Reactions carbonyl hydrocyanation

The hydrocyanation of conjugated carbonyl compounds is a related reaction.83 Very often such a conjugated addition is carried out in aqueous conditions. For example, in the pioneer work of Lapworth, hydrocyanation of activated olefins was carried out with KCN or NaCN in aqueous ethanol in the presence of acetic acid (Eq. 10.36).84... 

The asymmetric reactions discussed in this chapter may be divided into three different types of reaction, as (1) hydrometallation of olefins followed by the C—C bond formation, (2) two C C bond formations on a formally divalent carbon atom, and (3) nucleophilic addition of cyanide or isocyanide anion to a carbonyl or its analogs (Scheme 4.1). For reaction type 1, here described are hydrocarbonyla-tion represented by hydroformylation and hydrocyanation. As for type 2, Pauson-Khand reaction and olefin/CO copolymerization are mentioned. Several nucleophilic additions to aldehydes and imines (or iminiums) are described as type 3. 

When an alkali thiocyanate is warmed with moderately concentrated sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, a yellow solid separates and carbonyl sulphide gas is evolved, which burns with a pale sulphurous flame. The yellow substance contains isoperthiocyanic acid, formed, together with hydrocyanic acid, according to the reaction ... 

Nagata, W. Voshioka, M. "Hydrocyanation of Conjugated Carbonyl Compounds in Organic Reactions" Wiley New York, N.Y., 1977, 25, 255. 

The Strecker reaction is defined as the addition of HCN to the condensation product of a carbonyl and amine component to give a-amino nitriles. Lipton and coworkers reported the first highly effective catalytic asymmetric Strecker reaction, using synthetic peptide 43, a modification of Inoue s catalyst (38), which was determined to be inactive for the Strecker reactions of aldimines (see Scheme 6.5) [62], Catalyst 43 provided chiral a-amino nitrile products for a number of N-benzhydryl imines (42) derived from substituted aromatic (71-97% yield 64->99% ee) and aliphatic (80-81% yield <10-17% ee) aldehydes, presumably through a similar mode of activation to that for hydrocyanations of aldehydes (Table 6.14). Electron-deficient aromatic imines were not suitable substrates for this catalyst, giving products in low optical purities (<10-32% ee). The a-amino nitrile product of benzaldehyde was converted to the corresponding a-amino acid in high yield (92%) and ee (>99%) via a one-step acid hydrolysis. 

From what has been discussed so far in this chapter, it is clear that homogeneous catalysis has had spectacular success in imparting high enantioselectiv-ities in the making of new C-H and C-O bonds. An enantioselective method for making new C-C bonds is also potentially very useful. Hydroformylation, hydrocyanation, and carbonylation are reactions that deal with the formation of new C-C bonds. All these have been turned into enantioselective catalytic systems with varying degrees of success. Considerable success has also been... 

Two reaction paths between carbonyl compounds and nitriles catalyzed by acylium ions were calculated by the AM 1 method for two model systems according to equation 77 (E+ = HCO+, R1 = R2 = R3 = H) (a) H2C + -0-CH0 + HCN and (b) H2C = O + HC=N+CH0142. The formylated formaldehyde molecule (i.e. cation 2COCHO+) reacts with the hydrocyanic acid molecule in path a to give cation 325, which is more... 

The problem of the hydrocyanation of conjugated carbonyl compounds has been reviewed in detail by Nagata and Yoshioka [281. The reactions proceed smootltly and base or acid catalysts are sometime useful with HCN. Cyanides (KCN. NaCN. etc.) arc recommended reagents in some cases, particularly in nonaqueous Solvents (28], and even cyanohydrins (e.g., acetone cyanohydrin) have been used as cyanation reagents. 

Carbonylation Processes by Homogeneous Catalysis Hydrocyanation by Homogeneous Catalysis Mechanisms of Reaction of OrganometaUic Complexes Ohgomeriza-tion Polymerization by Homogeneous Catalysis Osmium Inorganic Coordination Chemistry. 

