Metal-catalyzed isomerization compounds

In the presence of transition-metal complexes, organic compounds that are unsaturated or strained often rearrange themselves. One synthetically useful transition-metal catalyzed isomerization is the olefin migration reaction. Two general mechanisms have been proposed for olefin migrations, depending on the type of catalyst employed (A and B) (Scheme 3.8).137... 

The plausible mechanism of this ruthenium-catalyzed isomerization of allylic alcohols is shown in Scheme 15. This reaction proceeds via dehydrogenation of an allylic alcohol to the corresponding unsaturated carbonyl compound followed by re-addition of the metal hydride to the double bond. This mechanism involves dissociation of one phosphine ligand. Indeed, the replacement of two triphenylphosphines by various bidentate ligands led to a significant decrease in the reactivity.37... 

In conclusion, the applicability of the transition metal catalyzed hydroformylation of easily accessible functionalized or non-functionalized unsaturated compounds is expanded by its implementation in reaction sequences, tandem reactions or domino reactions. The hydroformylation can be combined with simple functional group transformations, such as reduction or isomerization, or with C,0-, C,N- and, most importantly, C,C-bond forming reactions. It can be expected that more interesting examples and applications will be presented in the future. 

Bifunctional catalytic reactions involve a series of catalytic steps over acidic and hydrogenating-dehydrogenating sites with formation of intermediate compounds. Thus n-hexane (hydro)isomerization involves successively n-hexane dehydrogenation in n-hexenes (metal catalyzed), skeletal isomerization of n-hexenes into isohexenes over protonic acid sites followed by the (metal catalyzed) hydrogenation of isohexenes into isohexanes (Figure 1.4). 

Before the introduction of metal-ammonia solutions for the reduction of a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds,sodium, sodium amalgam, or zinc in protic media were most commonly employed for this purpose. Some early examples of their use include the conversion of carvone to dihydrocarvone with zinc in acid or alkaline medium, and of cholest-4-en-3-one to cholestanone with sodium in alcohol. These earlier methods are complicated by a variety of side reactions, such as over-reduction, dimerization, skeletal rearrangements, acid- or base-catalyzed isomerizations and aldol condensations, most of which can be significantly minimized by metal-ammonia reduction. 

Under this heading we shall note, first, that the hydrocarbon moiety in a hydrocarbon-metal complex can be oxidized and reduced by chemical means to provide species which may correspond to the half-hydrogenated states that are postulated in catalytic reaction mechanisms secondly, that organometallic compounds exhibit displacement reactions, and thirdly that organometallic compounds catalyze isomerization, hydrogenation, polymerization, and oxidation processes. 

The formation of reactive intermediates provides possible opportunities for new reaction design. An attractive highly reactive intermediate, carbenes, which demonstrate numerous useful synthetic pathways, most notably by addition to alkenes and alkynes and also insertion into X-H bonds, where X is both carbon and heteroatoms, suffers from problems associated with their accessibility. Undoubtedly, the most useful class of precursor is the diazo compounds, whose safety problems restrict their use. For the specific case of vinylidenes, an attractive possibility is a terminal alkyne which is isomeric with a vinylidene. Although the thermolysis appears to effect this transformation (Equation 1.1, path a), the extraordinarily high temperatures required make the prospect of a transition metal-catalyzed version (Equation 1.1, path b) attractive. The early studies of Werner [6] using Rh and Bruce and co-workers [7] using Ru proved the facility with which such species would form however, the studies focused on the formation and isolation of the vinylidene-metal complexes and their stoichiometric reactions. 

The first successful achievements using asymmetric homogeneous transition metal catalysis were obtained in the asymmetric hydrogenation of alkenes24 25, This method has been successfully used in many synthetic applications (Section D.2.5.1.)26-29. In addition, chirally modified versions of the transition metal catalyzed hydrosilylation of olefins and carbonyl compounds (Sections D.2.3.1. and 2.5.1.) and olefin isomerization (Section D.2.6.2.) have been developed. Transition metal catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation constitutes one of the most powerful examples of this type (Section D.4.5.2.). 

Many transition metal hydrides and low-valent complexes that can generate an M—H bond by protonation catalyze hydrogen migrations in olefins. Rhodium trichloride or rhodium(I) compounds plus HCl rapidly isomerize 1-butene to an equilibrium mixture of butenes in which trans-2-butene is the largest single component. Most of the complexes that catalyze olefin dimerization also catalyze isomerization. The isomerization mechanism postulated by Cramer is similar to his dimerization mechanism except that no insertion step is involved (185). 

Metal oxides, sulfides, and hydrides form a transition between acid/base and metal catalysts. They catalyze hydrogenation/dehydro-genation as well as many of the reactions catalyzed by acids, such as cracking and isomerization. Their oxidation activity is related to the possibility of two valence states which allow oxygen to be released and reabsorbed alternately. Common examples are oxides of cobalt, iron, zinc, and chromium and hydrides of precious metals that can release hydrogen readily. Sulfide catalysts are more resistant than metals to the formation of coke deposits and to poisoning by sulfur compounds their main application is in hydrodesulfurization. 

At this time we do not have a firm nnderstanding of how CrCl2 and VCI3 catalyze the double bond isomerization and why other metal chlorides are less effective. We propose that CrCh" or VCh" anion plays a role in hydride transfer, facilitating donble bond isomerization. CnCh is less effective and both lactic acid and pyruvaldehyde are formed. FeCh" and MnCh" anions are ineffective in the transformation and only pyruvaldehyde is formed. The fact that only a small amount of 1,3-dihydroxyacetone is formed is consistent with the NMR observation that the compounds exist as hemiacetal dimers in ionic hquids and not as monomers. Otherwise 1,3-dihydroxyacetone would be expected as a major product (16). 

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