Enamide reactions ruthenium hydrogenation

Complexes containing one binap ligand per ruthenium (Fig. 3.5) turned out to be remarkably effective for a wide range of chemical processes of industrial importance. During the 1980s, such complexes were shown to be very effective, not only for the asymmetric hydrogenation of dehydroamino adds [42] - which previously was rhodium s domain - but also of allylic alcohols [77], unsaturated acids [78], cyclic enamides [79], and functionalized ketones [80, 81] - domains where rhodium complexes were not as effective. Table 3.2 (entries 3-5) lists impressive TOF values and excellent ee-values for the products of such reactions. The catalysts were rapidly put to use in industry to prepare, for example, the perfume additive citronellol from geraniol (Table 3.2, entry 5) and alkaloids from cyclic enamides. These developments have been reviewed by Noyori and Takaya [82, 83]. 

BINAP was first introduced by Noyori [80]. It has been particularly explored for reduction with ruthenium catalysts. BINAP is an atropisomeric ligand because rotation aroimd the central C-C bond is blocked. Accordingly BINAP exists in two enantiomers. Complexes of Ru(II) with BINAP are extremely powerful catalysts for enantioselective hydrogenations of prochiral a,p- and P,Y-unsaturated carboxylic acids, enamides, allylic and homoallylic alcohols, imines etc. [83]. In many cases, the hydrogenation is quantitative with enantiomeric excesses of over 95%. A wide variety of vitamins, terpenes, P-lactam antibiotics, etc. are accessible by the use of catalysts containing the BINAP stereogenic element. An example for 3-oxo carboxylic esters is shown in reaction (1) of Fig. 6.32. 

Abstract Computational methods are an indispensible tool for the study of metal-organic reaction mechanisms. A particularly fruitful area is that of transition metal-catalyzed hydrogenations, including enantioselective versions that are extensively used at both the laboratory and the industrial scale. This review covers computational studies of rhodium-, ruthenium-, and iridium-catalyzed hydrogenation of enamides, acrylamides, carbonyls, and unactivated olefins. The evolution of the mechanistic models and the relationship of the computational studies to experimental studies are discussed. 

Supercritical carbon dioxide represents an inexpensive, environmentally benign alternative to conventional solvents for chemical synthesis. In this chapter, we delineate the range of reactions for which supercritical CO2 represents a potentially viable replacement solvent based on solubility considerations and describe the reactors and associated equipment used to explore catalytic and other synthetic reactions in this medium. Three examples of homogeneous catalytic reactions in supercritical CC are presented the copolymerization of CO2 with epoxides, ruthenium>mediated phase transfer oxidation of olefins in a supercritical COa/aqueous system, and the catalyic asymmetric hydrogenation of enamides. The first two classes of reactions proceed in supercritical CO2, but no improvement in reactivity over conventional solvents was observed. Hythogenation reactions, however, exhibit enantioselectivities superior to conventional solvents for several substrates. 

In addition, as discussed above, oxidation reactions and reactions which use CO2 as a reagent as well as a solvent are worth investigating. Examples of both are discussed below. Finally, electrophilic processes may be advantageously transferred to supercritical CO2, as demonstrated by the improved isomerization of C4-C12 paraffins catalyzed by aluminum bromide. 2,44) Below, we describe three catalytic reactions which appear promising by these criteria asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation of enamides, ruthenium-catalyzed two-phase oxidation of cyclohexene, and the catalytic copolymerization of CO2 with epoxides. 

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