Chirality multiplication metal complexes

In recent years there has been much interest in homogeneous hydrogenations catalyzed by transition metal complexes (7). One facet of research in this area is the search for chiral catalysts (catalysts that are dissymmetric, i.e., optically active) that can be used to produce chiral compounds via asymmetric reactions. In this review, we survey asymmetric homogeneous hydrogenation reactions, that is reactions that create asymmetric carbon atoms by the addition of hydrogen across multiple bonds under the influence of soluble chiral catalysts. 

In general, two strategies can be applied for the construction of chiral dendrimer catalysts (i) chiral metal complex (or organocatalyst) may be incorporated into the core of the dendrimer (Figure 4.1a) or (ii) multiple chiral metal complexes (or organocatalysis) may be located at the periphery of the dendrimer (Figure 4.1b). Recently, hybrids of dendrimer and crosslinked polymer as supports have been developed (Figure 4.1c) [12]. 

In an idealistic sense, a chemical approach which uses a small amount of a chiral catalyst to produce either enantiomer, cleanly and efficiently from a prochiral precursor, is the preferred method. For such asymmetric catalysis the efficiency of chiral multiplication can be infinite. The use of chiral metal complexes as homogeneous catalysts has become one of the most powerful economically and environmentally sound strategies for the preparation of enantiopure compounds. An excellent comprehensive review of asymmetric catalysis in organic synthesis has recently been published by Noyori [30]. 

In sharp contrast, the late transition metals are more coordinative to soft carbon-carbon multiple bonds rather than hard oxygen. These binding modes are further classified into mono- and bi-dentate coordinations, depending on the ligands on the metal catalysts, or the substituent pattern in the Claisen diene systems and solvents employed. Bi-dentate coordination of the Claisen substrate is advantageous over the weak mono-dentate coordination of the Claisen rearrangement product, y,d-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, to release the metal complex allowing the catalytic cycle. Furthermore, enantiodiscrimination by chiral late transition metal complexes is based on the discrimination of two enantiotopic diene faces in the enantiomeric six-membered transition states. 

Substitution reactions of resolved metal complexes can occur with retention or with inversion. Commonly, some activity is lost because of racemization. Since the late 1960s there have been developments in metal complexes containing chiral ligands which react catalytically in hi y enantioselective organic reactions. Small amounts of the chiral complexes can produce much larger amounts of products of high enantiomeric purity. This is referred to as chemical multiplication of chirality. 

Hydrosilanes undergo addition to carbon-carbon multiple bonds under catalysis by transition metal complexes. Nickel, rhodium, palladium, and platinum were used as catalytically active metals. By incorporating chiral ligands into the metal catalyst, the hydrosilylation can be performed analogously to other addition reactions with double bonds, for example, asymmetric hydrogenation to obtain optically active alkylsilanes. 

Nucleophiles add to the face of the ligand opposite to that which bears the metal when reactions occur by a direct addition pathway and under kinetic control ([2]). This stereocontrol effect is very strong (100% diastereo-selective), so the planar chirality of the metal complex can dominate other stereodirecting influences. There are no conventional stoichiometric control systems that can match the generality, versatility and reliability of this metal-mediated strategy for asymmetric induction. In the case of stoichiometric-control methods, it is essential that the multiple use is made of the control group (otherwise... 

The hydration of C-C multiple bonds is a reaction with prevalent industrial interest due to the usefulness of the products as chemical intermediates. The wool-Pd complex is an economical and highly active catalyst for hydration of olefins. It is very stable and can be reused several times without any remarkable change in the catalytic activity [73, 74]. In particular, to convert alkenes to the corresponding alcohols in excellent enantioselectivity, a new biopolymer-metal complex constituted of wool-supported palladium-iron or palladium-cobalt was prepared and used, such as allylamine to amino-2-propanoI, acrylonitrile to lactonitrile and unsaturated acids to a-hydroxycarboxylic acids [75-77]. The same catalytic system was also used for hydration of substituted styrenes to produce chiral benzyl alcohols. The simple and cleaner procedure, mild reaction conditions, high stability and recovery rate of catalyst made these catalytic systems an attractive and useful alternative to the existing methods (Scheme 37). 

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