Precatalyst

The Sharpless-Katsuki asymmetric epoxidation reaction (most commonly referred by the discovering scientists as the AE reaction) is an efficient and highly selective method for the preparation of a wide variety of chiral epoxy alcohols. The AE reaction is comprised of four key components the substrate allylic alcohol, the titanium isopropoxide precatalyst, the chiral ligand diethyl tartrate, and the terminal oxidant tert-butyl hydroperoxide. The reaction protocol is straightforward and does not require any special handling techniques. The only requirement is that the reacting olefin contains an allylic alcohol. 

A number of reaction variables or parameters have been examined. Catalyst solutions should not be prepared and stored since the resting catalyst is not stable to long term storage. However, the catalyst solution must be aged prior to the addition of allylic alcohol or TBHP. Diethyl tartrate and diisopropyl tartrate are the ligands of choice for most allylic alcohols. TBHP and cumene hydroperoxide are the most commonly used terminal oxidant and are both extremely effective. Methylene chloride is the solvent of choice and Ti(i-OPr)4 is the titanium precatalyst of choice. Titanium (IV) t-butoxide is recommended for those reactions in which the product epoxide is particularly sensitive to ring opening from alkoxide nucleophiles. ... 

Detailed investigations indicated an interesting mechanism for azide openings catalyzed by 2 [6]. Chloride-epoxide addition products were observed in the initial stages of the ARO reaction with 2 in amounts commensurate with the catalyst loading. Azide complex 3, characterized as the TH F adduct, was isolated from the reaction mixture and proved to be an active and recyclable catalyst for the ARO, pointing to the role of 2 as that of a precatalyst. Kinetic experiments revealed a second-order dependence on the concentration of 3, a zero-order dependence on azide source, and inverse-order dependence on epoxide concentration. The sue-... 

Subsequent to the development of the (salen)Cr-catalyzed desymmetrization of meso-epoxides with azide (Scheme 7.3), Jacobsen discovered that the analogous (salen)Co(n) complex 6 promoted the enantioselective addition of benzoic acids to meso-epoxides to afford valuable monoprotected C2-symmetric diols (Scheme 7.15) [26], Under the reaction conditions, complex 6 served as a precatalyst for the (salen) Co(iii)-OBz complex, which was fonned in situ by aerobic oxidation. While the enantioselectivity was moderate for certain substrates, the high crystallinity of the products allowed access to enantiopure materials by simple recrystallization. 

Ruthenium Precatalysts with N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands.238... 

Phosphine-Free Ruthenium Precatalysts with One NHC Ligand. 245... 

Abstract For many years after its discovery, olefin metathesis was hardly used as a synthetic tool. This situation changed when well-defined and stable carbene complexes of molybdenum and ruthenium were discovered as efficient precatalysts in the early 1990s. In particular, the high activity and selectivity in ring-closure reactions stimulated further research in this area and led to numerous applications in organic synthesis. Today, olefin metathesis is one of the... 

Although olefin metathesis had soon after its discovery attracted considerable interest in industrial chemistry, polymer chemistry and, due to the fact that transition metal carbene species are involved, organometallic chemistry, the reaction was hardly used in organic synthesis for many years. This situation changed when the first structurally defined and stable carbene complexes with high activity in olefin metathesis reactions were described in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A selection of precatalysts discovered in this period and representative applications are summarized in Table 1. 

Table 1 Examples of defined metathesis precatalysts and selected applications...

We will focus on the development of ruthenium-based metathesis precatalysts with enhanced activity and applications to the metathesis of alkenes with nonstandard electronic properties. In the class of molybdenum complexes [7a,g,h] recent research was mainly directed to the development of homochi-ral precatalysts for enantioselective olefin metathesis. This aspect has recently been covered by Schrock and Hoveyda in a short review and will not be discussed here [8h]. In addition, several important special topics have recently been addressed by excellent reviews, e.g., the synthesis of medium-sized rings by RCM [8a], applications of olefin metathesis to carbohydrate chemistry [8b], cross metathesis [8c,d],enyne metathesis [8e,f], ring-rearrangement metathesis [8g], enantioselective metathesis [8h], and applications of metathesis in polymer chemistry (ADMET,ROMP) [8i,j]. Application of olefin metathesis to the total synthesis of complex natural products is covered in the contribution by Mulzer et al. in this volume. 

Complex 25 was also used in an efficient one-pot synthesis of ruthenium-based precatalysts developed by Werner et al. [17a,b] it is generated in situ from RuCl3, H2, PCy3, magnesium, and 1,2-dichlorethane. Upon reaction of 25 with... 

More recently, Grubbs et al. obtained a refined mechanistic picture of the initiating step by conducting a 31P NMR spectroscopic study of the phosphine exchange in precatalysts 12-A. These investigations revealed that substitution of the phosphine proceeds via a dissociative-associative mechanism, i.e., a 14-electron species 12-B is involved that coordinates the alkene to give a 16-electron species 12-C (Scheme 12) [26a]. Increased initiation rates are observed if the substituents R and the phosphine ligands PR3 in precatalysts... 