Voto6ek and Wichterle " investigated the reaction of JV-substituted gly-cosylamines with hydrocyanic acid, but they did not start with the isolated glycosylamine. The sugar and amine were heated in alcohol, the hydrocyanic acid was added, and the mixture was allowed to cool. The structure of the crystalline nitrile isolated was not determined. Because the hydrogen cyanide could have added to the carbonyl group of the ketose after an Amadori rearrangement had occurred, the constitution of their products is open to question. 

Finally, carbohydrate ligands of enantioselective catalysts have been described for a limited number of reactions. Bis-phosphites of carbohydrates have been reported as ligands of efficient catalysts in enantioselective hydrogenations [182] and hydrocyanations [183], and a bifunctional dihydroglucal-based catalyst was recently found to effect asymmetric cyanosilylations of ketones [184]. Carbohydrate-derived titanocenes have been used in the enantioselective catalysis of reactions of diethyl zinc with carbonyl compounds [113]. Oxazolinones of amino sugars have been shown to be efficient catalysts in enantioselective palladium(0)-catalyzed allylation reactions of C-nucleophiles [185]. 

Many other addition reactions of olefins, dienes, and acetylenes are known, which are catalyzed by metal carbonyls including Ni(CO)4, Fe(CO)5, and Co2(CO)8 and by carbonyl derivatives such as hydrocarbonyls or phosphine-substituted carbonyls. Among these are the hydro-carboxylation, hydroesterification, and hydrocyanation of olefins the synthesis of hydroquiniones from acetylenes, carbon monoxide, and water ... 

In homogeneous catalysis often a reaction takes place between a gaseous reactant and a liquid reactant in the presence of a catalyst that is dissolved in the liquid phase. Examples are carbonylations, hydroformylations, hydrogenations, hydrocyanation, oxidations, and polymerizations. Typically, reactants such as oxygen, hydrogen, and/or carbon monoxide have to be transferred from the gas phase to the liquid phase, where reaction occurs. The choice of reactor mainly depends on the relative flow rates of gas and liquid, and on the rate of the reaction in comparison to the mass and heat transfer characteristics (see Fig. 8.2). 

The non-equivalence of enantiomers through the spontaneous breaking of mirror-symmetry in nature is amplified by asymmetric autocatalytic reaction [34], e.g. Frank s spontaneous asymmetric synthesis [35, 36] (Fig. 7-8). Alberts and Wyn-berg have reported in enantioselective autoinduction that chiral lithium alkoxide products may be involved in the reaction to increase the enantioselectivity (Eq. (7.9)) [37]. The product % ee however does not exceed the level of catalyst % ee. In asymmetric hydrocyanation catalyzed by cyclic dipeptides, the (Si-cyanohydrin product complexes with the cyclic peptide to increase the enantioselectivity in the (S)-cyanohydrin product, the reaction going up to 95.8% ee (Eq. (7.10)) [38]. In the presence of achiral amine, (/ )-l-phenylpropan-l-ol catalyzed carbonyl-addition reaction of diethylzinc has been reported to show lower % ee than that of the catalyst employed [39]. 

Use of nickel carbonyl to add 1 mol of HCN to 1,3-butadiene may be the first example of hydrocyanation by a homogeneous nickel catalyst. That work also recorded the important observation that substantial improvement in nitrile product yield results from conducting the reaction in the presence of ( 115)3 or (C H5)3As. This work led to extensive studies to develop effective nickel hydrocyanation catdysts. Virtually all subsequent developments have focused on finding the most effective nickel complex and the identification and application of promoters to improve catalyst efficiency and life. ... 

Hydrocyanation is the formal addition of hydrogen cyanide to alkenes. alkynes, and dienes to yield nitriles. These reactions can be catalyzed by various copper, cobalt, nickel and palladium catalysts modified with phosphanes and phosphites and/or Lewis acids. Hydrocyanation of carbonyl groups in aldehydes and ketones is covered in Section D.l.3.7. 

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