Ketones hydrogen transfer

As was the case with a-keto acids and esters, there are two situations which give rise to the asymmetric reduction of a ketone. Hydrogen transfer from an optically active reducing agent to the carbonyl carbon of an inactive ketone is one possibility. Asymmetric reduction may also be produced by hydrogen transfer to a keto carbonyl adjacent to an asymmetric center. The latter type of reaction has been studied extensively by Cram and his coworkers. Inspection of the necessary conditions for this kind of asymmetric reduction reveals some similarity to the keto ester reductions described in Section II. 

A number of bis(pyrazolyl)azine ligands have been prepared together with the corresponding mononuclear cationic (arene)Ru(II) complexes (Fig. 21.16b and c), which have been shown active in ketone hydrogenation transfer processes even in the absence of a base [38]. 

L = P(CH3)3 or CO, oxidatively add arene and alkane carbon—hydrogen bonds (181,182). Catalytic dehydrogenation of alkanes (183) and carbonylation of bensene (184) has also been observed. Iridium compounds have also been shown to catalyse hydrogenation (185) and isomerisation of unsaturated alkanes (186), hydrogen-transfer reactions, and enantioselective hydrogenation of ketones (187) and imines (188). 

The hydrogen transfer reaction (HTR), a chemical redox process in which a substrate is reduced by an hydrogen donor, is generally catalysed by an organometallic complex [72]. Isopropanol is often used for this purpose since it can also act as the reaction solvent. Moreover the oxidation product, acetone, is easily removed from the reaction media (Scheme 14). The use of chiral ligands in the catalyst complex affords enantioselective ketone reductions [73, 74]. 

Pd Ketones, epoxides (hydrogen transfer from formic acid)... 

Hydrido(alkoxo) complexes of late transition metals are postulated as intermediates in the transition metal-catalyzed hydrogenation of ketones (Eq. 6.17), the hydrogenation of CO to MeOH, hydrogen transfer reactions and alcohol homologation. However, the successful isolation of such complexes from the catalytic systems was very rare [32-37]. 

In another context, chiral thioimidazolidine ligands have been successfully applied to the ruthenium-catalysed asymmetric hydrogen transfer of several aryl ketones by Kim et al., furnishing the corresponding chiral alcohols with high yields and enantioselectivities of up to 77% ee (Scheme 9.12). ... 

On the other hand a direct hydrogen transfer through a Meerwein-Ponndorf mechanism, involving coordination of both the donor alcohol and the ketone to the copper site may also be considered. In this case, by using alcohols other than 2-propanol, we could expect some difference in stereochemistry. This would also imply the possibility of carrying out the enantioselective reduction of a prochiral ketone with a chiral alcohol as donor. 

Frequently B will also undergo a back hydrogen transfer which regenerates the parent ketone, as well as cyclization (in most cases a minor reaction) as a result of this competition the quantum yields of fragmentation are typically in the 0.1-0.5 range in non-polar media. When the Norrish Type II process takes place in a polymer it can result in the cleavage of the polymer backbone. Poly(phenyl vinyl ketone) has frequently been used as a model polymer in which this reaction is resonsible for its photodegradation, reaction 2. 

The Norrish-Yang reaction [20] is based on the photochemical excitation of ketones followed by an intramolecular hydrogen transfer with the formation of biradicals. Wessig and coworkers used this procedure to prepare functionalized cyclopropyl ketones as 5-75 from 5-72 (Scheme 5.15) [21]. The substrate employed con-... 

Another very recent development in the field of enzymatic domino reactions is a biocatalytic hydrogen-transfer reduction of halo ketones into enantiopure epoxides, which has been developed by Faber, Bornscheuer and Kroutil. Interestingly, the reaction was carried out with whole lyophilized microbial cells at pH ca. 13. Investigations using isolated enzymes were not successful, as they lost their activity under these conditions [26]. 

Poessl, T.M., Kosjek, B., Ellmer, U. et al. (2005) Non-racemic halohydrins via biocatalytic hydrogen-transfer reduction of halo-ketones and one-pot cascade reaction to enantiopure epoxides. Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis, 347 (14), 1827-1834. 

In this latter hydridic route for hydrogen transfer from alcohols to ketones, two additional possibilities can be considered one involving a metal hydride arising purely from a C—11 (path 2a), and another in which it may originate from both the O—11 and C—I I (path 2b) in this case any of the hydrides on the metal may add to the carbonyl carbon. 

An important aspect of hydrogen transfer equilibrium reactions is their application to a variety of oxidative transformations of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones using ruthenium catalysts.72 An extension of these studies is the aerobic oxidation of alcohols performed with a catalytic amount of hydrogen acceptor under 02 atmosphere by a multistep electron-transfer process.132-134... 

Mechanisms, exemplified by alcohol as donor (493, 496), usually invoke coordination of the substrate (olefins, saturated and unsaturated ketones, and aldehydes), then coordination of the alcohol and formation of a metal alkoxide, followed by /8-hydrogen transfer from the alkoxide and release of product via protonolysis ... 

In the presence of strong alkali, the rhodium analog of 62, or RhCl(C8H,2)PPh3, hydrogenates aliphatic ketones at 1 atm and 20°C, and after treatment with borohydride the systems similarly reduce aromatic ketones to the alcohols (526). Deuterium exchange data for acetone reduction were interpreted in terms of hydrogen transfer within a mononuclear hydroxy complex containing substrate bound in the enol form (63). 

---