Rhodium, aromatic hydrogenation

Rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenation of enamides has been successfully performed using monodentate phosphites 17, with enantioselectivities of up to 95% being obtained [53]. The rate of hydrogenation is low in order to reach full conversion with a SCR of 500, hydrogenation is performed at a pressure of 60 bar for 20 h. The use of ligand 17 am in the rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenation of aromatic enamides resulted in ee-values of up to 95%. 

Rhodium-Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Aromatic Enamides Using Monodentate Phosphoramidite Ligands... 

Raney nickel and platinum, palladium, and rhodium catalysts have been used to accomplish the hydrogenation of polycyclic aromatics. Hydrogenation of fused polycyclic arenes leads to the cis- or fran -substituted cyclohexane derivatives. The cis product is usually obtained again this can be understood in terms of the mechanism proposed for aromatic hydrogenation (vide supra). 

Advances continue to be made in the synthesis and use of polymer-supported homogeneous catalysts. A rhodium(i) hydrogenation catalyst, prepared as outlined in Scheme 1, is much more versatile than most homogeneous rhodium catalysts. This catalyst will not only reduce a variety of olefinic and aromatic hydrocarbons under mild conditions but also carbonyl, nitrile, and nitro-groups. The catalyst is air stable, but its lifetime appears to be less than those of other polymer-supported catalysts. 

Harada T, Ikeda S, Ng YH, Sakata T, Mori H, Torimoto T, Matsumura M (2008) Rhodium nanoparticle encapsulated in a porous carbon shell as an active heterogeneous catedyst for aromatic hydrogenation. Adv Funct Mater 18 2190-2196... 

T. Harada, S. Ikeda, Y. Hau Ng, T. Sakata, H. Mori, T. Torimoto, M. Matsumura, Rhodium nanoparticle encapsulated in a porous carbon sheU as an active heterogeneous catalyst for aromatic hydrogenation, Adv. Funct. Mater. 18 (2008) 2190-2196. 

Cost. The catalytically active component(s) in many supported catalysts are expensive metals. By using a catalyst in which the active component is but a very small fraction of the weight of the total catalyst, lower costs can be achieved. As an example, hydrogenation of an aromatic nucleus requires the use of rhenium, rhodium, or mthenium. This can be accomplished with as fittie as 0.5 wt % of the metal finely dispersed on alumina or activated carbon. Furthermore, it is almost always easier to recover the metal from a spent supported catalyst bed than to attempt to separate a finely divided metal from a liquid product stream. If recovery is efficient, the actual cost of the catalyst is the time value of the cost of the metal less processing expenses, assuming a nondeclining market value for the metal. Precious metals used in catalytic processes are often leased. 

Oxidations of pyridopyrimidines are rare, but the covalent hydrates of the parent compounds undergo oxidation with hydrogen peroxide to yield the corresponding pyridopyrimidin-4(3 T)-ones. Dehydrogenation of dihydropyrido[2,3-(i]pyrimidines by means of palladized charcoal, rhodium on alumina, or 2,3-diehloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzo-quinone (DDQ) to yield the aromatic derivatives have been reported. Thus, 7-amino-5,6-dihydro-1,3-diethylpyrido[2,3-d]-pyri-midine-2,4(lif,3f/)-dione (177) is aromatized (178) when treated with palladized charcoal in refluxing toluene for 24 hours. 

Ruthenium is excellent for hydrogenation of aliphatic carbonyl compounds (92), and it, as well as nickel, is used industrially for conversion of glucose to sorbitol (14,15,29,75,100). Nickel usually requires vigorous conditions unless large amounts of catalyst are used (11,20,27,37,60), or the catalyst is very active, such as W-6 Raney nickel (6). Copper chromite is always used at elevated temperatures and pressures and may be useful if aromatic-ring saturation is to be avoided. Rhodium has given excellent results under mild conditions when other catalysts have failed (4,5,66). It is useful in reduction of aliphatic carbonyls in molecules susceptible to hydrogenolysis. 

The above generalities apply particularly to palladium. Hydrogenation over platinum or rhodium are far less sensitive to the influence of steric crowding. Reduction of 1-t-butylnaphthalene over platinum, rhodium, and palladium resulted in values of /ci//c2 of 0.42, 0.71, and 0.024, respectively. Also, unlike mononuclear aromatics, palladium reduces substituted naphthalenes at substantially higher rates than does either platinum or rhodium. For example, the rate constants, k x 10 in mol sec" g catalyst", in acetic acid at 50 C and 1 atm, were (for 1,8-diisopropylnaphthalene) Pd (142), Pt(l8.4), and Rh(7.1)(25). 

Rhodium- and cobalt-catalyzed hydrogenation of butadiene and 1-hexene [47, 48] and the Ru-catalyzed hydrogenation of aromatic compounds [49] and acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymers [50] have also been reported to be successful in ionic liquids. 

To hydrogenate an aromatic ring, it s necessary either to use a platinum catalyst with hydrogen gas at several hundred atmospheres pressure or to use a more effective catalyst such as rhodium on carbon. Under these conditions, aromatic rings are converted into cyclohexanes. For example, o-xylene yields 1,2-dimethylcvclohexane, and 4-terf-butylphenol gives 4-terf-butyl-cyclohexanol. 

The benzylic position of an alkylbcnzene can be brominated by reaction with jV-bromosuccinimide, and the entire side chain can be degraded to a carboxyl group by oxidation with aqueous KMnCfy Although aromatic rings are less reactive than isolated alkene double bonds, they can be reduced to cyclohexanes by hydrogenation over a platinum or rhodium catalyst. In addition, aryl alkyl ketones are reduced to alkylbenzenes by hydrogenation over a platinum catalyst. 

Aldehydes, both aliphatic and aromatic, can be decarbonylated by heating with chlorotris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium or other catalysts such as palladium. The compound RhCl(Ph3P)3 is often called Wilkinson s catalyst.In an older reaction, aliphatic (but not aromatic) aldehydes are decarbonylated by heating with di-tert-peroxide or other peroxides, usually in a solution containing a hydrogen donor, such as a thiol. The reaction has also been initiated with light, and thermally (without an initiator) by heating at 500°C. 

Iridium and rhodium nanoparticles have also been studied in the hydrogenation of various aromatic compoimds. In all cases, total conversions were not observed in BMI PF6. TOFs based on mol of cyclohexane formed were 44 h for toluene hydrogenation with Ir (0) and 24 h and 5 h for p-xylene reduction with lr(0) or Rh(0) nanoparticles, respectively. The cis-1,4-dimethylcyclohexane is the major product and the cisitrans ratio depends on the nature of the metal 5 1 for lr(0) and 2 1 for Rh(0). TEM experiments show a mean diameter of 2.3 nm and 2.1 nm for rhodium and iridium particles, respectively. The same nanoparticle size distribution is observed after catalysis (Fig. 4). 

The first example of anti-Markovnikoff hydroamination of aromatic alkenes has been demonstrated with cationic rhodium complexes.170 A combination of [Rh(COD)2]+/2PPh3 in THF under reflux yields the N-H addition product as the minor species alongside that resulting from oxidative amination (Scheme 37). Hydrogenation products are also detected. 

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