Transition metals, preparation homogeneous catalysts

Catalysts other than homogeneous (molecular) compounds such as nanoparticles have been used in ionic liquids. For example, iridium nanoparticles prepared from the reduction of [IrCl(cod)2] (cod = cyclooctadiene) with H2 in [bmim][PF6] catalyses the hydrogenation of a number of alkenes under bipha-sic conditions [27], The catalytic activity of these nanoparticles is significantly more effective than many molecular transition metal catalysts operating under similar conditions. 

In the search to develop new materials for immobilization of homogeneous transition metal catalyst to facilitate catalyst-product separation and catalyst recychng, the study of dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers for application in catalysis has become a subject of intense research in the last five years [68], because they have excellent solubility and a high number of easily accessible active sites. Moreover, the pseudo-spherical structure with nanometer dimensions opens the possibility of separation and recycling by nanofiltration methods. Although dendrimers allow for controlled incorporation of transition metal catalysts in the core [69] as well as at the surface [70], a serious drawback of this approach is the tedious preparation of functionalized dendrimers by multi-step synthesis. 

Water-soluble chelating diphosphines. This amine hydrochloride has been used to prepare water-soluble ligands for transition metals, particularly Rh(I). Thus, the complex Rh(I) -2 is a highly active catalyst for homogeneous hydrogenation, and Rh(I)-3 combines with the glycoprotein avidin to form an effective asymmetric catalyst lor hydrogenation of -acetamidoacrylic acid. 

The alkene metathesis reaction arose serendipitously from the exploration of transition-metal-catalysed alkene polymerisation. Due to the complexity of the polymeric products, the metathetic nature of the reaction seems to have been overlooked in early reports. However, in 1964, Banks and Bailey reported on what was described as the olefin disproportionation of acyclic alkenes where exchange was evident due to the monomeric nature of the products [8]. The reaction was actually a combination of isomerisation and metathesis, leading to complex mixtures, but by 1966 Calderon and co-workers had reported on the preparation of a homogeneous W/Al-based catalyst system that effected extraordinarily rapid alkylidene... 

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