Iridium aldehyde

Iridium tetrachloride is readily reduced to the trichloride. Its aqueous solution, on dilution, yields hypoehlorous acid and the trichloride. On boiling, a precipitate of oxychloride is obtained. Addition of excess of alkali precipitates part of the iridium as dioxide, the remainder staying in solution as sesquioxide, being precipitated only upon neutralisation of the alkali. Addition of alcohol to the alkaline solution precipitates metallic iridium, aldehydes and alkali formates being simultaneously produced. Reducing agents, such as stannous chloride, sulphur dioxide, nitric oxide, hydrogen sulphide, ferrous sulphate, etc, convert the tetrachloride into trichloride. 

Reduction of unsaturated aldehydes seems more influenced by the catalyst than is that of unsaturated ketones, probably because of the less hindered nature of the aldehydic function. A variety of special catalysts, such as unsupported (96), or supported (SJ) platinum-iron-zinc, plalinum-nickel-iron (47), platinum-cobalt (90), nickel-cobalt-iron (42-44), osmium (<55), rhenium heptoxide (74), or iridium-on-carbon (49), have been developed for selective hydrogenation of the carbonyl group in unsaturated aldehydes. None of these catalysts appears to reduce an a,/3-unsaturated ketonic carbonyl selectively. 

The most successful class of active ingredient for both oxidation and reduction is that of the noble metals silver, gold, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum. Platinum and palladium readily oxidize carbon monoxide, all the hydrocarbons except methane, and the partially oxygenated organic compounds such as aldehydes and alcohols. Under reducing conditions, platinum can convert NO to N2 and to NH3. Platinum and palladium are used in small quantities as promoters for less active base metal oxide catalysts. Platinum is also a candidate for simultaneous oxidation and reduction when the oxidant/re-ductant ratio is within 1% of stoichiometry. The other four elements of the platinum family are in short supply. Ruthenium produces the least NH3 concentration in NO reduction in comparison with other catalysts, but it forms volatile toxic oxides. 

Hydrogenation of substrates having a polar multiple C-heteroatom bond such as ketones or aldehydes has attracted significant attention because the alcohols obtained by this hydrogenation are important building blocks. Usually ruthenium, rhodium, and iridium catalysts are used in these reactions [32-36]. Nowadays, it is expected that an iron catalyst is becoming an alternative material to these precious-metal catalysts. 

The ability of enzymes to achieve the selective esterification of one enantiomer of an alcohol over the other has been exploited by coupling this process with the in situ metal-catalysed racemisation of the unreactive enantiomer. Marr and co-workers have used the rhodium and iridium NHC complexes 44 and 45 to racemise the unreacted enantiomer of substrate 7 [17]. In combination with a lipase enzyme (Novozyme 435), excellent enantioselectivities were obtained in the acetylation of alcohol 7 to give the ester product 43 (Scheme 11.11). A related dynamic kinetic resolution has been reported by Corberdn and Peris [18]. hi their chemistry, the aldehyde 46 is readily racemised and the iridium NHC catalyst 35 catalyses the reversible reduction of aldehyde 46 to give an alcohol which is acylated by an enzyme to give the ester 47 in reasonable enantiomeric excess. 

Scheme 15 Iridium-catalyzed hydrogen-mediated coupling of alkyl-substituted alkynes to activated ketones and aldehydes. Conditions a ligand = BIPHEP, solvent = toluene, T = 80 °C b ligand = DPPF, solvent = toluene, T = 60 °C c ligand = BIPHEP, solvent = DCE,...

Iridium-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation of aldehyde 73 in the presence of 1,1-dimethylallene promotes tert-prenylation [64] to form the secondary neopentyl alcohol 74. In this process, isopropanol serves as the hydrogen donor, and the isolated iridium complex prepared from [Ir(cod)Cl]2, allyl acetate, m-nitrobenzoic acid, and (S)-SEGPHOS is used as catalyst. Complete levels of catalyst-directed diastereoselectivity are observed. Exposure of neopentyl alcohol 74 to acetic anhydride followed by ozonolysis provides p-acetoxy aldehyde 75. Reductive coupling of aldehyde 75 with allyl acetate under transfer hydrogenation conditions results in the formation of homoallylic alcohol 76. As the stereochemistry of this addition is irrelevant, an achiral iridium complex derived from [Ir(cod)Cl]2, allyl acetate, m-nitrobenzoic acid, and BIPHEP was employed as catalyst (Scheme 5.9). 

