Palladium-catalyst oxidants copper® bromide

The metal-catalysed autoxidation of alkenes to produce ketones (Wacker reaction) is promoted by the presence of quaternary ammonium salts [14]. For example, using copper(II) chloride and palladium(II) chloride in benzene in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, 1-decene is converted into 2-decanone (73%), 1,7-octadiene into 2,7-octadione (77%) and vinylcyclohexane into cyclo-hexylethanone (22%). Benzyltriethylammonium chloride and tetra-n-butylammo-nium hydrogen sulphate are ineffective catalysts. It has been suggested that the process is not micellar, although the catalysts have the characteristics of those which produce micelles. The Wacker reaction is also catalysed by rhodium and ruthenium salts in the presence of a quaternary ammonium salt. Generally, however, the yields are lower than those obtained using the palladium catalyst and, frequently, several oxidation products are obtained from each reaction [15]. 

The applicability of the decarboxylative biaryl synthesis was rapidly extended to a broad range of aryl electrophiles with the help of new catalyst generations, including not only aryl iodides, bromides, and triflates but also the inexpensive but unreactive aryl chlorides and tosylates [46, 47]. Its preparative utility was demonstrated, e.g., in the synthesis of telmisartan and valsartan [48, 49]. The key factor in these advances was the identification of ligands that strongly activate the palladium catalysts toward oxidative addition steps while not interfering with the decarboxylation activity of the copper cocatalysts (Scheme 14). 

Allenyl alcohols 10 react with lithium bromide in the presence of a palladium(II) catalyst to afford tetrahydrofurans and tetrahydropyrans 11 in good yield (Scheme 17.6) [7]. The mechanism of the reaction is similar to that discussed in Sect 17.2.1. i.e. it proceeds via a 2-bromo(jt-allyl)palladium(II) complex. In this case, however, the second nucleophile is not bromide ion but the alcohol moiety. As stoichiometric oxidant p-benzoquinonc (BQ) or copper(II) together with oxygen can be used. 

Because oxidations with oxygen are free-radical reactions, free radicals should be good initiators. Indeed, in the presence of hydrogen bromide at high enough temperatures, lower molecular weight alkanes are oxidized to alcohols, ketones, or acids [5 7]. Much more practical are oxidations catalyzed by transition metals, such as platinum [5, 6, 55, 56], or, more often, metal oxides and salts, especially salts soluble in organic solvents (acetates, acetylacetonates, etc.). The favored catalysts are vanadium pent-oxide [3] and chlorides or acetates of copper [2, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66], iron [67], cobalt [68, 69], palladium [60, 70], rhodium [10], iridium [10], and platinum [5, 6, 56, 57]. 

While such a process had initially been observed as an undesired side-reaction in transformations where copper salts were employed as re-oxidants [13], Chemler demonstrated that various aminohalogenation reactions proceed in THF or acetonitrile in the presence of potassium carbonate as base [14]. These reactions employ palladium trifluoroacetate or palladium dibromide as catalyst source and require a moderate excess of the copper oxidant (3-4 equiv) giving moderate to excellent yields. However, they usually suffer from rather low selectivity, either in the initial aminopalladation or via subsequent rearrangement pathways to provide mixtures of pyrrolidines and piperazines (Scheme 4.2, Eq. (4.3)). A stoichiometric control reaction in the presence of palladium bromide led only to the Wacker cydization together with an alkene isomerization product, suggesting that the presence of copper(II) salts is crucial for the overall process. The exact role of the copper(II) salts has not yet been darified and palladium intermediates of different oxidation states may be involved in the final stage of carbon-halogen bond formation. 

In contrast to the alkynylation of acidic C-H bonds which can also be achieved using alkynyliodonium salts, the direct C-H functionalization of aromatic compounds or olefins has never been realized with this class of reagents so far. However, after several unsuccessful attempts using palladium or copper catalysts and alkynyliodonium salts for the alkynylation of heterocycles, Waser and Brand reported in 2009 the first efficient alkynylation of indoles using TIPS-EBX 52 and AuCl as catalyst (Scheme 18) [117]. With indole, selective C3-aIkynylation was obtained. The reaction was tolerant to many functional groups such as bromides, acids, or alcohols. The method was already used in the synthesis of starting materials for Friedel-Crafts reactions of aminocyclopropanes [118] and for hydroamidation to access indole c -enamides [119]. In 2010, Nevado and de Haro demonstrated that alkynylation was also possible using directly terminal propiolic ester derivatives and (diacetoxyiodo)benzene as co-oxidant [120]. 

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