Gold -catalyzed carboxylates

In the gold-catalyzed carbonylation of olefins according to Xu et al., gold(I) carbonyl complexes are considered as active catalysts this reaction proceeds already at room temperature in concentrated sulfuric acid at a CO pressure of 1 atm and leads after acid-catalyzed skeletal rearrangement to tertiary carboxylic acids such as 16,18, and 19 (Scheme 4) [11],... 

Optically active ferrocenylbisphosphines, (/J)-N,iV-dimethyl-l-[(5)-1, 2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocenyIJethylamine [(/J)-(5)-BPPFA] and its derivatives, are efficient chiral bisphos-phine ligands for rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation, palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution reactions, and gold-catalyzed asymmetric aldol-type reactions of a-isocyano carboxylates. ... 

Examples of gold-catalyzed carbonylation of amines and olefins exist related to the activation of carbonyl. The first case involves the formation of carbamates from anilines and CO in the presence of alcohols or the production of acetamides from aliphatic amines. In these examples, Au(I) (usually [AuCUPPhs)]) catalysts are preferred. For the carbonylation of olefins, gold (I)-carbonyls are prepared in situ in sulfuric acid media to afford carboxylic acids. ... 

Instead of allenic carboxylic acids, the corresponding esters can also be used as substrates for gold-catalyzed cyclization reactions. Thus, heating t-butyl allenoates with gold(III) chloride in dichloromethane afforded butenolides in high yield (Scheme 4-104). In a similar way, Backvall et obtained 5-lactones by... 

In addition to the gold-catalyzed chemistry described in the preceding section, ruthenium complexes also catalyzed the addition of carboxylic acids to alkenes (Scheme 2.20) [25]. A common air-stable ruthenium compound served as the catalyst for the reaction along with silver(I) triflate as an additive. While a range of monosubstituted terminal alkenes were successfully converted into esters in moderate to excellent yields (up to 95%), analogous reactions with internal or disubstituted alkenes were less successful. Both the gold- and ruthenium-catalyzed additions were attractive due to the availability of the catalysts used for the reactions. 

SCHEME 2.19 Preparation of esters through the gold-catalyzed addition of carboxylic acids to alkenes [22]. 

Scheme 104 Gold-catalyzed 1,2-acyloxy migration in propargylic carboxylates...

SCHEME 4.18 Gold-catalyzed 1,2-acyloxy migrations of a propargyl carboxylate and the... 

It is worth mentioning that both the carboxylation of epoxides and anilines are acid-base reactions, which do not entail redox processes. Therefore a catalyst active in these reactions must provide acid-base functionality. In this perspective, positively charged gold could be the real player, although a co-catalytic or promotion effect of ze-rovalent gold could also be important. Therefore the catalysts for the oxidative carbonylation of aniline, supported on Merck Ion-exchanger IV, could be actually bifunctional. On one side, Au could catalyze the oxidation of CO with O2 to CO2, a reaction for which it is... 

The use of a lipophilic zinc(II) macrocycle complex, 1-hexadecyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane, to catalyze hydrolysis of lipophilic esters, both phosphate and carboxy (425), links this Section to the previous Section. Here, and in studies of the catalysis of hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenyl acetate by the Zn2+ and Co2+ complexes of tris(4,5-di-n-propyl-2 -imidazolyl)phosphine (426) and of a phosphate triester, a phos-phonate diester, and O-isopropyl methylfluorophosphonate (Sarin) by [Cu(A(A(A/,-trimethyl-A/,-tetradecylethylenediamine)l (427), various micellar effects have been brought into play. Catalysis of carboxylic ester hydrolysis is more effectively catalyzed by A"-methylimidazole-functionalized gold nanoparticles than by micellar catalysis (428). Other reports on mechanisms of metal-assisted carboxy ester hydrolyses deal with copper(II) (429), zinc(II) (430,431), and palladium(II) (432). 

Gold(l) complexes of alkenes and alkynes appear to play an important role as intermediates of the gold(l)-catalyzed addition of water, alcohols, carboxylic acids, or amines to these substrates. The elfect of this 7r-complexation (22) is superior to the performance of mercury(ll) in this type of reactions. " In a similar way, gold(III) salts have found applications in homogeneous catalysis. ... 

Other 1,3-acyl migrations of propargylic carboxylates catalyzed by gold give intermediate allenes, which can afford heterocyclic compounds by intramolecular attack of the appropriate nucleophiles. The intermediate allenes formed by 1,3-acyl migrations can also react intramolecularly with alkynes to form naphthalenes, although this reaction proceeds more efficiently with Ag(I) catalysts, and is discussed in the aUcyne-carbon nucleophile section. 

The chiral ferrocenylphosphine.gold(I)-catalyzed aldol reaction of a-alkyl a-isocya-nocarboxylates 92 with paraformaldehyde gives optically active 4-alkyl-2-oxazoline-4-carboxylates 93 with moderate to good enantioselectivity [46], The absolute configuration (S) of the product indicates that the reaction occurs selectively at the si face of the enolate as illustrated in Fig. 2. These oxazolines 93 can be converted into a-alkyl-serine derivatives 94 (Sch. 24). 

The catalysis of hydrolysis of carboxylic acid derivatives by weak bases has not been carefully studied until relatively recently. Koshland reported in 1952 the catalysis of acetyl phosphate hydrolysis by pyridine Bafna and Gold (1953) reported the pyridine-catalyzed hydrolysis of acetic anhydride. A short time later the catalysis of aromatic ester hydrolysis by imidazole was demonstrated (Bender and Turnquest, 1957 a, b Bruice and Schmir, 1957). Since that time a large amount of work has been devoted to the understanding of catalyzed ester reactions. Much of the work in this area has been carried out with the purpose of inquiry into the mode of action of hydrolytic enzymes. These enzymes contain on their backbone weak potential catalytic bases or acids, such as imidazole in the form of histidine, carboxylate in the form of aspartate and glutamate, etc. As a result of the enormous effort put into the study of nucleophilic displacements at the carbonyl carbon, a fair understanding of these reactions has resulted. An excellent review is available for work up to 1960 (Bender, 1960). In addition, this subject has been... 

---