The mechanistic investigations presented in this section have stimulated research directed to the development of advanced ruthenium precatalysts for olefin metathesis. It was pointed out by Grubbs et al. that the utility of a catalyst is determined by the ratio of catalysis to the rate of decomposition [31]. The decomposition of ruthenium methylidene complexes, which attribute to approximately 95% of the turnover, proceeds monomolecularly, which explains the commonly observed problem that slowly reacting substrates require high catalyst loadings [31]. This problem has been addressed by the development of a novel class of ruthenium precatalysts, the so-called second-generation catalysts. 

Ruthenium Precatalysts with JV-Heterocydic Carbene Ligands... 

The E/Z selectivity problem is restricted to cross metathesis and RCM leading to macrocycles (macro-RCM). Both aspects have recently been covered in reviews by Blechert et al. [8d] and by Prunet [44]. E/Z selectivity can be influenced by reaction temperature, solvent or substitution pattern of the substrate. Here, we will only discuss the influence of the precatalyst. 

The search for even more active and recyclable ruthenium-based metathesis catalysts has recently led to the development of phosphine-free complexes by combining the concept of ligation with N-heterocyclic carbenes and benzyli-denes bearing a coordinating isopropoxy ligand. The latter was exemplified for Hoveyda s monophosphine complex 13 in Scheme 5 [12]. Pioneering studies in this field have been conducted by the groups of Hoveyda [49a] and Blechert [49b], who described the phosphine-free precatalyst 71a. Compound 71a is prepared either from 56d [49a] or from 13 [49b], as illustrated in Scheme 16. 

A first evaluation of complex 71a by Blechert et al. revealed that its catalytic activity differs significantly from that of the monophosphine complex 56d [49b]. In particular, 71a appears to have a much stronger tendency to promote cross metathesis rather than RCM. Follow-up studies by the same group demonstrate that 71a allows the cross metathesis of electron-deficient alkenes with excellent yields and chemoselectivities [50]. For instance, alkene 72 undergoes selective cross metathesis with 3,3,3-trifluoropropene to give 73 in excellent yield and selectivity. Precatalyst 56d, under identical conditions, furnishes a mixture of 73 and the homodimer of 72 (Scheme 17) [50a]. While 56d was found to be active in the cross metathesis involving acrylates, it failed with acrylonitrile [51]. With 71a, this problem can be overcome, as illustrated for the conversion of 72—>74 (Scheme 17) [50b]. 

The following order of initiation rate constants was found by Grubbs et al. for 71a and some precatalysts containing one phosphine ligand 56d< 56k 71a<56h (cf. Scheme 15 for structures of 56d,h,k) [48b, 55]. Thus, 71a shows a rate of initiation comparable to that of 56k but three orders of magnitude higher than that of 56d. Nevertheless, 56d appears to be more reactive in RCM reactions than 71a [56]. Wakamatsu and Blechert were the first to report that the activity of precatalysts related to 71a can be dramatically enhanced by modification of the benzylidene unit [56]. For example, RCM of 75 using 1 mol% of BINOL-derived complex 71b yields the azacyclic product 76 in quantitative yield within 20 min (Eq. 10), whereas with 56d only 4% of 76 was obtained under these conditions [56]. 

Other precatalysts that are structurally related to 71a have recently been described. Structures and references are given in Table 5. Complex 71c is obviously even more reactive than 71b. The variation in these complexes compared to the parent compound 71a appears to be mainly steric. In contrast, complexes 71d and 71e differ significantly in the electronic properties of the aromatic system. 

An alternative approach to phosphine-free ruthenium precatalysts is based on pyridine complex 70 [48], which has been established by Grubbs et al. as a valuable precursor for other mixed NHC-phosphine complexes (cf. Scheme 15). Complex 70 is only moderately active in the cross metathesis of allylbenzene... 

The cross metathesis of acrylic amides [71] and the self metathesis of two-electron-deficient alkenes [72] is possible using the precatalyst 56d. The performance of the three second-generation catalysts 56c,d (Table 3) and 71a (Scheme 16) in a domino RCM/CM of enynes and acrylates was recently compared by Grimaud et al. [73]. Enyne metathesis of 81 in the presence of methyl acrylate gives the desired product 82 only with phosphine-free 71a as a pre-... 

Similarly, Kappe and Walla showed that (2-pyridinyl)zinc chloride can be quickly cross-coupled with electron-deficient aryl chlorides using Pd2(dba)3/ t-Bu3P.HBp4 as a precatalyst in THF at 175 °C for 10 min (Scheme 2) [21]. hi a reverse approach, 4-chloropyridine rapidly reacted with (4-methoxyphenyl) zinc chloride (Scheme 2). 

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