Gold Alkene Activation

Reactions by Other Nucleophiles As in the case of the formal cycloadditions of alkenes to allyl cations, the addition of alkenes to gold(I)-activated allenes generates intermediates that determine which cycloaduct formed. Based on this hypothesis, Toste et al. recently developed enantiorich bicycle-[3.2.0] structures by [2+2]-cycloaddition reaction catalyzed by chiral biarylphosphinegold(I) complexes [51]. 

Despite its apparent noble character, gold catalysts have been recently found to be active in many homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic processes such as oxidation reactions, nucleophilic additions, cross-coupling reactions, and alkene and imine hydrogenations (69—71). Corma and co-workers showed that Au... 

Addition of Active Methylenes In the previous decade Cinellu et al. studied certain 1,3-dicarbonyl gold complexes and some applications in organic synthesis were subsequently proposed [78]. Intermolecular addition of activated methylene compounds to alkenes was developed by using AuCl3/AgOTf [79]. 

This methodology was later successfully applied to cyclic alkenes, dienes and trienes [59]. The tentative mechanism proposed by Li et al. involves the activation of the —H bond by gold(I) species (from in situ reduction of gold(III)). Then, the reaction is followed by the alkene attack on the alkylgold hydride intermediate. 

Only one paper has reported on catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation. In this study by Corma et al., the neutral dimeric duphos-gold(I)complex 332 was used to catalyze the asymmetric hydrogenation of alkenes and imines. The use of the gold complex increased the enantioselectivity achieved with other platinum or iridium catalysts and activity was very high in the reaction tested [195] (Figure 8.5). 

Gold NPs deposited on carbons are active and selective for mild oxidations in liquid phase although they exhibit almost no catalytic activity in the gas phase. Examples are aerobic oxidation of mono-alcohols, diols, glycerol, glucose, alkenes and alkanes. 

Apart from these two examples, in the rest of the olefin activations, gold coordinates to the olefin, turning it susceptible to nucleophilic attack. The early examples of alkene functionalization by gold catalysis (equation 144) focused on the intermolecular addition of 1,3-diketones to styrenes. " An intramolecular version with ketoamides to yield pyrrolidinones was later developed and followed by the intermolecular addition of phenols (equation 145) and carboxylic acids to double bonds,a work that included an example of intramolecular addition of an aliphatic alcohol to an olefin. 

Thiol monolayers are not removed by solvents, but by sulfur-active chemicals which pass through the surface monolayers. Laser desorption mass spectrometry has shown that thiolate molecules are intact on the gold surface, but through air oxidation, some sulfonates develop. The relative stability of alkanethiol SAMs on gold to air oxidation is to be expected due to the covalent nature of the S—Au bond. Photooxidation via UV excitation of electrons in the metal surface is, however, possible and leads to sulfonate salts which have again been characterized by mass spectrometry as well as by XPS . Alkene-thiolate monolayers can best be desorbed from gold by a one-electron reductive path. Stable monolayers on gold were also obtained with benzenesulfinate. 

Besides organocatalysts, metal complexes show catalytic activities in various types of [3+2]cycloaddition. Thus Ru complex 140 performs a role in the reaction of nitrile oxides with enals, and gold(l) benzoate complex of Cy-SEGPHOS is involved in the reaction of miinchnones with alkenes. "... 

The Haruta s discovery that nanosized gold particales adsorbed on metal-oxide powders facilitate a wide class of reactions under near-ambient conditions has attracted a worldwide interest [1]. It is known that gold is very inert in bulk phase. However, small gold clusters possess high reactivity in selective methane and alkenes oxidation and hydrogenation of linear alkenes [2]. So, gold nanoparticles have been found to be active catalysts for many reactions of industrial and environmental interest. 

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