Metal-catalysts centers

In the process of radical polymerization a monomolecular short stop of the kinetic chain arises from the delocalization of the unpaired electron along the conjugated chain and from the competition of the developing polyconjugated system with the monomer for the delivery of rr-electrons to the nf-orbitals of a transition metal catalyst in the ionic coordination process. Such a deactivation of the active center may also be due to an interaction with the conjugated bonds of systems which have already been formed. 

Indeed, these reactions proceed at 25 °C in ethanol-aqueous media in the absence of transition metal catalysts. The ease with which P-H bonds in primary phosphines can be converted to P-C bonds, as shown in Schemes 9 and 10, demonstrates the importance of primary phosphines in the design and development of novel organophosphorus compounds. In particular, functionalized hydroxymethyl phosphines have become ubiquitous in the development of water-soluble transition metal/organometallic compounds for potential applications in biphasic aqueous-organic catalysis and also in transition metal based pharmaceutical development [53-62]. Extensive investigations on the coordination chemistry of hydroxymethyl phosphines have demonstrated unique stereospe-cific and kinetic propensity of this class of water-soluble phosphines [53-62]. Representative examples outlined in Fig. 4, depict bidentate and multidentate coordination modes and the unique kinetic propensity to stabilize various oxidation states of metal centers, such as Re( V), Rh(III), Pt(II) and Au(I), in aqueous media [53 - 62]. Therefore, the importance of functionalized primary phosphines in the development of multidentate water-soluble phosphines cannot be overemphasized. 

Department of Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Institute of Isotope, HAS, Budapest Laboratory for Nanostructured Metal Catalysts, Institute of Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Chemical Research Center,... 

In addition to the enhanced rate of hydroalumination reactions in the presence of metal catalysts, tuning of the metal catalyst by the choice of appropriate ligands offers the possibility to influence the regio- and stereochemical outcome of the overall reaction. In particular, the use of chiral ligands has the potential to control the absolute stereochemistry of newly formed stereogenic centers. While asymmetric versions of other hydrometaUation reactions, in particular hydroboration and hydrosi-lylation, are already weU established in organic synthesis, the scope and synthetic utiHty of enantioselective hydroalumination reactions are only just emerging [72]. 

The most famous mechanism, namely Cossets mechanism, in which the alkene inserts itself directly into the metal-carbon bond (Eq. 5), has been proposed, based on the kinetic study [134-136], This mechanism involves the intermediacy of ethylene coordinated to a metal-alkyl center and the following insertion of ethylene into the metal-carbon bond via a four-centered transition state. The olefin coordination to such a catalytically active metal center in this intermediate must be weak so that the olefin can readily insert itself into the M-C bond without forming any meta-stable intermediate. Similar alkyl-olefin complexes such as Cp2NbR( /2-ethylene) have been easily isolated and found not to be the active catalyst precursor of polymerization [31-33, 137]. In support of this, theoretical calculations recently showed the presence of a weakly ethylene-coordinated intermediate (vide infra) [12,13]. The stereochemistry of ethylene insertion was definitely shown to be cis by the evidence that the polymerization of cis- and trans-dideutero-ethylene afforded stereoselectively deuterated polyethylenes [138]. 

In the case of these catalysts, the two metallic redox centers are provided by the same molecule. Therefore, the reaction is first-order in the complex and dioxygen concentrations ... 

The use of dispersed or immobilized transition metals as catalysts for partial hydrogenation reactions of alkynes has been widely studied. Traditionally, alkyne hydrogenations for the preparation of fine chemicals and biologically active compounds were only performed with heterogeneous catalysts [80-82]. Palladium is the most selective metal catalyst for the semihydrogenation of mono-substituted acetylenes and for the transformation of alkynes to ds-alkenes. Commonly, such selectivity is due to stronger chemisorption of the triple bond on the active center. 

It should be noted that the two explanations of activity for heat treated materials do not necessarily disagree. Some researchers have proposed a combination of the previously discussed theories, in that the more active metal-N4 center can remain intact for treatments between 400-700 °C, but a new more stable site forms with higher temperature treatments.73,79,92,93 In fact, one of the earliest reports of an ORR-active heat treated macrocycle discussed the fact that the optimal treatment temperature was 600 °C, but higher treatments up to 1000 °C created a more stable, though slightly less active catalyst.9... 

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