Ruthenium complexes carboxylic acids

The conversion of primary alcohols and aldehydes into carboxylic acids is generally possible with all strong oxidants. Silver(II) oxide in THF/water is particularly useful as a neutral oxidant (E.J. Corey, 1968 A). The direct conversion of primary alcohols into carboxylic esters is achieved with MnOj in the presence of hydrogen cyanide and alcohols (E.J. Corey, 1968 A,D). The remarkably smooth oxidation of ethers to esters by ruthenium tetroxide has been employed quite often (D.G. Lee, 1973). Dibutyl ether affords butyl butanoate, and tetra-hydrofuran yields butyrolactone almost quantitatively. More complex educts also give acceptable yields (M.E. Wolff, 1963). 

Ruthenium complexes containing this ligand are able to reduce a variety of double bonds with e.e. above 95%. In order to achieve high enantioselectivity, the reactant must show a strong preference for a specific orientation when complexed with the catalyst. This ordinarily requires the presence of a functional group that can coordinate with the metal. The ruthenium-BINAP catalyst has been used successfully with unsaturated amides,23 allylic and homoallylic alcohols,24 and unsaturated carboxylic acids.25... 

ASYMMETRIC HYDROGENATION OF 3-OXO CARBOXYLATES USING BINAP-RUTHENIUM COMPLEXES (R)-(-)-METHYL 3-HYDROXYBUTANOATE (Butanoic acid, 3-hydroxy-, methyl ester, (R)-)... 

Metatheses of 1,7-octadienes containing various functional groups are catalysed by ruthenium carbene complexes of the type 248. For instance, the alcohol 249 (R = CH2OH), the aldehyde 249 (R = CHO) and the carboxylic acid 249 (R = CO2H) are all converted into the corresponding cyclohexenes 250 in 82-88% yields (equation 127) and the heterocycles 252 (n = 0, 1 or 2) are efficiently produced from the amides 251 (equation 128)123. 

Ruthenium catalysts have also been used in this context.200,201 In particular, the cationic ruthenium complex, CpRu(CH3CN)3PF6, in conjunction with carboxylic acid ligand 3, has been used to achieve the remarkably chemoselective allylation of a variety of alcohols via dehydrative condensation with allyl alcohol (Equation (50)).202 It is worth noting that this transformation proceeds with 0.05 mol% catalyst loading and does not require the use of excess allyl alcohol. 

The ruthenium carbene catalysts 1 developed by Grubbs are distinguished by an exceptional tolerance towards polar functional groups [3]. Although generalizations are difficult and further experimental data are necessary in order to obtain a fully comprehensive picture, some trends may be deduced from the literature reports. Thus, many examples indicate that ethers, silyl ethers, acetals, esters, amides, carbamates, sulfonamides, silanes and various heterocyclic entities do not disturb. Moreover, ketones and even aldehyde functions are compatible, in contrast to reactions catalyzed by the molybdenum alkylidene complex 24 which is known to react with these groups under certain conditions [26]. Even unprotected alcohols and free carboxylic acids seem to be tolerated by 1. It should also be emphasized that the sensitivity of 1 toward the substitution pattern of alkenes outlined above usually leaves pre-existing di-, tri- and tetrasubstituted double bonds in the substrates unaffected. A nice example that illustrates many of these features is the clean dimerization of FK-506 45 to compound 46 reported by Schreiber et al. (Scheme 12) [27]. 

BINAP itself has been shown to be effective for the reduction of a,/ -unsatu-rated carboxylic acids [8, 36, 177, 215-220], but Hg-BINAP often provides higher ee-values [193, 194]. The ruthenium complex with P-Phos provides high selectiv-... 

BINAP-ruthenium dicarboxylate complexes are also efficient catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation of enamides, a,p- and p,y-unsatu rated carboxylic acids, a-amino ketones, and a-acylaminoacrylic acids.1 2 3 4 5... 

Ruthenium complexes B are stable in the presence of alcohols, amines, or water, even at 60 °C. Olefin metathesis can be realized even in water as solvent, either using ruthenium carbene complexes with water-soluble phosphine ligands [815], or in emulsions. These complexes are also stable in air [584]. No olefination of aldehydes, ketones, or derivatives of carboxylic acids has been observed [582]. During catalysis of olefin metathesis replacement of one phosphine ligand by an olefin can occur [598,809]. 

In a related report, ruthenium-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation of 3-keto esters was utilized to prepare the crucial alcohol intermediate 36 (Scheme 14.16). The required (3-keto ester 49 was readily prepared from commercial thiophene carboxylic acid 40. Hydrogenation of 49 then led to the desired (S)-alcohol 50 in quantitative yield and 90% enantiomeric excess, catalyzed by a chiral diphosphine-ruthenium complex generated in situ. Catalyst-substrate ratios used were as low as 1/20,000, rendering this approach amenable to industrial application. Alcohol 50 was then converted to known intermediate 36 in three steps and 60% overall yield. 

Other recent reports have also indicated that mixed-metal systems, particularly those containing combinations of ruthenium and rhodium complexes, can provide effective catalysts for the production of ethylene glycol or its carboxylic acid esters (5 9). However, the systems described in this paper are the first in which it has been demonstrated that composite ruthenium-rhodium catalysts, in which rhodium comprises only a minor proportion of the total metallic component, can match, in terms of both activity and selectivity, the previously documented behavior (J ) of mono-metallic rhodium catalysts containing significantly higher concentrations of rhodium. Some details of the chemistry of these bimetallic promoted catalysts are described here. 

It has been reported ( ) that homogeneous ruthenium- or cobalt-iodide-based complexes catalyze the homologation of esters of carboxylic acid to their next higher homologues, for instance ... 

Aliphatic alcohols can be oxidized to ketones, aldehydes, or carboxylic acids using oxoruthenium(IV)complexes as redox catalyst or clectrogenerated ruthenium tetroxide In the latter case, a double mediator system is used in which an electrochemically generated active chlorine species (Cl or CP ) oxidizes RuO to RUO4 (Eq. (29)). 

The ruthenium source was typically Ru02, RuCl3, Ru(acac)3, [Ru4(H)4(CO)i2] or a binary carbonyl, again with a source of iodide present as a promoter 384,385 Mel, EtI or HI was employed. Both complex (90) and [Ru2I2(CO)6] were observed in the reaction mixtures. The reaction gave carboxylic acids of longer chain length than propionic acid. A mechanism was proposed in which the precise nature of the iodocarbonyl complexes was not specified (Scheme 21). 

---