Of hydrogen to alkenes

Addition of hydrogen to alkenes and alkynes catalytic hydrogenation... 

The reduction of alkynes occurs in two steps addition of one mole of hydrogen atoms to form alkenes, and then addition of the second mole of hydrogen to alkenes to form alkanes. This reaction proceeds through a cis-alkene intermediate, hut cannot he stopped at this stage except with the use of a special catalyst. 

The addition of hydrogen to alkenes is made possible only with noble metal catalysts. They allow for a multistep, low-energy reaction pathway. The noble metal catalyst may be soluble in the reaction mixture in that case we have a homogeneous hydrogenation (cf. Sec-... 

Ni, Pt or Pd metals are used as catalysts in addition reactions of hydrogen to alkenes. 

A non-catalytic procedure for the syn-addition of hydrogen to alkenes makes use of the unstable compound diimide (N2H2). This strongly exothermic reaction is favoured by the elimination of nitrogen gas. The diimide reagent must be freshly generated in the reaction... 

Nickel is used in the addition of hydrogen to alkenes (hardening of vegetable oils). 

Asymmetric hydrogenation A highly selective addition of hydrogen to alkenes used in the synthesis of amino acids. 

The reason that catalytic hydrogenation often results in syn addition of hydrogen to alkenes was discussed in Chapter 23. 

Besides the addition of halides and hydrogen-halide adds to alkenes or alkynes, other industrially relevant electrophilic addition reactions involve hydratization reactions (addition of water to alkenes and alkynes, forming alcohols), cationic polymerization (addition of carbocation to an alkene), hydrogenation (addition of hydrogen to alkenes to form alkanes), and Diels-Alder reactions (addition of an alkene to a conjugated diene to form complex, unsaturated hydrocarbon structures). 

FIGURE 11.91 Addition of hydrogen to alkenes in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst takes place from the less hindered face of the double bond. 

Wilkinson s catalyst, [RhCI(PPh3)3], catalyzes c/s-addition of hydrogen to alkenes the reaction is sensitive to steric factors, and tri- and tetrasubstituted alkenes are not reduced. 

Catalytic hydrogenation is mostly used to convert C—C triple bonds into C C double bonds and alkenes into alkanes or to replace allylic or benzylic hetero atoms by hydrogen (H. Kropf, 1980). Simple theory postulates cis- or syn-addition of hydrogen to the C—C triple or double bond with heterogeneous (R. L. Augustine, 1965, 1968, 1976 P. N. Rylander, 1979) and homogeneous (A. J. Birch, 1976) catalysts. Sulfur functions can be removed with reducing metals, e. g. with Raney nickel (G. R. Pettit, 1962 A). Heteroaromatic systems may be reduced with the aid of ruthenium on carbon. 

The uncatalyzed addition of hydrogen to an alkene although exothermic is very slow The rate of hydrogenation increases dramatically however m the presence of cer tain finely divided metal catalysts Platinum is the hydrogenation catalyst most often used although palladium nickel and rhodium are also effective Metal catalyzed addi tion of hydrogen is normally rapid at room temperature and the alkane is produced m high yield usually as the only product... 

The regioselectivity of addition of HBr to alkenes under normal (electrophilic addi tion) conditions is controlled by the tendency of a proton to add to the double bond so as to produce the more stable carbocatwn Under free radical conditions the regioselec tivity IS governed by addition of a bromine atom to give the more stable alkyl radical Free radical addition of hydrogen bromide to the double bond can also be initiated photochemically either with or without added peroxides... 

Hydrogenation of benzene and other arenes is more difficult than hydrogenation of alkenes and alkynes Two of the more active catalysts are rhodium and platinum and it IS possible to hydrogenate arenes m the presence of these catalysts at room temperature and modest pressure Benzene consumes three molar equivalents of hydrogen to give cyclohexane... 

One of the older preparative free-radical reactions is the addition of polyhalomethanes to alkenes. Examples of addition of carbon tetrabromide, carbon tetrachloride, and bromoform have been recorded. The reactions are chain processes that depend on facile abstraction of halogen or hydrogen from the halomethane ... 

The chain addition of formamide to alkenes is a closely related reaction. It results in the formation of primary amides. The reaction is carried out with irradiation in acetone. The photoexcited acetone initiates the chain reaction by abstracting hydrogen from formamide ... 

Hydrogenation of alkynes to alkenes using the Lindlai catalyst is attractive because it sidesteps the regioselectivity and stereoselectivity issues that accompany the dehydration of alcohols and dehydrohalogenation of alkyl halides. In tenns of regioselectivity, the position of the double bond is never in doubt—it appears in the carbon chain at exactly the sane place where the triple bond was. In tenns of stereoselectivity, only the cis alkene forms. Recall that dehydration and dehydrohalogenation normally give a cis-trans mixture in which the cis isomer is the minor product. 

Hydrogenation of alkynes to alkenes (Section 9.9) Hydrogenation of alkynes may be halted at the alkene stage by using special catalysts. Lindlar palladium is the metal catalyst employed most often. Hydrogenation occurs with syn stereochemistry and yields a cis alkene. 

Draw the other stereoisomer that might have been obtained from syn addition of hydrogen to each alkene. Is the observed product for each addition also the thermodynamic product Compare energies for alkene A+ H2 observed and not observed and alkene B+H2 observed and not observed. What structural factors seem to be responsible for the relative stabilities of the two products of each hydrogenation reaction ... 

The most widely used method for adding the elements of hydrogen to carbon-carbon double bonds is catalytic hydrogenation. Except for very sterically hindered alkenes, this reaction usually proceeds rapidly and cleanly. The most common catalysts are various forms of transition metals, particularly platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, and nickel. Both the metals as finely dispersed solids or adsorbed on inert supports such as carbon or alumina (heterogeneous catalysts) and certain soluble complexes of these metals (homogeneous catalysts) exhibit catalytic activity. Depending upon conditions and catalyst, other functional groups are also subject to reduction under these conditions. 

Another alternative for conversion of diols to alkenes is the use of the Barton radical fragmentation conditions (see Section 5.5) with a silane hydrogen atom donor.299... 

The effect of stoichiometry, substituent, and temperature were investigated in reactions between the hydride HCo(tdppep) (19) and a number of alkynes.175 The cr-acetylide complex (20) and the (7-alkenyl (21) are formed from the stoichiometric reaction with ethyl propiolate. However, when a ten-fold excess of ethyl propiolate is used, the acetylide complex is formed quantitatively and one equivalent of alkyne is hydrogenated to alkene. Forcing conditions and a large excess of... 

Apparent trans addition of hydrogen to a carbon-carbon double bond has been the subject of intense investigations and several mechanism have been proposed the stereochemistry of hydrogenation of alkenes has been comprehensively reviewed by Siegel in 1966,66 by Molnar in 1983,67 and again by Bartok and Molnar in 1997,68 so only a brief history is related here. 

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