Polymer Diels-Alder catalysts

Aqueous ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) was first described in 1989 (90) and it has been appHed to maleic anhydride (91). Furan [110-00-9] reacts in a Diels-Alder reaction with maleic anhydride to give exo-7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-ene-2,3—dicarboxylate anhydride [6118-51 -0] (24). The condensed product is treated with a soluble mthenium(Ill) [7440-18-8] catalyst in water to give upon acidification the polymer (25). Several apphcations for this new copolymer have been suggested (91). 

The monomer, norbomene (or bicyclo[2.2.l]hept-2-ene), is produced by the Diels-Alder addition of ethylene to cyclopentadiene. The monomer is polymerised by a ring-opening mechanism to give a linear polymer with a repeat unit containing both an in-chain five-membered ring and a double bond. Both cis-and trans- structures are obtainable according to the choice of catalyst used ... 

The polymer-supported chiral oxazaborolidinone catalyst 5 prepared from valine was found by Ituno and coworkers to be a practical catalyst of the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction [7] (Scheme 1.12). Of the several cross-linked polymers with a... 

Supported Lewis acids are an interesting class of catalysts because of their operational simplicity, filterability and reusability. The polymer-bound iron Lewis-acid 53 (Figure 3.8) has been found [52] to be active in the cycloadditions of a, S-unsaturated aldehydes with several dienes. It has been prepared from (ri -vinylcyclopentadienyl)dicarbonylmethyliron which was copolymerized with divinylbenzene and then treated with trimethylsilyltriflate followed by THF. Some results of the Diels-Alder reactions of acrolein and crotonaldehyde with isoprene (2) and 2,3-dimethylbutadiene (4) are summarized in Equation 3.13. 

Figure 39 The enantioselective polymer-supported catalysts (61) of chiral oxazaborolidinone with cross-linking structures for use in the Diels-Alder reaction of methacrolein with cyclopentadiene. (Adapted from ref. 85.)...

A more versatile method to use organic polymers in enantioselective catalysis is to employ these as catalytic supports for chiral ligands. This approach has been primarily applied in reactions as asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral alkenes, asymmetric reduction of ketone and 1,2-additions to carbonyl groups. Later work has included additional studies dealing with Lewis acid-catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions, asymmetric epoxidation, and asymmetric dihydroxylation reactions. Enantioselective catalysis using polymer-supported catalysts is covered rather recently in a review by Bergbreiter [257],... 

Itoh and coworkers111 carried out tandem [2 + 2 + 2]/[4 + 2] cycloadditions catalyzed by a ruthenium catalyst. The reaction of diyne 147 with excess norbomene 148 in the presence of ruthenium catalyst 153, for example, afforded 149. Adduct 150 either dissociated from the catalyst or reacted with another equivalent of norbornene. In the latter case, a ruthenium catalyzed Diels-Alder reaction occurred, affording hexacyclic adduct 152 via 151 (equation 43). Compounds 150 and 152 were obtained in yields of 78% and 10%, respectively. Both cycloaddition reactions proceeded with complete stereoselectivity. When 1,6-heptadiyne was used instead of 147, only trace amounts of a cycloadduct were obtained. Replacing norbornene by norbornadiene, which was expected to result in polymer formation, did not afford any adduct at all. 

Asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions have also been achieved in the presence of poly(ethylene glycol)-supported chiral imidazohdin-4-one [113] and copper-loaded silica-grafted bis(oxazolines) [114]. Polymer-bound, camphor-based polysiloxane-fixed metal 1,3-diketonates (chirasil-metals) (37) have proven to catalyze the hetero Diels-Alder reaction of benzaldehyde and Danishefsky s diene. Best catalysts were obtained when oxovanadium(lV) and europium(III) where employed as coordinating metals. Despite excellent chemical yields the resulting pyran-4-ones were reported to be formed with only moderate stereoselectivity (Scheme 4.22). The polymeric catalysts are soluble in hexane and could be precipitated by addition of methanol. Interestingly, the polymeric oxovanadium(III)-catalysts invoke opposite enantioselectivities compared with their monomeric counterparts [115]. 

Generally, at least in theory, an important aspect of cation-radical polymerization, from a commercial viewpoint, is that either catalysts or monomer cation-radicals can be generated electrochem-ically. Such an approach deserves a special treatment. The scope of cation-radical polymerization appears to be very substantial. A variety of cation-radical pericyclic reaction types can potentially be applied, including cyclobutanation, Diels-Alder addition, and cyclopropanation. The monomers that are most effectively employed in the cation-radical context are diverse and distinct from those that are used in standard polymerization methods (i.e., vinyl monomers). Consequently, the obtained polymers are structurally distinct from those available by conventional methods although the molecular masses observed so far are still modest. Further development in this area would be promising. 

A -sulfinylacetamide 297 in greater than 90% yield when a catalytic amount of methyltrioxorhenium is employed. Futhermore, the hetero-Diels-Alder adduct is highly soluble in both chlorinated and ethereal solvents. A detailed investigation of the retro-Diels-Alder reaction of 298 by thermogravimetric analysis revealed an onset temperature of 120 °C and complete conversion of bicycle 298 to pentacene 296 at 160 °C, which are temperatures compatible with the polymer supports typically used in electronics applications. The electronic properties of these newly prepared OTFTs are similar to those prepared by traditional methods. Later improvements to this chemistry included the use of A -sulfinyl-/< r/-butylcarbamate 299 as the dienophile <2004JA12740>. The retro-Diels-Alder reaction of substrate 300 proceeds at much lower temperatures (130 °C, 5 min with FlTcatalyst 150 °C, Ih with no catalyst). 

