Ruthenium complexes, oxidized reaction products

An important application of oxidation of a C-H bond adjacent to a nitrogen atom is the selective oxidation of amides. This reaction proceeds in the presence of ferf-BuOOH as the oxidant and Ru(II) salts. Thus in the example of Eq. (36), the a-tert-butylperoxy amide of the isoquinoline was obtained, which is an important synthetic intermediate for natural products [138]. This product can be conveniently reacted with a nucleophile in the presence of a Lewis add. Direct trapping of the iminium ion complex by a nudeophile was achieved in the presence of trimethylsilyl cyanide, giving a-cyanated amines as shown in Eq. (37) [45]. This ruthenium/peracid oxidation reaction provides an alternative to the Strecker reaction for the synthesis of a-amino acid derivatives since they involve the same a-cyano amine intermediates. In this way N-methyl-N-(p-methoxyphenyl) glycine could be prepared from N,N-dimethyl-p-methoxyaniline in 82% yield. 

Introduction of mesityl groups at the porphyrin ring can prevent the formation of the dimeric products and the reaction with dioxygen now leads to ruthenium(VI)-dioxo complexes of TMP (tetramesitylporphyrin) [35], The tram-Ru(VI)02-TM P species can catalyse the epoxidation of alkenes as well as whole range of other oxidation reactions. After transfer of one oxygen atom to an organic substrate Ru(IV)0-TMP is formed, which disproportionates to an equilibrium of Ru02 and llu ). 

The enantioselective oxidative coupling of 2-naphthol itself was achieved by the aerobic oxidative reaction catalyzed by the photoactivated chiral ruthenium(II)-salen complex 73. 2 it reported that the (/ ,/ )-chloronitrosyl(salen)ruthenium complex [(/ ,/ )-(NO)Ru(II)salen complex] effectively catalyzed the aerobic oxidation of racemic secondary alcohols in a kinetic resolution manner under visible-light irradiation. The reaction mechanism is not fully understood although the electron transfer process should be involved. The solution of 2-naphthol was stirred in air under irradiation by a halogen lamp at 25°C for 24 h to afford BINOL 66 as the sole product. The screening of various chiral diamines and binaphthyl chirality revealed that the binaphthyl unit influences the enantioselection in this coupling reaction. The combination of (/f,f )-cyclohexanediamine and the (R)-binaphthyl unit was found to construct the most matched hgand to obtain the optically active BINOL 66 in 65% ee. 

Increase in the ruthenium concentration increases the stoichiometric factor, n in Eq. (2), from about 6 up to about 20, and in these more concentrated solutions rates of ruthenium(III) reduction are no longer first order in ruthenium(III). Under these conditions reaction products depend on the hydroxide concentration and include hydroxy-aromatic ligands [cf. Eq. (3)], carbonate, and trace amounts of dioxygen. Ruthenium complexes of ligands in which one pyridine ring had been completely oxidized were also characterized (2). This accounts for the carbonate, and the minor dioxygen yields could originate from complexes oxidized to ruthenium(IV) (8). Unlike the iron(III) system, neither free 2,2 -bipyridine nor the N-oxide was detected. 

Ruthenium compounds are widely used as catalysts for hydrogen-transfer reactions. These systems can be readily adapted to the aerobic oxidation of alcohols by employing dioxygen, in combination with a hydrogen acceptor as a cocatalyst, in a multistep process. For example, Backvall and coworkers [85] used low-valent ruthenium complexes in combination with a benzoquinone and a cobalt Schiff s base complex. The proposed mechanism is shown in Fig. 14. A low-valent ruthenium complex reacts with the alcohol to afford the aldehyde or ketone product and a ruthenium dihydride. The latter undergoes hydrogen transfer to the benzoquinone to give hydroquinone with concomitant... 

Even with immobilized catalysts being developed, removal of ruthenium by-products remains an important challenge. Georg and coworkers found that addition of 50 equiv (relative to ruthenium) of dimethyl sulfoxide or triphenylphosphine oxide brought ruthenium levels in reaction mixtures down from 50 to l-2qgmg-. The ruthenium levels in purified products are similar to those reported by Grubbs, where the metal was removed as trishydroxymethylphosphine complexes, " and those from the Pb(OAc)4 oxidation of ruthenium reported by Paquette. 

