Propylene vinylic acetoxylation

The oxidation of 1-alkenes usually gives 2-acetoxy-l-alkenes.571,572 Oxidative acetoxylation of propylene with Pd(OAc)2 may yield allylic or vinylic acetates depending on reaction conditions573 (see Section 9.2.6). 

The in situ regeneration of Pd(II) from Pd(0) should not be counted as being an easy process, and the appropriate solvents, reaction conditions, and oxidants should be selected to carry out smooth catalytic reactions. In many cases, an efficient catalytic cycle is not easy to achieve, and stoichiometric reactions are tolerable only for the synthesis of rather expensive organic compounds in limited quantities. This is a serious limitation of synthetic applications of oxidation reactions involving Pd(II). However it should be pointed out that some Pd(II)-promoted reactions have been developed as commercial processes, in which supported Pd catalysts are used. For example, vinyl acetate, allyl acetate and 1,4-diacetoxy-2-butene are commercially produced by oxidative acetoxylation of ethylene, propylene and butadiene in gas or liquid phases using Pd supported on silica. It is likely that Pd(OAc)2 is generated on the surface of the catalyst by the oxidation of Pd with AcOH and 02, and reacts with alkenes. 

When Pd compounds (PdfOAc) ", Pd2(OAc)i , or Pd3(OAc)e) are used as starting material, even small additions of water (1-3%) to the NaOAc/AcOH solvent give rise to a great deal of acetaldehyde instead of vinyl acetate [11-13]. In contrast to this, the Pd metal catalysts (e. g., supported Pd or Pd black, prepared by H2 reduction of Pd" complexes in combination with NaOAc) provide vinyl ester from alkene and AcOH with high selectivity, regardless of the water content up to 10% [11, 14, 15]. Further differences in the selectivity of reaction (1) with Pd" and Pd° catalysts were found for the oxidative acetoxylation of higher alkenes, viz., propylene, 1-hexene, and cyclohexene [7]. All these facts apparently implied that the alkene activation came from two different origins one from Pd" and another from Pd metal or, more exactly, low-valent Pd clusters formed upon Pd" reduction with H2. 

In his pioneering contributions Moiseev has shown that giant cationic palladium clusters , e.g. Pd56iL6o(OAc)i8o (L = phenanthroline, bipyridine), characterized by use of high-resolution TEM, SAXS, EXAFS, IR and magnetic susceptibility data, catalyze, under mild conditions (293 363 K, 1 bar), the oxidative acetoxylation of ethylene into vinyl acetate, propylene into allyl acetate, and toluene into benzyl acetate. The oxidation of primary aliphatic alcohols to esters, and the conversion of aldehydes into acetals were also studied. ... 

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