Modified Solid Catalysts

The topic of this chapter is enantioselective hydrogenation over chiral or chirally modified solid catalysts. Diastereoselective hydrogenation of chiral compounds and asymmetric hydrogenation with heterogenized (supported, embedded) homogeneous transition metal complexes will not be discussed. 

Several studies have been reported on the mechanism of chiral catalysis by modified solid catalysts. Both modifier and substrate structures play important roles. Refer to reviews by Fish and Ollis (1978), Izuma (1983), Sachtler (1985), Tai and Harada (1986), and Blaser et al. (1988) for details of various postulated mechanisms, but one particular conclusion is significant. For the cinchona-modified platinum catalyst, the presence of nitrogen is considered essential, and the configuration at Cg of the alkaloid determines which enantiomer of the product is formed. 

Examples of industrial production based largely on these modified solid catalysts are a sex hormone (Tai et al., 1978, 1979), ligands for homogeneous enantioselective hydrogenation (Bakos et al., 1981 Tai and Harada, 1986), and an intermediate in the production of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, benazepril (Morrison and Mosher, 1971). 

A modified Pechmann microwave-assisted reaction has been reported using an electron-rich phenol 229 and an a,/l-unsaturated acid in order to obtain coumarins without a substituent in position 4 [147]. Even in this case, the use of an acid solid catalyst (the support) was needed. Best results were obtained with Dowex or Amberhte-15 at 120 °C for 15 min (Scheme 84). 

The interaction of microwaves with solid materials has proven attractive for the preparation and activation of heterogeneous catalysts. It has been suggested that micro-wave irradiation modifies the catalytic properties of solid catalysts, resulting in increasing rates of chemical reactions. It is evident that microwave irradiation creates catalysts with different structures, activity, and/or selectivity. Current studies document a growing interest in the preparation of microwave-assisted catalysts and in the favorable influence of microwaves on catalytic reactions. 

In 1990, Choudary [139] reported that titanium-pillared montmorillonites modified with tartrates are very selective solid catalysts for the Sharpless epoxidation, as well as for the oxidation of aromatic sulfides [140], Unfortunately, this research has not been reproduced by other authors. Therefore, a more classical strategy to modify different metal oxides with histidine was used by Moriguchi et al. [141], The catalyst showed a modest e.s. for the solvolysis of activated amino acid esters. Starting from these discoveries, Morihara et al. [142] created in 1993 the so-called molecular footprints on the surface of an Al-doped silica gel using an amino acid derivative as chiral template molecule. After removal of the template, the catalyst showed low but significant e.s. for the hydrolysis of a structurally related anhydride. On the same fines, Cativiela and coworkers [143] treated silica or alumina with diethylaluminum chloride and menthol. The resulting modified material catalyzed Diels-Alder reaction between cyclopentadiene and methacrolein with modest e.s. (30% e.e.). As mentioned in the Introduction, all these catalysts are not yet practically important but rather they demonstrate that amorphous metal oxides can be modified successfully. 

However, the use of polyfunctional solid catalysts (involving both red-ox and acid properties) could modify, in some cases, the characteristics of some of the actual industrial processes. 

This section presents results from the selective hydrogenation of acetophenone and benzophenone. In the two cases studied, Pt-based (1 wt% Pt) and tin-modified Pt catalysts with a Sn/Pt = 1 ratio were used. These catalysts are solids that have the characteristics given in Table 6.9. 

Nickel and other transition metal catalysts, when modified with a chiral compound such as (R,R)-tartaric acid 5S), become enantioselective. All attempts to modify solid surfaces with optically active substances have so far resulted in catalysts of only low stereoselectivity. This is due to the fact that too many active centers of different structures are present on the surface of the catalysts. Consequently, in asymmetric hydrogenations the technique of homogeneous catalysis is superior to heterogeneous catalysis56). However, some carbonyl compounds have been hydrogenated in the presence of tartaric-acid-supported nickel catalysts in up to 92% optical purity55 . 

The simplest way to modify the bum rate of composite propellants is by means of catalysts or ballistic modifiers. The solid catalysts that have been in use for many years can be classified into two groups. 

The equipment depicted in Fig. 17 also allows monitoring of species adsorbed on a solid catalyst. For this application, the ZnSe IRE is coated with a layer of the catalyst before assembly of the cell and the start of the reaction. This approach was chosen for investigation, for example, of the interaction of the reactant with the catalyst during the asymmetric hydrogenation of ethyl pyruvate catalyzed by cinc-honidine (CD)-modified Pt/Al2O3 in the presence of supercritical ethane (79). 

