Transition metal catalysis production

Ionic liquids with wealdy coordinating, inert anions (such as [(CF3S02)2N] , [BFJ , or [PFg] under anhydrous conditions) and inert cations (cations that do not coordinate to the catalyst themselves, nor form species that coordinate to the catalyst under the reaction conditions used) can be looked on as innocent solvents in transition metal catalysis. In these cases, the role of the ionic liquid is solely to provide a more or less polar, more or less weakly coordinating medium for the transition metal catalyst, but which additionally offers special solubility for feedstock and products. 

However, research into transition metal catalysis in ionic liquids should not focus only on the question of how to make some specific products more economical or ecological by use of a new solvent and, presumably, a new multiphasic process. Since it bridges the gap between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, in a novel and highly attractive manner, the application of ionic liquids in transition metal catalysis gives access to some much more fundamental and conceptual questions for basic research. 

Slightly later, and independently of Cole-Hamilton s pioneering work, the author s group demonstrated in collaboration with Leitner et al. that the combination of a suitable ionic liquid with compressed CO2 can offer much more potential for homogeneous transition metal catalysis than only being a new procedure for easy product isolation and catalyst recycling. In the Ni-catalyzed hydrovinylation of... 

Not all C-H activation chemistry is mediated by transition metal catalysts. Many of the research groups involved in transition metal catalysis for C-H activation have opted for alternative means of catalysis. The activation of methane and ethane in water by the hexaoxo-/i-peroxodisulfate(2—) ion (S2O82) was studied and proceeds by hydrogen abstraction via an oxo radical. Methane gave rise to acetic acid in the absence of external carbon monoxide, suggesting a reaction of a methyl radical with CO formed in situ. Moreover, the addition of (external) CO to the reaction mixture led to an increase in yield of the acid product (Equation (ll)).20... 

The Alder-ene reaction has traditionally been performed under thermal conditions—generally at temperatures in excess of 200 °C. Transition metal catalysis not only maintains the attractive atom-economical feature of the Alder-ene reaction, but also allows for regiocontrol and, in many cases, stereoselectivity. A multitude of transition metal complexes has shown the ability to catalyze the intramolecular Alder-ene reaction. Each possesses a unique reactivity that is reflected in the diversity of carbocyclic and heterocyclic products accessible via the transition metal-catalyzed intramolecular Alder-ene reaction. Presumably for these reasons, investigation of the thermal Alder-ene reaction seems to have stopped almost completely. For example, more than 40 papers pertaining to the transition metal-catalyzed intramolecular Alder-ene reaction have been published over the last decade. In the process of writing this review, we encountered only three recent examples of the thermal intramolecular Alder-ene reaction, two of which were applications to the synthesis of biologically relevant compounds (see Section 10.12.6). 

Some of the reactions covered here are in principle also possible under strongly acidic or strongly basic conditions or as concerted pericydic reactions at high temperatures [3] for polyfunctional substrates in the synthesis of complex products the advantage of transition metal catalysis under neutral conditions and at low temperatures is obvious. 

The amidocarbonylation of aldehydes provides highly efficient access to N-acyl a-amino acid derivatives by the reaction of the ubiquitous and cheap starting materials aldehyde, amide, and carbon monoxide under transition metal-catalysis [1,2]. Wakamatsu serendipitously discovered this reaction when observing the formation of amino acid derivatives as by-products in the cobalt-catalyzed oxo reaction of acrylonitrile [3-5]. The reaction was further elaborated to an efficient cobalt- or palladium-catalyzed one-step synthesis of racemic N-acyl a-amino acids [6-8] (Scheme 1). Besides the range of direct applications, such as pharmaceuticals and detergents, racemic N-acetyl a-amino acids are important intermediates in the synthesis of enantiomeri-cally pure a-amino acids via enzymatic hydrolysis [9]. 

Hydration of nitriles providing carboxamides is usually carried out m strongly basic or acidic aqueous media - these reactions require rather bars conditions and suffer from incomplete selectivity to the desired amide product. A few papers in the literature deal with the possibihty of transition metal catalysis of this reaction [28-30]. According to a recent report [30], acetonitrile can be hydrated into acetamide with water-soluble rhodium(I) complexes (such as the one obtained from [ RhCl(COD) 2] and TPPTS) under reasonably mild conditions with unprecedently high rate... 

One of the success stories of transition metal catalysis is the rhodium-complex-catalyzed hydrogenation reaction. Asymmetric hydrogenation with a rhodium catalyst has been commercialized for the production of L-Dopa, and in 2001 the inventor, Knowles, together with Noyori and Sharpless, was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. After the initial invention, (enantioselective) hydrogenation has been subject to intensive investigations (27). In general, hydrogenation reactions proceed... 

Between the extremes of transition metal catalysis and enzymatic transformations, a third approach to the catalytic production of enantiomerically pure organic compounds has emerged - organocatalysis. Organocatalysis are purely organic ... 

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