Hence, the first clearcut evidence for the involvement of enol radical cations in ketone oxidation reactions was provided by Henry [109] and Littler [110,112]. From kinetic results and product studies it was concluded that in the oxidation of cyclohexanone using the outer-sphere one-electron oxidants, tris-substituted 2,2 -bipyridyl or 1,10-phenanthroline complexes of iron(III) and ruthenium(III) or sodium hexachloroiridate(IV) (IrCI), the cyclohexenol radical cation (65" ) is formed, which rapidly deprotonates to the a-carbonyl radical 66. An upper limit for the deuterium isotope effect in the oxidation step (k /kjy < 2) suggests that electron transfer from the enol to the metal complex occurs prior to the loss of the proton [109]. In the reaction with the ruthenium(III) salt, four main products were formed 2-hydroxycyclohexanone (67), cyclohexenone, cyclopen tanecarboxylic acid and 1,2-cyclohexanedione, whereas oxidation with IrCl afforded 2-chlorocyclohexanone in almost quantitative yield. Similarly, enol radical cations can be invoked in the oxidation reactions of aliphatic ketones with the substitution inert dodecatungstocobaltate(III), CoW,20 o complex [169]. Unfortunately, these results have never been linked to the general concept of inversion of stability order of enol/ketone systems (Sect. 2) and thus have never received wide attention. 

In terms of practicality, molecular oxygen is a very attractive terminal oxidant. In this arena, a novel 7V-2 -chlorophenyl-2-pyridinecarboxamide ruthenium complex 29 has been reported to catalyze the efficient epoxidation of cyclic alkenes in the presence of 1 atm of oxygen and isobutyraldehyde, which is believed to coordinate to the catalyst and prevent the formation of unwanted allylic oxidation products. Using this system, cyclooctene 30 is converted to the corresponding epoxide in excellent yield in 9 h at ambient temperature. Interestingly, the reaction is shut down by the addition of 2,6-di-/er/-butyl-4-methylphenol, so that a i ical mechanistic pathway has been postulated <03CC1058>. 

Rhodium and ruthenium complexes of CHIRAPHOS are also useful for the asymmetric hydrogenation of p-keto esters. Dynamic kinetic resolution of racemic 2-acylamino-3-oxobutyrates was performed by hydrogenation using ((5,5)-CHIRAPHOS)RuBr2 (eq 3). The product yields and enantiomeric excesses were dependent upon solvent, ligand, and the ratio of substrate to catalyst. Under optimum conditions a 97 3 mixture of syn and anti p-hydroxy esters was formed, which was converted to o-threonine (85% ee) and D-allothreonine (99% ee) by hydrolysis and reaction with propylene oxide. 

The intermolecular coupling of allenes 123 and enones 124 selectively afforded dienones 125 in 53-81% yields (Scheme 4.45) [93]. As a catalyst precursor, [CpRuCl(cod)] was employed with CeCl3 7H20 and an alkynol 126 as activators. The proposed reaction mechanism involves the regioselective oxidative cyclization of the two components on a cationic ruthenium center, leading to the ruthenacyclopentane intermediate 127. When allenyl alcohols 128 were employed under otherwise identical conditions, the final products were cyclic ethers 129 (Scheme 4.46) [94]. As a catalyst precursor, the cationic ruthenium complex 68 can be used in the absence of the alkynol 126. The ether ring was considered to be formed directly via the ruthenacyclopentane 130 or alternatively through its Jt-allyl form 131. 

A high-valent ruthenium complex is also reported to cleave the sp C-H bond. RuCl3 -3H20 catalyzes the transformation of cyclic alkanes to the corresponding ketones in the presence of peracetic acid, where oxoruthenium species is considered to act as the active species. Alcohol, as a primary product in this oxidation reaction, is obtained as an intermediate in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid (Scheme 14.11) [25]. 

Oxidative addition to ruthenium and osmium four-coordinate complexes occurs readily. These complexes are excellent starting materials for group VIII complexes. Addition of formaldehyde to complexes M(CO)L(PPh3)2 (L = CO or PPhs selection of L is metal dependent) leads to oxidative addition products, a reaction of relevance to Fischer-Tropsch processes. The ruthenium complex is proposed as an intermediate only the osmium complex has been isolated ... 

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