Interestingly, the alkenylation of sp3 C-H bond is observed in the iridium-catalyzed coupling reaction of aldehydes, amines, and alkynes (Equation (56)).62... 

The first iridium-catalyzed reductive aldol reaction was reported in 2001.422 Methyl acrylate reacts with certain aldehydes and diethylmethylsilane with high enantio- and diastereoselectivies (Equation (69)). 

More recent advances in iridium-catalyzed aldehyde hydrogenation have been through the use of bidentate ligands [6]. In the hydrogenation of citral and cinnamaldehyde, replacing two triphenylphosphines in [IrH(CO)(PPh3)3] with bidentate phosphines BDNA, BDPX, BPPB, BISBI and PCP (Fig. 15.1) led to an increase in catalytic activity. 

Transition metals can display selectivities for either carbonyls or olefins (Table 20.3). RuCl2(PPh3)3 (24) catalyzes reduction of the C-C double bond function in the presence of a ketone function (Table 20.3, entries 1-3). With this catalyst, reaction rates of the reduction of alkenes are usually higher than for ketones. This is also the case with various iridium catalysts (entries 6-14) and a ruthenium catalyst (entry 15). One of the few transition-metal catalysts that shows good selectivity towards the ketone or aldehyde function is the nickel catalyst (entries 4 and 5). Many other catalysts have never been tested for their selectivity for one particular functional group. 

One of the most active and selective catalysts in this kind of reaction is undoubtedly Ir/support, as recently demonstrated by Jacobs and coworkers [276], Therefore, by combining the carbonyl affinity of metallic iridium with the promotion effect of the H-fl zeolite, which is a strong Bronsted acid, one can reduce a large variety of unsaturated ketones and aldehydes to allylic alcohols with high conversions, selectivities, and diasteieoselectivities. 

Complexes 6 undergo the second migratory insertion in this scheme to form the acyl complexes 7. Complexes 7 can react either with CO to give the saturated acyl intermediates 8, which have been observed spectroscopically, or with H2 to give the aldehyde product and the unsaturated intermediates 3. The reaction with H2 involves presumably oxidative addition and reductive elimination, but for rhodium no trivalent intermediates have been observed. For iridium the trivalent intermediate acyl dihydrides have been observed [29], The Rh-acyl intermediates 8 have also been observed [26] and due to the influence of the more bulky acyl group, as compared to the hydride atom in 2e and 2a, isomer 8ae is the most abundant species. 

The same catalyst has also been used for the reduction of aldehydes to primary alcohols [7]. Several other iridium W-heterocyclic carbene complexes have been shown to be successful as catalysts for the transfer hydrogenation of ketones [8-12], including the interesting complex 6, where the cyclopentadienyl ring is tethered to the 77-heterocyclic carbene. Complex 6 was employed at low catalyst loading for the reduction of a range of ketones including the conversion of cyclohexanone 11 into cyclohexanol 12 [13]. 

The catalyst is also effective for the reduction of styrenes, ketones, and aldehydes. Cyclohexenone 16 was reduced to cyclohexanone 11 by transfer hydrogenation, and using a higher catalyst loading, styrene 17 was reduced to ethylbenzene 18. The elaboration of [Ir(cod)Cl]2 into the triazole-derived iridium carbene complex 19 provided a catalyst, which was used to reduce aUcene 20 by transfer hydrogenation [25]. 

Complex 77 has also been reported to catalyze the oxidative dimerization of alcohols to esters when the reactions are performed in the presence of base [76]. The presence of base presumably encourages the reversible attack of the alcohol onto the initially formed aldehyde to give a hemiacetal, which is further oxidized to give the ester product. Alcohols 87 and 15 were converted into esters 88 and 89 with good isolated yields (Scheme 20). Alternative iridium catalysts have been used for related oxidative dimerization reactions, and the addition of base is not always a requirement for the reaction to favor ester formation over aldehyde formation [77, 78]. 

The activation of alcohols by iridium-catalyzed borrowing hydrogen reactions has also been applied to the formation of C-C bonds [113]. Reactions proceed by temporary removal of hydrogen from an alcohol to give an aldehyde (or ketone), which is transformed into an alkene with subsequent return of the hydrogen to provide a new C-C bond. Ishii and coworkers have used [lr(cod)Cl]2 with... 

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