Various a,a,a, a -tetraaryl-l,3-dioxolane-4,5-dimethanols have been prepared from (R,R)-tartrate, which are called TADDOLs by Seebach et al. They studied the influence of the Ti catalyst preparation methods, the presence of molecular sieves, and the TADDOL structure in the enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction of acryloyl oxazolidinones [41] (Eq. 8A.22). Seebach also prepared polymer- and dendrimer-bound Ti-TADDOLates and used in catalytic asymmetric cycloadditions [42],... 

Diels-Alder Polymerization Diels-Alder type polymerization of a bisdienophile monomer (30) and bisdiene monomers (31, 32a,b) by using chiral Lewis acidic catalysts (33-35) affords optically active polymers [68]. For instance, the polymerization of 30 in CH2C12 with 32b by using 33 as a catalyst at -30°C gives a polymer with structure 36 showing molecular rotation of [ ]D +243°. When CHC13 or tetrahydrofuran is used as solvent, the polymers with only low optical activity are produced. 

C. MacMillan, /. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 4243-4244. For the synthesis of polymer-bound derivatives of the MacMillan catalyst and applications in Diels-Alder reactions, see M. Benaglia, G. Celentano,... 

Some other natural compounds have been transformed for their use in the synthesis of polymers via olefin metathesis processes. As mentioned in the introduction, furans, which are obtained from carbohydrates, are perfect precursors of monomers for ROMP via simple Diels-Alder cycloadditions (n) (Scheme 25) [26]. In this regard, the first example of the ROMP of 7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-ene derivatives was reported by Novak and Grubbs in 1988 using ruthenium- and osmium-based catalysts [186]. The number of examples of ROMP with monomers with this generic structure is vast, and it is out of the scope of this chapter to cover all of them. However, it is worth mentioning here the great potential of a renewable platform chemical like furan (and derived compounds), which gives access to such a variety of monomers. 

Lead tetraalkyl derivatives are used in catalytic systems to polymerise olefines, as catalysts of re-etherification and polycondensation, to speed up the alkylation of lateral chains of alkylbenzenes with ethylene and its derivatives. An addition of lead tetraalkyl derivatives (0.05-2% of alkylben-zene quantity) to catalysts of the liquid-phase oxidation of alkylbenzenes speeds up the oxidation. Tetraethyllead proved to be a good initiator for Diels-Alder reactions to join polymers with alkenylsiloxy chains and can be used as an additive to reduce the attrition and wear of rubbing metal parts. Tetrabutyllead is an active cross-linking agent for polyethylene and modifying agent for plastics. 

The metathesis polymerisation of dicyclopentadiene, an inexpensive monomer (commercially available cyclopentadiene dimer produced by a Diels-Alder addition reaction containing ca 95 % endo and ca 5 % exo form), leads to a polymer that may be transformed into a technically useful elastomer [144-146, 179] and thermosetting resin [180,181]. The polymerisation has characteristics that make it readily adaptable to the reaction injection moulding ( rim ) process [182], The main feature of this process comes from the fact that the polymerisation is carried out directly in the mould of the desired final product. The active metathesis catalyst is formed when two separate reactants, a precatalyst (tungsten-based) component and an activator (aluminium-based) component, are combined. Monomer streams containing one respective component are mixed directly just before entering the mould, and the polymerisation into a partly crosslinked material takes place directly in this mould (Figure 6.5) [147,168,183-186],... 

It has been observed that enantioselective polymer-bound catalysts prepared by copolymerization produce in some cases better asymmetric inductions than systems prepared by grafting [175]. After much optimization, a monolithic polymer catalyst 51 suitable for a titanium-TADDOLate catalyzed Diels-Alder reaction was developed (Scheme 4.77). The monolith was applied in a flow system both under one pass and 24 h recirculation conditions, the latter producing the best yield (55%) and ee (23%) however, this contrasts poorly with the homogeneous batch reaction although the ee is comparable with the heterogeneous batch process. The reversal of topicity was also... 

If the template was a transition state analogue for a particular enzyme reaction then the resulting polymer should contain myriads of sites capable to catalysing that reaction. So far this method has been used successfully to prepare catalysts for hydrolysis reactions [57] and Diels-Alder cyclizations [58] but it could equally easily be applied to mimic more traditional enzymes. 

Another important research direction is the mimieking of enzymes and the construction of selective catalysts. For these purposes, the polymer is imprinted with the desired reaetion-product or better, a molecule which resembles the transition state of the reaction adducts. If the educts bind specifically to the recognition site, they become confined into these micro-reactors and are supposed to react faster and more defined than outside the cavities [445]. Examples for reactions in the presence of such synthetic enzymes can be found in [452,453,454,455,456,457] (cf Figure 40c). First positive results have been reported, e.g. an synthetic esterase , increasing the rate of alkaline hydrolysis of substituted phenyl-(2-(4-carboxy-phenyl)-acetic esters for 80 times [488] and Diels-Alder catalysis fiuic-tional holes containing titanium lewis-acids [489]... 

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