Dendronic catalysts

Fig. 25 Dendronized catalysts for asymmetric catalytic alkylation in a biphasic system...

Scheme 8 Asymmetric alkylation of N-(diphenylmethylene)glycine isopropyl ester with benzyl bromide catalyzed by the dendronized catalysts shown in Fig. 25...

Abu-Reziq, R., Alper, H., Wang, D.S. and Post, M.L. (2006) Metal supported on dendronized magnetic nanopartides highly selective hydroformylation catalysts. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 128 (15), 5279-5282. 

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. 

Unfortunately, the presence of the benzylic alcohol moiety at the focal point of the dendrimer, along with the catalyst (used in the urethane formation) led to the formation of undesired side products, presumably due to carbamate interchange. These side reactions were avoided by switching to monomer 19, methyl-3,5-dihydroxybenzoate. While the carbamate linkages of dendrons 53 and 54 were too unstable under the alkylation conditions required to afford larger dendrons, the merits of the concept was adequately demonstrated for this accelerated synthesis of [G-3] dendrons. 

A number of groups have reported the preparation and in situ application of several types of dendrimers with chiral auxiliaries at their periphery in asymmetric catalysis. These chiral dendrimer ligands can be subdivided into three different classes based on the specific position of the chiral auxiliary in the dendrimer structure. The chiral positions may be located at, (1) the periphery, (2) the dendritic core (in the case of a dendron), or (3) throughout the structure. An example of the first class was reported by Meijer et al. [22] who prepared different generations of polypropylene imine) dendrimers which were substituted at the periphery of the dendrimer with chiral aminoalcohols. These surface functionalities act as chiral ligand sites from which chiral alkylzinc aminoalcoholate catalysts can be generated in situ at the dendrimer periphery. These dendrimer systems were tested as catalyst precursors in the catalytic 1,2-addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde (see e.g. 13, Scheme 14). 

Brunner et al. [26] synthesized and applied so-called dendrizymes in enan-tioselective catalysis. These catalysts are based on dendrimers which have a functionalized periphery that carries chiral subunits, (e.g. dendrons functionalized with chiral menthol or borneol ligands). The core phosphine donor atoms can be complexed to (transition) metal salts. The resultant dendron-enlarged 1,2-diphosphino-ethane (e.g. 16, see Scheme 17) Rh1 complexes were used as catalysts in the hydrogenation of acetamidocinnamic acid to yield iV-acetyl-phenylalanine (Scheme 17) [26]. A small retardation of the hydrogenation of the substrate was encountered, pointing to an effect of the meta-positioned dendron substituents. No significantly enantiomerically enriched products were isolated. However, a somewhat improved enantioselectivity (up to 10-11% e.e.) was... 

A manifold of dendrimers have been presented in the literature ranging from polyamidoamine, polyfpropylene imine), aromatic polyether and polyester, aliphatic polyether and polyester, polyalkane,polyphenylene, polysilane, and phosphorus dendrimers. Combinations of different backbones as well as architectural modifications have also been presented. For example, the incorporation of chirality in dendrimers, copolymers of linear blocks with dendrimer segments (dendrons), and block copolymers of different dendrons has been described. Numerous applications have been proposed for dendrimers such as biotemplates, liquid membranes, catalysts, or in medical applications. ... 

Branched phenylacetylene monomers can be used to construct dendrimers on supports. This was accomplished using a triazene tether as a focal point, the reaction triad outlined above, and an AB2 monomer, as seen in Scheme 7.16 As in similar solution-phase convergent dendrimer syntheses, the first step was to prime the periphery of the dendrimer with t-butyl groups by di-coupling of a triazene-tethered dibromoaryl monomer with (di-f-butyl-phenyl)acetylene. In this and all subsequent coupling steps, an excess amount of the monodendron acetylene was used to drive the reaction to completion. The reagents and catalysts were washed away and the excess monodendron was recovered. At the end of the first step, the tri-aryl dendron I-M3-(t-Bu)4 was cleaved from the support (M represents the dendritic monomer unit). Two equivalents of this product were then coupled with the triazene-tethered di-acetylene ary] monomer to produce the heptaaryl dendron I-M7-(r-Bu)8. 

It was found that the catalytic reactivity and the substrate binding profile depend upon the size and the generation of the dendrons. Since the reactions obey Michaelis-Menten kinetics, this family of catalysts was given the name dendrizyme , alluding to enzymes. The dendrizyme/substrate binding constant... 

A dendritic catalyst 9, which like 7 and 8 has a chiral metal complex as core, was synthesised by Seebach et al. [54, 55]. The core building block was a,a,a ,a -tetraaryl-l,3-dioxolan-4,5-dimethanof (TADDOL), to which both chiral and achiral dendrons and those with peripheral octyl groups can be linked (Fig. 6.36, cf. Section 4.2.3, Fig. 4.62). 

On use as homogeneous catalysts in the asymmetric reductive alkylation of benzaldehyde with diethylzinc to form secondary alcohols, the corresponding dendritic titanium-TADDOL complexes having either chiral or achiral dendrons gave enantiomeric excesses (ee) of up to 98.5 1.5 at a conversion of 98.7% (for the catalyst with GO dendrons). With larger dendrons the reduction of the ee to 94.5 5.5 (G4) remained within reasonable limits, while the drop in conversion to 46.8% (G4) proved to be drastic. In comparison, the unsubstituted Ti-TAD-DOL complex gave an ee of 99 1 with complete conversion. This negative den-... 

