Dendrimer catalytic

Dendrimers are oligomeric, ordered, modularly built, tree-like structures and have been found to have a wide range of applications, one of which is as supports for metal catalysts.Dendrimeric metal complexes can combine the advantages of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts, namely a number of well-defined active sites as well as simple separation and reuse. The relative proximity of metal sites can be controlled by the nature and generation number of the dendrimer. Catalytically active metal complexes can be introduced into the core or the branches of dendrimer (Figure 4). 

Synthetic peptide dendrimers, catalytic antibodies, RNA catalysts, peptide foldamers as well as other native or modified enzymes with completely different fxmctions were discovered to catalyze carbon-carbon bond formation [15]. 4-Oxalocrotonate tau-tomerase (4-OT) catalyzes in vivo the conversion of 2-hydroxy-2,4-hexadienedioate (136) to 2-oxo-3-hexenedioate (137) (Scheme 10.33a), and it belongs to the catabolic pathway for aromatic hydrocarbons in P. putida mt-2 [200]. This enzyme carries a catalytic amino-terminal proline, which could act as catalyst in the same fashion as the proline mediated by organocatalytic reactions. Initial studies demonstrate that this enzyme was able to catalyze aldol condensations of acetaldehyde to a variety of electrophiles 138 (Scheme 10.33b) [200]. This enzyme was also examined as a potential catalyst for carbon-carbon bond forming Michael-type reactions of acetaldehyde to nitroolefins 139 (Scheme 10.33c) [201,202]. 

An interesting case in the perspective of artificial enzymes for enantioselective synthesis is the recently described peptide dendrimer aldolases [36]. These dendrimers utilize the enamine type I aldolase mechanism, which is found in natural aldolases [37] and antibodies [21].These aldolase dendrimers, for example, L2Dl,have multiple N-terminal proline residues as found in catalytic aldolase peptides [38], and display catalytic activity in aqueous medium under conditions where the small molecule catalysts are inactive (Figure 3.8). As most enzyme models, these dendrimers remain very far from natural enzymes in terms ofboth activity and selectivity, and at present should only be considered in the perspective of fundamental studies. 

To catalyze asymmetric transformations, catalytically active sites can be incorporated in different areas of a dendrimer a) chiral sites at the periphery, b) chiral sites in cavities or at the core, c) achiral sites which are surrounded by chiral branches in the interior of the dendrimer. 

The rate of a catalytic reaction depends on the rate of diffusion of both substrates and products to and from the catalytic sites. Therefore it is of outmost importance that the catalytically active sites are freely accessible for reactions. Only dendrimers of low generation number can possibly be expected to be suitable carriers for catalytically active sites, especially when these are located in the interior. In high-generation dendrimers with crowded surfaces catalytic activity of an internal site would be prevented. On the other hand, a crowded surface will not only hinder access to an interior ligand site but will also cause steric hindrance between groups attached to it and thus prevent high reactivity of sites at the periphery. 

In our group, dendrimers carrying the catalytically active part either on the periphery or in the core were investigated. In both cases a,a,a, a -fetraaryl-l,3-dioxolane-4,5-dimethanoZs (TADDOLs) have been employed as ligands in chiral... 

Verkade and co-workers have shown the usefulness of their phosphazanes in various stoichiometric as well as catalytic reactions <1999PS(144)101>. Compound 290 was used to promote the cyanohydration of benzaldehyde with trimethylsilyl cyanide (TMSCN). The cyanohydrin was isolated in 95% yield, but no enantioselectivity was noticed <2002JOM(646)161>. Compounds 291 and 292 were attached to dendrimers and shown to be effective in the catalysis of Michael reactions, nitroaldol reactions, and aryl isocyanate trimerizations <2004ASC1093>. 

Biocompatible nanosized polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer films provided a suitable microenvironment for heme proteins to transfer electron directly with underlying pyrolytic graphite electrodes. The Mb-PAMAM film can catalytically reduced oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, and nitrite, indicating that the potential applicability of the film can be used to fabricate a new type of biosensor or bioreactor based on the direct electron transfer of Mb [234],... 

