Stereoselective hydrogen pressure

The variation of enantioselectivities with temperature and pressure was investigated. The effects of these two factors are very substrate dependent and difficult to generalize even in a single substrate serie. However, it seems that enantioselectivities are shghly better at 25-40 °C than at lower temperatures (0 °C or less). The stereoselectivity can be inverted for specific alkenes (formation of the S or R enantiomer preferentially). For several substrates, the reactions tend to proceed to completion with optimal ee s when performed at lower hydrogen pressure (2 bar) instead of 50 bar (Fig. 13). Pronoimced variation of enantioselectivities with hydrogen concentration in solution may indicate the presence of two (or even more) different mechanisms which happen to give opposite enantiomers for some substrates. 

Particularly noteworthy is the discovery of a new type of the active catalyst 99,103,104 a crystalline, air-stable yellow-orange solid, which can serve as a highly enantioselective tool in the titanium-catalyzed hydrosilylation of imines. The reaction can be highly stereoselective for both acyclic and cyclic imines under a wide range of hydrogen pressures (Scheme 6-46). 

The solvent employed in asymmetric catalytic reactions may also have a dramatic influence on the reaction rate as well as the enantioselectivity, possibly because the solvent molecule is also involved in the catalytic cycle. Furthermore, the reaction temperature also has a profound influence on stereoselectivity. The goal of asymmetric hydrogenation or transfer hydrogenation studies is to find an optimal condition with a combination of chiral ligand, counterion, metal, solvent, hydrogen pressure, and reaction temperature under which the reactivity and the stereoselectivity of the reaction will be jointly maximized. 

The stereoselective synthesis of tetrahydronaphthalenones was carried out via homogeneous hydrogenation. The reduction at 2 bar hydrogen pressure gave the saturated product in good yield (equation 69)165. 

Asymmetric hydrogenation. Procbiral u,/ -unsaturated acids and their derivatives can be hydrogenated with high stereoselectivity by rhodium complexes with 1, such as (BPPM)Rh(COD)Cl and (BPPM)Rh(COD)+ClCV, in which COD = 1,5-eyclooctadiene. The stereoselectivity is dependent in part on the hydrogen pressure, ami the effect can be attenuated by addition of triethylamine, which also increases Ihc optical yield. The stereoselectivity is markedly controlled by the stereochemistry of the double bond.1... 

The chemistry of Rh(DIPAMP) and mechanism has been reviewed.914 1617 2 28 Marginally higher catalyst efficiencies are observed with higher alcohols compared to methanol, whereas the presence of water can result in the reduction of slurries. Filtration of the product can improve the % ee while the catalyst and D,L-product remain in the mother liquor. The catalyst stereoselectivities decrease as hydrogen pressure increases. [Rh(COD)(R,W-DIPAMP) +BF4 (13) affords the. S -con-figuration of amino acids on reduction of the enamide substrate. Reduction of enamides in the presence of base eliminates the pressure variances on the stereoselectivities, but the rate of reaction under these conditions is slow.17... 

Cholestan-3-one was also stereoselectively hydrogenated to the axial alcohol in 98.5% yield (GC) over a palladium black in isopropyl alcohol at 25°C and atmospheric pressure (see Fig. 5.1 and Section 5.4.2).153d Accompanying formation of the isopropyl ether was not observed in the case of the steroid ketone, whereas a large amount (55%) of the ether and an almost 1 1 mixture of cis and trans alcohols were produced in the hydrogenation of 4-f-butylcyclohexanone under the same conditions. 

Asymmetric Hydrogenation. The diene-free cationic rhodium complex of (R)-BINAP catalyzes the enantioselective hydrogenation of dehydroamino acids. a-(Benzoylamino)acrylic acid is hydrogenated at rt to afford (S)-lV-benzoylphenylalanine in 100% ee (eq 1). To obtain maximal stereoselectivity the reaction should be carried out under a low concentration of substrate (100% in 0.013 M vs. 62% in 0.15 M) and low initial hydrogen pressure (100% at 1 atm, but 71% at 50 atm). 

The above example provides some hints as to when mass transfer could be a complicating factor in stereoselective hydrogenations. If the reaction half-time is of the order of minutes, and the product distribution depends on H2 pressure, then mass transfer might affect the observations. In either case, the effects of mixing rate and catalyst concentration (i.e. variation of the overall rate) should be investigated. 

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