Cobalt complexes of dendritic phthalocyanines (Fig. 6.37) showed a 20% lower catalytic activity (TON 339 min-1 for G2 dendrons) as catalysts for the oxidation of 2-mercaptoethanol than non-dendritic phthalocyanines [56]. By way of compensation, however, the dendritic catalysts proved to be more stable than non-dendritic ones, which is probably attributable to enclosure of the metallo-phthalocyanine core unit by the dendrons. This also prevents molecular aggregation of the phthalocyanines in polar solvents and thin films. 

The above examples clearly demonstrate that dendritic catalysts with catalyti-cally active sites on the periphery represent a superior catalyst concept compared to those with a catalytically active site in the dendrimer core which will be subject to rapidly increasing shielding with increasing dendron size. 

The amines 3 reported by Morao and Cossio also constitute neutral dendritic catalysts without metal sites they consist of a simple amine core functionalised with Frechet dendrons (Fig. 6.44) [74]. Such amines can catalyse the nitroaldol or Henry reaction [75] between aromatic aldehydes and nitroalkanes. Whereas neither the yield nor the stereoselectivity (syn/anti 1 1) of the reaction of p-nitro-benzaldehyde with nitroethane was found to change on use of different generations of dendritic catalysts, a distinctly negative dendritic effect was observed in the reaction of benzaldehyde with 3-nitro-l-propanol. Catalysts 3 a and 3 b gave... 

Compared to polymers, dendrimer architectures offer favourable conditions for fixation of catalytically active moieties thanks to their monodispersity, variability, structural regularity of the molecular scaffold, and numerous functionalisation possibilities. Catalytic units can be fixed - multiply if required - on the periphery, in the core of a dendrimer, or at the focal point of a dendron. If the dendrimers are suitably functionalised at the periphery, appropriate metal complexes can be directly attached to the surface of the molecule. In contrast, dendrimers functionalised in the core or at the focal point shield the catalytically active site through their shell structure in a targeted manner, for example to attain substrate selectivity in the case of reactants of different sizes [1]. The corresponding concepts of exodendral and endodendral fixation of catalysts were inttoduced in the context of functionalistion of carbosilane, polyether, and polyester dendrimers [2]. Exodendral fixation refers to attachment of the catalytic units to the... 

Fig. 2 Schematic representations of metallodendritic architectures according to the metal (catalyst) location A at the periphery of a dendrimer or of a dendron B at the core of a dendrimer or at the focal point of a dendron C at branching points of a dendrimer or of a dendron D dendrimer-encapsulated metal nanoparticles (DEMNs)...

The Van Koten group has developed an interesting approach to the assessment of the permeability of nanofiltration membranes for the application of metallodendrimer catalysts in membrane reactors. They have selectively grafted dendrons to organometallic pincers with sensory properties and have used these as dyes in a colorimetric monitoring procedure. 

Nonetheless, the transposition of homogeneous catalytic reactions from unsupported to dendrimer-supported catalysts is still not straightforward. Various dendritic effects , positive and negative ones, on the activity, selectivity, stability and solubility of metallodendrimer catalysts have been observed in this respect. In our own research we have found that a high concentration of metal centers at periphery-functionalized metallodendrimers may translate into a decrease in the catalytic performance due to undesirable side-reactions between the catalytic sites at the dendrimer surface (Fig. 4 and Scheme 4). In contrast, when the exact same catalyst is located at the focal point of a dendron, this matter is avoided by isolating the active site, thereby providing a more stable albeit less active catalyst (Scheme 13). 

Fig. 11 Alternative dendritic macromolecular structures based on dendronized polystyrene (left) and hyperbranched polyglycidol (right) used as catalyst supports...

Abstract Enantioselection in a stoichiometric or catalytic reaction is governed by small increments of free enthalpy of activation, and such transformations are thus in principle suited to assessing dendrimer effects which result from the immobilization of molecular catalysts. Chiral dendrimer catalysts, which possess a high level of structural regularity, molecular monodispersity and well-defined catalytic sites, have been generated either by attachment of achiral complexes to chiral dendrimer structures or by immobilization of chiral catalysts to non-chiral dendrimers. As monodispersed macromolecular supports they provide ideal model systems for less regularly structured but commercially more viable supports such as hyperbranched polymers, and have been successfully employed in continuous-flow membrane reactors. The combination of an efficient control over the environment of the active sites of multi-functional catalysts and their immobilization on an insoluble macromolecular support has resulted in the synthesis of catalytic dendronized polymers. In these, the catalysts are attached in a well-defined way to the dendritic sections, thus ensuring a well-defined microenvironment which is similar to that of the soluble molecular species or at least closely related to the dendrimer catalysts themselves. 

The same group also developed optically active dendronized polymeric BINAP ligands (see also Sect. 5) as a new type of macromolecular chiral catalyst for asymmetric hydrogenation. They could be synthesized by condensation of 5,5 -diamino-BINAP with dendritic dicarboxylic acid monomers (Scheme 5) [44],... 

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