Cyclodextrins as catalysts

Oxymercuration/demercuration provides a milder alternative for the conventional acid-catalyzed hydration of alkenes. The reaction also provides the Markovnikov regiochemistry for unsymmetrical alkenes.33 Interestingly, an enantioselective/inverse phase-transfer catalysis (IPTC) reaction for the Markovnikov hydration of double bonds by an oxymercuration-demercuration reaction with cyclodextrins as catalysts was recently reported.34 Relative to the more common phase-transfer... 

Cyclodextrins as catalysts and enzyme models It has long been known that cyclodextrins may act as elementary models for the catalytic behaviour of enzymes (Breslow, 1971). These hosts, with the assistance of their hydroxyl functions, may exhibit guest specificity, competitive inhibition, and Michaelis-Menten-type kinetics. All these are characteristics of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. 

Aldehydes have been allylated with allyltributyltin, using supramolecular catalysis in acidic water at 60°C.196 Using j3-cyclodextrin as catalyst with all species at a 1 mmol level, high yields were obtained in a few hours. The catalyst, which can be recycled effectively, hydrogen bonds the aldehyde oxygen within the cavity. 

We have also examined the use of cyclodextrin-derived artificial enzymes in promoting bimolecular aldol reactions, specifically those of m-nitrobenzaldehyde (57) and ofp-t-butylbenzaldehyde (58) with acetone [141]. Here, we examined a group of mono-substituted cyclodextrins as catalysts (e.g. 59), as well as two disubstituted (3-cyclodextrins (e.g. 60) (10 catalysts in all). They all bound the aldehyde components in the cyclodextrin cavity and used amino groups of the substituents to convert the acetone into its enamine. An intracomplex reaction with 58 and hydrolysis of the enamine product then afforded hydroxyketone 61 (cf. 62). These catalysts imitate natural enzymes classified as Class I aldolases. 

Saenger W (1981) Cyclodextrins as catalysts. In Eggerer H, Huber R (eds) Structural and functional aspects of enzyme catalysts. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York... 

Cyclic phosphates of adenosine and guanosine are regioselectively cleaved to 2 -phosphates at pH 11.0 using 3 and y-cyclodextrins as catalysts. 

SITE-SELECTIVE C-C BOND FORMATION USING CYCLODEXTRIN AS CATALYST... 

ABSTRACT. Selective formylation of phenol at the 4-position is achieved by using 3-cyclodextrin as catalyst in the reaction of phenol with chloroform in aqueous alkali. The reactions of 1,3-dihydroxybenzene and indol, respectively, in the place of phenol give 2,4-dihydroxybenz-aldehyde and indole-3-aldehyde in virtually 100% selectivies and high yields. The reactions of para-substituted phenols, 4-methylphenol and 5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-2-naphthol, instead of phenol, effect the selective dichloromethylation at the para-positions. Selective carboxylation of phenol at the 4-position is achieved in the reaction of phenol with carbon tetrachloride in aqueous alkali by using 3-cyclodextrin and copper powder as catalyst. 

The reaction of 2,4,6-trimethylphenol and allyl bromide in aqueous alkali using hexa-N-methylformamido-a-cyclodextrin as catalyst yields 4-ally1-2,4,6-trimethy1-2,5-cyclohexadienone in high selectivity. 

Formylations of phenol, resorcinol and indole, dichloromethylations of 4-methylphenol and 5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-2-naphthol, carboxylation of phenol, and allylation of 2,4,6-trimethylphenol proceed site-selec-tively in high yields by using 3-cyclodextrin as catalyst. The formation of ternary inclusion complex composed of cyclodextrin, substrate, and dichlorocarbene, trichloromethyl cation or allyl cation in the reaction mixture is an important factor of the site-selective reactions. The cyclodextrin is also effective by limiting the molecular size of the reaction intermediate. 

The hydrolysis of esters by the nickel derivative (271) provided an early example of the use of a metal-capped cyclodextrin as a catalyst (shown here as its p-nitrophenyl acetate inclusion complex) (Breslow Overman, 1970 Breslow, 1971). The synthesis of this host involves the following steps (i) covalent binding of the pyridine dicarboxylic acid moiety to cyclodextrin, (ii) coordination of Ni(n) to this species, and (iii)... 