Enantioselective synthesis is a topic of undisputable importance in current chemical research and there is a steady flow of articles, reviews and books on almost every aspect involved. The present overview will concentrate on the application of solid chiral catalysts for the enantioselective synthesis of chiral molecules which are a special class of fine chemicals. Included is an account on our own work with the cinchona-modified Pt catalysts. Excluded is the wide field of immobilized versions of active homogeneous complexes or of bio-catalysts. During the preparation of this survey, several reviews have been found to be very informative [1-14]. 

The first reported attempts of what was then called "absolute or total asymmetric synthesis" with chiral solid catalysts used nature (naturally ) both as a model and as a challenge. Hypotheses of the origin of chirality on earth and early ideas on the nature of enzymes strongly influenced this period [15]. Two directions were tried First, chiral solids such as quartz and natural fibres were used as supports for metallic catalysts and second, existing heterogeneous catalysts were modified by the addition of naturally occuring chiral molecules. Both approaches were successful and even if the optical yields were, with few exceptions, very low or not even determined quantitatively the basic feasibility of heterogeneous enantioselective catalysis was established. 

Amorphous and mesostructured Zr02 solid catalysts impregnated with various amounts of triflic acid were tested in the acylation of biphenyl356,357 and toluene358 (with benzoyl chloride and para-toluyl chloride, respectively, nitrobenzene solvent, 170°C and 130°C). All catalysts exhibited lower activity when compared with neat triflic acid. The mesoporous catalysts, however, showed complete selectivity in the formation of para-benzoylbiphenyl. A triflic acid-silica catalyst, in turn, prepared using an aminopropyl-modified silica, showed good characteristics in the solvent-less acetylation of anisole and 2-methoxynaphthalene with acetic anhydride.359,360 The activity of 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethanesulfonic acid, either neat or embedded in silica, was found to be similar to that of triflic acid in the acetylation of anisole.196... 

Modified guanidines 3 efficiently catalyzed the asymmetric Michael addition of a prochiral glycine derivatives with acrylate, acrylonitrile and methyl vinyl ketone under simple and mild conditions. Remarkably, both product formation and enantioselectivity were dramatically improved using solvent-free conditions (Scheme 12) [34]. The addition of alcohols to methyl propiolate was performed using fluorous phosphines such as P[(CH2)2 (CF2)7 CF3]3 and again better yields of 99% have been obtained under solvent-free conditions. Toluene was added to efficiently separate the product from the solid catalyst, which was then reused without loss of activity [35],... 

Recently Milczak et al.[57] have reported the nitration of o-xylene using 100% nitric acid over silica supported metal oxide solid acid catalysts with high yields (up to 90 %) but low selectivity to 4-o-NX (40-57 %). Choudary et a/. 5X 591 performed the nitration of o-xylene and other aromatic hydrocarbons by azeotropic removal of water over modified clay catalysts achieving low yields of 4-o-NX and a selectivity of 52%. Better results were obtained when HBeta zeolite was used as catalyst, performing the reaction in dichloromethane at reflux temperature.[60] Conversions of 40 % and maximum selectivity 68 % of 4-o-NX were obtained. Similar conversions and higher selectivities for 4-o-NX (65-75 %) were reported by Rao et al M 1 using a nanocrystaUine HBeta sample and working at 90 °C in the absence of solvent. 

Whereas these solid catalysts tolerate water to some extent, or even use aqueous H2O2 as the oxidant, the use of homogeneous Ti catalysts in epoxi-dation reactions often demands strictly anhydrous conditions. The homogeneous catalysts are often titanium alkoxides, possibly in combination with chiral modifiers, as in the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols (15). There has recently been an increase in interest in supporting this enantioselective Ti catalyst. 

A tartrate-modified solid Ti catalyst has also been prepared starting from a montmorillonite clay (31). This clay can be pillared with Ti polycations prepared by acid hydrolysis of Ti(OiPr)4. In the presence of tartrate ester, an allylic alcohol such as tram-2-buten-l-ol is epoxidized in 91% yield with 95% ee. These results are superior even to those for the homogeneous catalyst. Moreover, the reaction also proceeds in the absence of the molecular... 

Catalyst activity is related to the nature, the number, the strength, and the spatial arrangement of the chemical bonds that are momentarily created between the reactants and the surface, which relies on the composition, structure, and morphology of the solid catalyst [9], In this regard, catalyst activity greatly depends on the active component, or components included in the catalyst composition. A catalyst is composed of a major active component, the proportion of which surpasses that of other components, and secondary components, which are included to improve catalyst activity, and which are called additives or, sometimes, promoters or modifiers [2,9],... 

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