Transition Wacker oxidation

Besides Wacker oxidation, other transition-metal catalyzed oxidations have also been carried out in aqueous medium. For example, methyl groups can be selectively hydroxylated by platinum salts in water.88 In this way, p-toluenesulfonic acid was oxidized to benzy-lic alcohol, which was subsequently oxidized into the aldehyde (Eq. 3.19).89... 

Feringa, B. L. Wacker oxidation. Transition Metals for Organic Synthesis 1998, 2, 307-315. 

R] Feringa, B, L. Wacker Oxidation. In Transition Metals for Organic Synthesis Beller, M. Bolm, C. (eds), Wiley-VCH Weinheim, Germany, 1998, 2, pp. 307-315. 

Addition of -butylmagnesium bromide to 624 followed by Swem oxidation affords the ketone 642. Zinc borohydride addition occurs with almost exclusive anri-selectivity (>99 1), leading to 646 in accordance with an a-coordinated transition-state model in which the r -face of the carbonyl is exposed to the reagent. Presumably the MOM-ethers display a crown ether effect to facilitate a-chelation. In marked contrast, L-Selectride shows excellent 5y -selectivity to provide 645 (92 8), consistent with a j5-chelation and/or Felkin— Anh model. The a ri-adduct 646 is converted in five steps to ketone 647, which undergoes a similar highly selective hydride reduction with zinc borohydride to yield the anti,syn,syn-alcohol 648 (96 4). This product is converted in six steps to the r n5-(2i ,57 )-pyrroline 649, which undergoes a Wacker oxidation followed by catalytic reduction to (— )-indolizidine 195B (650) and its C-5 epimer (86 14) (Scheme 142). 

When lighter and harder X groups are involved (X = NR2 and OR), insertion is less favored (see Section 6.4.2 (a)) and other mechanistic pathways, particularly nucleophilic attack in the case of late transition metals, are prevalent. This is the case of an important catalytic process, the Wacker oxidation of alkenes that transforms ethylene to acetaldehyde or terminal alkenes in ketones. For a long time a controversy was on, regarding the nature of the step that leads to the new... 

The redox interaction between transition metals and redox-active ligands is likely to permit a smooth reversible redox cycle in the transition metal-catalyzed oxidation reactions. Actually, the Wacker oxidation reaction of a terminal olefin proceeds catalytically only in the presence of a catalytic amount of polyaniline or polypyrrole derivative as a cocatalyst in acetonitrile-water under oxygen atmosphere to give 2-alkanone (Scheme Copper-free catalytic systems are... 

Water is a moderately reactive nucleophile involved in several well-known catalytic cycles, such as hydroxycarbonylation and Wacker oxidation of olefins. Besides these, palladium, as many other late transition metals, is reactive in the water gas shift reaction (WGS reaction) (Scheme 3), which is a source of metal hydride complexes. Further transformations triggered by the WGS reaction are versatile. 

To illustrate the inner-sphere characteristics of the CH activation chemistry, an analogy can be made between CH activation by coordination of an alkane CH bond to a metal center and the known catalysis resulting from coordination of olefins via the CC double bond (note that the nature of the orbitals involved in bonding are quite different). It is well known that coordination of olefins to electrophilic metal centers can activate the olefin to nucleophilic attack and conversion to organometallic, M-C, intermediates. The M-C intermediates thus formed can then be more readily converted to functionalized products than the uncoordinated olefin. An important example of this in oxidation catalysis is the Wacker oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde. In this reaction, catalyzed by Pd(II) as shown in Fig. 7.14, ethylene is activated by coordination to the inner-sphere of an electrophilic Pd(II) center. This leads to attack by water and facile formation of an organometallic, palladium alkyl intermediate that is subsequently oxidized to acetaldehyde. The reduced catalyst is reoxidized by Cu(II) to complete the catalytic cycle. The Wacker reaction is very rapid and selective and it is possible to carry out the reaction is aqueous solvents. This is largely possible because of the favorable thermodynamics for coordination of olefins to transition metals that can be competitive with coordination to the water solvent. The reaction is very selective presumably because the bonds of the product (po-... 

Hegedus et al. have thoroughly studied the homogeneous hydroamination of olefins in the presence of transition metal complexes. However, most of these reactions are either promoted or assisted, i.e. are stoichiometric reactions of an amine with a coordinated alkene [98-101] or, if catalytic, give rise to the oxidative hydroamination products, as for example in the cyclization of o-allylanilines to 2-alkylindoles [102, 103], i.e. are relevant to Wacker-type chemistry [104]. 

The previous examples involve reduction (hydrogenation) of organic molecules, but transition metal complexes can also catalyze oxidation. For example, the Wacker process, which has been widely used to convert ethylene to acetaldehyde, depends on catalysis by palladium(II) in the presence of copper(II) in aqueous HC1. The role of the copper chloride is to provide a means of using air to reoxidize the palladium to palladium(II). Once again, Zeise-type coordination of the ethylene to the metal center is believed to be involved ... 

Historically the homolytic type of catalysis has been known and studied for a long time. The heterolytic catalysts represent a relatively recent innovation but, nevertheless, include important developments such as the Wacker process for the oxidation of olefins. Regardless of the mechanism involved, the most important characteristics of metal catalysts for effecting oxidation are the accessibility of several oxidation states as well as the accommodation of various coordination numbers, both of which are properties of transition metal complexes. 

L. Hintermann, Wacker Type Oxidations, in. Transition Metals for Organic Synthesis, Second Ed. (Eds. M. Beller and C. Bolm, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2004, Vol. 2, Chapter 2.8). 

The oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde using PdCb and CuCb as catalysts undo- an oxygm atmosphere is well known as the Wacker process (Scheme 1), and is one of the most important industrial processes employing transition metal catalysts.This industrial oxidation reaction of ethylene involves the following three stoichiometric reactions. These sequential oxidation and reduction reactions constitute a catalytic cycle. 

The oxidation of ethene by palladium salts in water to give acetaldehyde has been known for 100 years see Oxidation Catalysis by Transition Metal Complexes). It is often called the Wacker Process, after Wacker Chemie GmbH, which first developed the process. The key steps in this oxidation are shown in Scheme 2. Palladium catalyzes the nucleophilic addition of water to ethene, leading to the reduction of Pd to Pd°. Then the palladium is reoxidized back to Pd with Cu salts, giving Cu which in turn is oxidized by oxygen. 

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