Hydrogenolysis reducing systems

Starichenko and colleagues [185-187] have studied the hydrogenolysis of poly-chloro- and polyfluoroaromatic compounds with the [(NnN)NiCl2]/Zn reducing system (NCN = bpy or phen (phen=l,10-phenanthroline)). Using DMF or DMA... 

Sml2 can reduce N-0 bonds in many other substrates. In 1995, Keck studied the reduction of the N-0 bond in amide 53. Whereas reducing systems including Al(Hg), Na(Hg) and hydrogenolysis proved unsuccessful, treatment of 53 with Sml2 resulted in smooth N-0 bond reduction to give 54 in 91 % yield (Scheme 4.39).42... 

Platinum, palladium, and rhodium will function well under milder conditions and are especially useful when other reducible functions are present. Freifelder (23) considers rhodium-ammonia the system of choice when reducing -amino nitriles and certain )5-cyano ethers, compounds that undergo extensive hydrogenolysis under conditions necessary for base-metal catalysis. 

Electrophilic catalysis may play an important role in the case of the similar benzylic carbon, too. For an O-benzyl system, it was found in a 1997 experiment that palladium oxide is a much more effective catalyst than palladium metal when the catalyst has been prereduced with chemical reducing agents. This finding shows very clearly that the electrophilic character of the unreduced metal ions plays an important role in the hydrogenolysis of the benzyl C—O bonds. Additional support for this mechanism is the fact that a small amount of butylamine can inhibit the hydrogenolysis of the benzyl C—O bond. 

In the preparation of faujasite zeolite-supported Pt-Re catalysts, bimetallic PtRe clusters have been reported to be predominantly formed when a carbonyl rhenium precursor (Re2(CO)io) is contacted with zeolite in which platinum has been previously introduced and reduced. The preexisting Pt clusters may act as nucleation sites. After reduction, these Pt-Re systems show a high selectivity to CH4 in the hydrogenolysis of n-heptane [58]. 

A very active elemental rhodium is obtained by reduction of rhodium chloride with sodium borohydride [27]. Supported rhodium catalysts, usually 5% on carbon or alumina, are especially suited for hydrogenation of aromatic systems [iTj. A mixture of rhodium oxide and platinum oxide was also used for this purpose and proved better than platinum oxide alone [i5, 39]. Unsaturated halides containing vinylic halogens are reduced at the double bond without hydrogenolysis of the halogen [40]. 

From a simplified scheme of reduction of the amide function it can be seen that the first stage is formation of an intermediate with oxygen and nitrogen atoms linked to an sp carbon. Such compounds tend to regenerate the original sp system by elimination of ammonia or an amine. Thus an aldehyde is formed and may be isolated, or reduced to an alcohol. Alternatively the product is an amine resulting from direct hydrogenolysis of the sp intermediate. 

Another limitation is seen when extra strain is included in the compound to be reduced. Dehalogenation of 3,3-dichlorobicyclo[2.2.0]hexan-2-one with zinc/ammonium chloride in methanol gave, at best, a 25% yield of 3-chlorobicyclo[2.2.0]hexan-2-one (14) together with cyclohexenone and 6-chlorohex-5-enoic acid.128 The best results were achieved with the zinc/ acetic acid system, while addition of water, silver-promoted zinc reduction in methanol, tri-butyltin hydride reduction or hydrogenolysis with palladium in methanol did not result in formation of 14, but various other ring-opened products. 

The presence of a reducible contaminant in an Fe0-H2O system provides another reaction [in addition to Eqs. (14)—(15)] that can contribute to the overall corrosion rate. This is exemplified in Eq. (6) for the hydrogenolysis of a generic chlorinated hydrocarbon, Eq. (11) for nitro reduction, and Eq. (12) for azo compounds. 

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