(P(CH2CH2PPh2)3)]-BPh4 in the hydrogenation of benzylideneacetone by transfer from iso-propanol. The Fe and Ru catalysts reduced the 0=0 bond to give the allyl alcohol, with Ru more active than iron (TOF 79 IT1 at 60°C for Ru versus 13 IT1 at 80°C for Fe), while the Os catalyst first reduced the 0=0 bond but then catalyzed isomerization of the allyl alcohol to give the saturated ketone (TOF 55 IT1 at 80°C). The difference in reactivity was attributed to the weak binding of the alkene of the allyl alcohol to Fe and Ru relative to Os in these complexes. A variety of selec-tivities was noted for other unsaturated ketones, whereas unsaturated aldehydes were not hydrogenated. 

This was the first example of catalytic chemoselective reduction of a,/ -unsatu-rated ketones to allylic alcohols by hydrogen transfer and, unusually, did not require the use of a basic co-catalyst. 

Burk et al. showed the enantioselective hydrogenation of a broad range of N-acylhydrazones 146 to occur readily with [Et-DuPhos Rh(COD)]OTf [14]. The reaction was found to be extremely chemoselective, with little or no reduction of alkenes, alkynes, ketones, aldehydes, esters, nitriles, imines, carbon-halogen, or nitro groups occurring. Excellent enantioselectivities were achieved (88-97% ee) at reasonable rates (TOF up to 500 h ) under very mild conditions (4 bar H2, 20°C). The products from these reactions could be easily converted into chiral amines or a-amino acids by cleavage of the N-N bond with samarium diiodide. 

Homogeneous Hydrogenation of Aldehydes, Ketones, Imines and Carboxylic Acid Derivatives Chemoselectivity and Catalytic Activity 413... 

Electrocatalytic hydrogenation has the advantage of milder reaction conditions compared to catalytic hydrogenation. The development of various electrode materials (e.g., massive electrodes, powder cathodes, polymer film electrodes) and the optimization of reaction conditions have led to highly selective electrocatalytic hydrogenations. These are very suitable for the conversion of aliphatic and aromatic nitro compounds to amines and a, fi-unsaturated ketones to saturated ketones. The field is reviewed with 173 references in [158]. While the reduction of conjugated enones does not always proceed chemoselectively at a Hg cathode, the use of a carbon felt electrode coated with polyviologen/Pd particles provided saturated ketones exclusively (Fig. 34) [159]. 

In 2003, Velusamy and Punniyamurthy reported on a copper(II)-catalyzed C—H oxidation of alkylbenzenes and cyclohexane to the corresponding ketones with 30% hydrogen peroxide (Scheme 131). The reaction was catalyzed by the copper complex 192a depicted in Scheme 131 and yields were high in the case of alkylbenzenes (82-89%) whereas cyclohexanone was obtained with a low yield of 18%. Chemoselectivity was very high in every case neither aromatic oxidation nor oxidation at another position of the alkyl chain was observed. 

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