Ruthenium rings

Aromatic rings are hydrogenated with a variety of catalysts. However, aromatic alkoxy and hydroxyl substituents are susceptible to hydrogenolysis under most conditions used to saturate the ring. Hydrogenolysis does not occur to any appreciable extent with ruthenium catalysts even though high temperatures and pressures are required. Thus, substituted phenols are... 

The hydrogenation of ring A aromatic steroids over ruthenium occurs, almost invariably, from the a side and all substituents on the original aromatic ring are cis in the resulting cyclohexane. Estrone (62) is hydrogenated over ruthenium to 5a,10a-estrane-3/3,17j6-diol (63) in 85-90% yield. 

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. 

Rhodium (2J) and ruthenium are excellent catalysts for the reduction of aromatic rings. It is with these catalysts that the best chance resides for preservation of other reducible functions (2,10,13,18,41,42,52). Rhodium (41) and ruthenium (45) each reduced methylphenylcarbinol to methylcyclohexyl-carbinol in high yield. Palladium, on the other hand, gives ethylbenzene quantitatively. Water has a powerful promoting effect, which is unique in ruthenium catalysis (36). 

Both amine oxides related to pyridines and aliphatic amine oxides (/25) are easily reduced, the former the more so. Pyridine N-oxide has been reduced over palladium, platinum, rhodium, and ruthenium. The most active was rhodium, but it was nonselective, reducing the ring as well. Palladium is usually the preferred catalyst for this type of reduction and is used by most workers 16,23,84 158) platinum is also effective 100,166,169). Katritzky and Monrol - ) examined carefully the selectivity of reduction over palladium of a... 

Acyclic diene molecules are capable of undergoing intramolecular and intermolec-ular reactions in the presence of certain transition metal catalysts molybdenum alkylidene and ruthenium carbene complexes, for example [50, 51]. The intramolecular reaction, called ring-closing olefin metathesis (RCM), affords cyclic compounds, while the intermolecular reaction, called acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization, provides oligomers and polymers. Alteration of the dilution of the reaction mixture can to some extent control the intrinsic competition between RCM and ADMET. 

By monitoring the intensity of the carbonyl absorption it was observed that oxidation of methyl 4,6-0-benzylidene-2-deoxy-a-D-Zt/ ro-hexopyrano-side with chromium trioxide-pyridine at room temperature gave initially the hexopyranosid-3-ulose (2) in low concentration, but attempts to increase this yield resulted in elimination of methanol to give compound 3. However, when methyl 4,6-0-benzylidene-2-deoxy-a-D-Zt/ ro-hexo-pyranoside is oxidized by ruthenium tetroxide in either carbon tetrachloride or methylene dichloride it affords compound 2 without concomitant elimination. When compound 2 was heated for 30 minutes in pyridine which was 0.1 M in either perchloric acid or hydrochloric acid it afforded compound 3, but in pyridine alone it was recoverable unchanged (2). Another example of this type of elimination, leading to the introduction of unsaturation into a glycopyranoid ring, was observed... 

Almost every metal atom can be inserted into the center of the phthalocyanine ring. Although the chemistry of the central metal atom is sometimes influenced in an extended way by the phthalocyanine macrocycle (for example the preferred oxidation state of ruthenium is changed from + III to + II going from metal-free to ruthenium phthalocyanine) it is obvious that the chemistry of the coordinated metal of metal phthalocyanines cannot be generalized. The reactions of the central metal atom depend very much on the properties of the metal. 

Structural data on ruthenium porphyrins shows that the Ru-N (porphyrin) distance is relatively unaffected by changing the oxidation state, as expected for a metal atom inside a fairly rigid macrocyclic ring (Table 1.11). 

Rigid film approximation, 53 Rotating disk electrode, 111 Rotating ring disk electrode, 113 Ruthenium dioxide, 121... 

Abstract For many years after its discovery, olefin metathesis was hardly used as a synthetic tool. This situation changed when well-defined and stable carbene complexes of molybdenum and ruthenium were discovered as efficient precatalysts in the early 1990s. In particular, the high activity and selectivity in ring-closure reactions stimulated further research in this area and led to numerous applications in organic synthesis. Today, olefin metathesis is one of the... 

We will focus on the development of ruthenium-based metathesis precatalysts with enhanced activity and applications to the metathesis of alkenes with nonstandard electronic properties. In the class of molybdenum complexes [7a,g,h] recent research was mainly directed to the development of homochi-ral precatalysts for enantioselective olefin metathesis. This aspect has recently been covered by Schrock and Hoveyda in a short review and will not be discussed here [8h]. In addition, several important special topics have recently been addressed by excellent reviews, e.g., the synthesis of medium-sized rings by RCM [8a], applications of olefin metathesis to carbohydrate chemistry [8b], cross metathesis [8c,d],enyne metathesis [8e,f], ring-rearrangement metathesis [8g], enantioselective metathesis [8h], and applications of metathesis in polymer chemistry (ADMET,ROMP) [8i,j]. Application of olefin metathesis to the total synthesis of complex natural products is covered in the contribution by Mulzer et al. in this volume. 

---