Tris phosphine reducing agent

The first polyphosphino maeroeyeles designed speeifieally for use as transition metal binders were reported in 1977 in back-to-baek eommunications by Rosen and Kyba and their eoworkers. The maeroeyeles reported in these papers were quite similar in some respeets, but the synthetic approaches were markedly different. DelDonno and Rosen began with bis-phosphinate 18. Treatment of the latter with Vitride reducing agent and phosphinate 19, led to the tris-phosphine,20. Formation of the nickel (II) complex of 20 followed by double alkylation (cyclization) and then removal of Ni by treatment of the complex with cyanide, led to 21 as illustrated in Eq. (6.15). The overall yield for this sequence is about 10%. 

Methods (i) and (ii) require palladium(II) salts as reactants. Either palladium acetate, palladium chloride or lithium tetrachloropalladate(II) usually are used. These salts may also be used as catalysts in method (iii) but need to be reduced in situ to become active. The reduction usually occurs spontaneously in reactions carried out at 100 °C but may be slow or inefficient at lower temperatures. In these cases, zero valent complexes such as bis(dibenzylideneacetone)palladium(0) or tetrakis(triphenylphos-phine)palladium(O) may be used, or a reducing agent such as sodium borohydride, formic acid or hydrazine may be added to reaction mixtures containing palladium(II) salts to initiate the reactions. Triarylphosphines are usually added to the palladium catalysts in method (iii), but not in methods (i) or (ii). Normally, 2 equiv. of triphenylphosphine, or better, tri-o-tolylphosphine, are added per mol of the palladium compound. Larger amounts may be necessary in reactions where palladium metal tends to precipitate prematurely from the reaction mixtures. Large concentrations of phosphines are to be avoided, however, since they usually inhibit the reactions. 

Physiologically, homocysteine exists in reduced, oxidized, and protein-bound forms.Methods for tHcy were first introduced in the midl980s that resolved the problems related to the presence of multiple unstable Hey species in plasma by converting all Hey species into the reduced form, HcyH, which is measured as an indication of tHcy content. Consequently, modern methods require pretreatment of plasma or serum specimens with a reducing agent, such as dithioerythritol, dithiothreitol, mercap-toethanol, tributyl phosphine, and tris(2-carboxyl-ethyl) phosphine that converts all Hey species into the reduced form, HcyH, which is measured as an indication of tHcy content. 

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