It has already been mentioned that metal complexes with confined binding pockets often display unusual chemical reactivities (see Section II). Thus, complexes of substituted hydrotris (pyrazolyl)borates, in which the substituents serve to from a hydrophobic binding pocket, have already been shown to exhibit enhanced chemical reactivity when compared with their unmodified analogs (282,283). Likewise, cyclodextrin and calixarene-based metallocavitands have been used as catalysts for selective organic transformations, and even as catalysts for reactions that... 

The palladium leaching to the product phase was investigated via ICP-OES measurements. In all cases about 5% of the metal catalyst is lost. This palladium loss is in the same range as in the biphasic reaction in water with subsequent extraction with cyclohexane. Therefore, one can conclude that the use of cyclodextrins has almost no influence on the palladiiun leaching. For the reaction described in this work, this makes the use of cyclodextrins as PCT catalysts more attractive than the TMS systems to overcome mass transfer limitations. 

One of the earliest use of cyclodextrins as inverse phase transfer agents was in the Wacker oxidation of higher olefins to methyl ketones [22] with [PdCU] + [CuCU] catalyst (Scheme 10.12). Already at that time it was discovered, that cyclodextrins not only transported the olefins into the aqueous phase but imposed a substrate-selectivity, too with Ckh olefins the yields decreased dramatically and 1-tetradecene was only slightly oxidized. 

Finally, the chiral macrocyclic peracetylated polyhydroxy polyethers (+)-201 and (+)-202 have been prepared (194) recently by treatment of a- and 0-cyclodextrins, respectively, with diethylborane and 9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-yl methanesulfonate as catalyst. 

Neutral cyclodextrins have been used as chiral phase-transfer catalysts for an interesting inverse phase-transfer catalysis reaction [50]. The Markovnikovhydration of the double bond by an oxymercuration-demercuration reaction has been demonstrated in the presence of cyclodextrins as chiral phase-transfer catalysts to obtain products in low to moderate enantioselectivity (Scheme 7.16). The mercuric salts are water-soluble, and remain in the aqueous phase, whereas the neutral alkenes prefer an organic phase. A neutral cyclodextrin helps to bring the alkenes into the aqueous phase in a biphasic reaction, and also provides the necessary asymmetric environment. 

Catalyst 17 is effective only with substrates that can bind to the metal ion, so we attached it - coordinated as its Ni2+ derivative - to the secondary face of a-cyclodextrin in catalyst 21 [102]. This was then able to use the metallo-oxime catalysis of our previous study, but with substrates that are not metal ligands, simply those that bind hy-drophobically into the cyclodextrin cavity. As hoped, we saw a significant rate increase in the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate, well beyond that for hydrolysis without the catalyst or for simple acetyl transfer to the cyclodextrin itself. Since there was full catalytic turnover, we called compound 21 an artificial enzyme - apparently the first use of this term in the literature. The mechanism is related to that proposed earlier for the enzyme alkaline phosphatase [103]. 

The chemistry of interest when cyclodextrin or its derivatives are used as enzyme mimics involves two features. First of all, the substrate binds into the cavity of the cyclodextrin as the result of hydrophobic or lyophobic (4) forces. Then the bound substrate undergoes a reaction, which may involve the cyclodextrin as a reagent or as a catalyst. The speed of this reaction is promoted generally by the proximity induced by binding, and in addition the reactions are often selective because of geometric constraints in the transition state. This selectivity may involve the selective reaction of one potential substrate relative to another, selective production of one regiochemical isomer compared with another, or selective production of one stereoisomer relative to another. This last area, selective stereochemistry and asymmetric synthesis, is still one of the most neglected areas of cyclodextrin chemistry. 

Cyclodextrin derivatives can act as catalysts, not just as reagents. We are focussing on an attempt to develop a mimic for the enzyme ribonuclease A that incorporates the functional groups of the enzyme, binds an appropriate substrate, and then catalyzes the hydrolysis of such a substrate by a mechanism used by the enzyme itself. Although we want to imitate the mechanism, the selectivity, and the rate of the enzyme, our systems do quite well only with the first two points. They are still quite slow compared with the real enzyme. 

Either the C -capped or the O -capped material can be heated with an excess of imidazole to produce /3-cyclodextrin bisimidazole (VII). On the basis of the above discussion, we believe that the material produced from the C-capped compound is a 6A,6C and 6A,6D isomeric mixture, while that produced from the O-capped compound is largely the 6A,6D isomer. As it turns out, we have not detected yet significant differences between these two materials as catalysts in our kinetic and product studies. 

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