Selective hydrogen reduction

Similarly, highly selective hydrogen reductions of rhodium-acyl intermediates are known, such as in hydroformylation reactions. Rhodium phosphine complexes are highly selective with little further reduction of products to alcohols (19). 

A catalyst, usually acid, is required to promote chemoselective and regioselective reduction under mild conditions. A variety of organosilanes can be used, but triethylsilane ia the presence of trifiuoroacetic acid is the most frequendy reported. Use of this reagent enables reduction of alkenes to alkanes. Branched alkenes are reduced more readily than unbranched ones. Selective hydrogenation of branched dienes is also possible. 

For more selective hydrogenations, supported 5—10 wt % palladium on activated carbon is preferred for reductions in which ring hydrogenation is not wanted. Mild conditions, a neutral solvent, and a stoichiometric amount of hydrogen are used to avoid ring hydrogenation. There are also appHcations for 35—40 wt % cobalt on kieselguhr, copper chromite (nonpromoted or promoted with barium), 5—10 wt % platinum on activated carbon, platinum (IV) oxide (Adams catalyst), and rhenium heptasulfide. Alcohol yields can sometimes be increased by the use of nonpolar (nonacidic) solvents and small amounts of bases, such as tertiary amines, which act as catalyst inhibitors. 

Hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde has been studied extensively since selectivity has often been an issue. Under mild conditions the carbonyl group is reduced giving cinnamyl alcohol, whereas at elevated temperatures complete reduction to 3-phenylpropanol [122-97 ] results. It is possible to saturate the double bond without concomitant reduction of the carbonyl group through selective hydrogenation with a ferrous chloride-activated palladium catalyst (30), thereby producing 3-phenylpropanol [104-53-0]. 

Just as selective oxidation can be carried out on these systems, reduction also occurs with considerable selectively. Hydrogenation of binaphthol (Pd catalyst) in glacial acetic acid at room temperature for seven days affords the octahydro (bis-tetrahydro) derivative in 92% yield with no apparent loss of optical activity when the reaction is conducted on optically pure material. The binaphthol may then be converted into the bis-binaphthyl crown in the usual fashion. 

With other acetylenes steric factors may be operative which render the selective reduction somewhat difficult. In the aldosterone intermediates (53) and (54), for instance, selective hydrogenation is obtained only with the 14 -acetylenic ether " (hydroxyl group effect). 

Reduction of unsaturated aldehydes seems more influenced by the catalyst than is that of unsaturated ketones, probably because of the less hindered nature of the aldehydic function. A variety of special catalysts, such as unsupported (96), or supported (SJ) platinum-iron-zinc, plalinum-nickel-iron (47), platinum-cobalt (90), nickel-cobalt-iron (42-44), osmium (<55), rhenium heptoxide (74), or iridium-on-carbon (49), have been developed for selective hydrogenation of the carbonyl group in unsaturated aldehydes. None of these catalysts appears to reduce an a,/3-unsaturated ketonic carbonyl selectively. 

The selective hydrogenation of acid chlorides to aldehydes is known as the Rosenmund reduction (49). 

The motivation of an industrial development was to increase selectivity for monochlorination of acetic acid to give chloroacetic acid [57]. This product is amenable under suitable reaction conditions by further chlorination to give dichloroacetic acid by consecutive reaction. The removal of this impurity is not simple, but rather demands laborious and costly separation. Either crystallization has to be performed with high technical expenditure or an expensive hydrogen reduction at a Pd catalyst is needed. 

The above syntheses of metal nanowires are based on the thermal hydrogen reduction. However, we found that the reproducible synthesis is difficult by this method, because the hydrogen reduction needs careful control of the reaction conditions. For the reproducible and selective synthesis of wires and particles, we need to clarify the factors controlling the sintering of metals. The key factors are the concentration of residual solvent and the relative rate of reduction and migration of metal ions. The details are shown in the next section. 

Partial reduction of alkynes to Z-alkenes is an important synthetic application of selective hydrogenation catalysts. The transformation can be carried out under heterogeneous or homogeneous conditions. Among heterogeneous catalysts, the one that... 

Richter, M., Bentrup, U., Eckelt, R. et al. (2004) The effect of hydrogen on the selective catalytic reduction of NO in excess oxygen over Ag/Al203, Appl. Catal. B 51, 261. 

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