Arya et al. used solid phase synthesis to prepare immobilised dendritic catalysts with the rhodium centre in a shielded environment to mimic nature s approach of protecting active sites in a macromolecular environment (e.g. catalytic sites inside enzymes) [51], Two generations PS immobilised rhodium-complexed dendrimers, 6 and the more shielded 7, were synthesised.The PS resin immobilised rhodium-complexed dendrimers were used in the hydroformylation of styrene, p-methoxystyrene, vinyl acetate and vinyl benzoate using a total pressure of 70 bar 1 1 CO/H2 at 45 °C in CH2C12. 

Dendrimers are not only unreactive support molecules for homogeneous catalysts, as discussed in the previous paragraph, but they can also have an important influence on the performance of a catalyst. The dendrons of a dendrimer can form a microenvironment in which catalysis shows different results compared to classical homogeneous catalysis while peripheral functionalized dendrimers can enforce cooperative interactions between catalytic sites because of their relative proximity. These effects are called dendritic effects . Dendritic effects can alter the stability, activity and (enantio)selectivity of the catalyst. In this paragraph, different dendritic effects will be discussed. 

Jacobsen et al. reported enhanced catalytic activity by cooperative effects in the asymmetric ring opening (ARO) of epoxides.[38] Chiral Co-salen complexes (Figure 4.27) were used, which were bound to different generations of commercial PAMAM dendrimers. As a direct consequence of the second-order kinetic dependence on the [Co(salen)] complex concentration of the hydrolytic kinetic resolution (HKR), reduction of the catalyst loading using monomeric catalyst leads to a sharp decrease in overall reaction rate. 

To investigate this dendritic effect, a dimeric model compound was synthesized which mimics the tethered relationship of two catalytic units within one branch of the PAMAM dendrimer. All dendritic catalysts were more active in the HKR than the parent complex. Furthermore, the dendritic catalysts also displayed significantly higher activity than the dimeric model compound. The authors proposed that this positive dendritic effect arises from restricted conformation imposed by the dendrimer structure, thereby creating a bigger effective molarity of [Co(salen)] units. Alternatively, the multimeric nature of the dendrimer, may lead to higher order in productive cooperative interactions between the catalytic units. 

This hypothesis was supported by results of model studies as well as ESR spectroscopic investigations. The use of alternative Ni-containing dendrimers in which the distance between the Ni sites was increased (Figure 4.30), led to significantly improved catalytic efficiency. 

Dendrimers and soluble polymers provide alternative supports to solids, which have the advantage that access to the catalytically active sites is not restricted. The main problem in these cases is not in the catalysis - reactions with high rates and selectivities have been reported - but rather in the separation which relies on nano- or... 

Rhee and coworkers published the synthesis of bimetallic Pt-Pd nanoparticles [57] or Pd-Rh nanoparticles [58] within dendrimers as nanoreactors. These nanocatalysts showed a promising catalytic activity in the partial hydrogenation of 1,3-cyclooctadiene. The reaction was carried out in an ethanol/water mixture at 20 °C under dihydrogen at atmospheric pressure. The dendrimer-encapsulated nanoclusters could be reused, without significant loss of activity. 

Kaneda et al. reported substrate-specific hydrogenation of olefins using the tri-ethoxybenzamide-terminated polypropylene imine) dendrimers (PPI) as nanoreactors encapsulating Pd nanoparticles (mean diameter 2-3 nm) [59]. The catalytic tests were performed in toluene at 30 °C under dihydrogen at atmospheric pressure (Table 9.3). The hydrogenation rates were seen to decrease with increasing generation of dendrimers, from G3 to G5. 

The preferred initiator is stannous octoate in catalytic amount [95, 96] and polymerizations occur in bulk at 110°C or in toluene. The synthesis was expanded to stars with 40 and 48 arms by means of a hyperbranched poly(2,2 -bis(hydroxymethyl)propionicacid) or classical dendrimer, respectively [97],... 

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