Ruthenium Complex-Catalyzed <i>a</i><i>nti</i>-Markovnikov Hydration of Terminal Alkynes

Highly regioselective, efficient, and substituent-tolerant anti-Markovnikov hydration of terminal alkynes occurs to give n-aldehyde by use of a catalytic amount of easily available cyclopentadienylruthenium complexes bearing appropriate bidentate or monodentate phosphine ligands. Typically, RuCpCl(dppm) (1 mol %) catalyzes the addition of water to 1-hexyne at 100 °C to give hexanal in 95% yield:  2-hexanone is not detected at all

Enhancement of Reaction Efficiency by Functionalized Alcohols on Gold(I)-Catalyzed Intermolecular Hydroalkoxylation of Unactivated Olefins

Intermolecular hydroalkoxylation of unactivated olefins catalyzed by the combination of gold(I) and electron deficient phosphine ligands has been developed. Although pairings of unactivated olefins and common aliphatic alcohols gave unsatisfactory results in gold catalyzed hydroalkoxylations, the use of alcohol substrates bearing coordination functionalities such as halogen or alkoxy groups showed great improvement of reactivity

Kinetic Resolution Displaying Zeroth Order Dependence on Substrate Consumption: Copper-Catalyzed Asymmetric Alcoholysis of Azlactones

Kinetic resolution of 4-alkyl-2-aryl-5-oxo-4,5-dihydrooxazole-4-carboxylic acid esters (azlactones 1) were achieved by copper-DTBM-SEGPHOS catalyzed alcoholysis reaction with good selectivity (12 examples). Variation of ee of unreacted substrates 1 and products 2 with conversion was found to follow the theoretical line of zeroth-order kinetic resolution, for which the selectivity profiles and graphical analysis were presented for the first time. The efficiency of resolution in zeroth-order reaction is higher than first-order reaction. For example, the reaction with 1a afforded (S)-1a (99% ee) and (R)-2a (74% ee) at 57% conversion, where the krel values were calculated to be 6.7 as zeroth-order kinetic resolution and 37 as first-order kinetic resolution

Homogeneous Palladium Catalyst Suppressing Pd Black Formation in Air Oxidation of Alcohols

In homogeneous catalyst systems, there is the persistent problem that metal aggregation and precipitation cause catalyst decomposition and considerable loss of catalytic activity. Pd black formation is a typical example. Pd catalysts are known to easily aggregate and form Pd black, although they realize a wide variety of useful reactions in organic synthesis. In order to overcome this intrinsic problem of homogeneous Pd catalysis, we explored a new class of Pd catalyst by adopting aerobic oxidation of alcohols as a probe reaction. Herein we report a new catalyst system that suppresses the Pd black formation even under air and with a high substrate to catalyst molar ratio (S/C:  more than 1000) in oxidation of alcohols. The novel pyridine derivatives having a 2,3,4,5-tetraphenylphenyl substituent and its higher dendritic unit at the 3-position of the pyridine ring were found to be excellent ligands with Pd(OAc)2 in the palladium-catalyzed air (balloon) oxidation of alcohols in toluene at 80 °C. Comparison with structurally related pyridine ligands revealed that introduction of the 2,3,4,5-tetraphenylphenyl substituent at the 3-position of pyridine ring effectively suppresses the Pd black formation, maintaining the catalytic activity for a long time to give aldehydes or ketones as products in high yields

Palladium Complex Catalyzed Acylation of Allylic Esters with Acylstannanes: Complementary Method to the Acylation with Acylsilanes

Palladium-catalyzed acylation of allylic trifluoroacetates (2) using acylstannanes (1) is reported. The reaction serves as a complementary method to the previously reported acylation with acylsilane (4). In particular, the reaction is profitable in the acylation of unsubstituted allyl trifluoroacetate (2a) and benzoylation of allylic trifluoroacetates to afford synthetically useful β,γ-unsaturated ketones (3) in good yields without undesirable isomerizations

Homogeneous Palladium Catalyst Suppressing Pd Black Formation in Air Oxidation of Alcohols

In homogeneous catalyst systems, there is the persistent problem that metal aggregation and precipitation cause catalyst decomposition and considerable loss of catalytic activity. Pd black formation is a typical example. Pd catalysts are known to easily aggregate and form Pd black, although they realize a wide variety of useful reactions in organic synthesis. In order to overcome this intrinsic problem of homogeneous Pd catalysis, we explored a new class of Pd catalyst by adopting aerobic oxidation of alcohols as a probe reaction. Herein we report a new catalyst system that suppresses the Pd black formation even under air and with a high substrate to catalyst molar ratio (S/C:  more than 1000) in oxidation of alcohols. The novel pyridine derivatives having a 2,3,4,5-tetraphenylphenyl substituent and its higher dendritic unit at the 3-position of the pyridine ring were found to be excellent ligands with Pd(OAc)2 in the palladium-catalyzed air (balloon) oxidation of alcohols in toluene at 80 °C. Comparison with structurally related pyridine ligands revealed that introduction of the 2,3,4,5-tetraphenylphenyl substituent at the 3-position of pyridine ring effectively suppresses the Pd black formation, maintaining the catalytic activity for a long time to give aldehydes or ketones as products in high yields

Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reaction of Niobium(III)−Alkyne Complexes with Aryl Iodides

Nickel−catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of Nb(III)−alkyne complexes with aryl iodides are reported, in which addition of lithium alkoxide is indispensable and diarylated coupling products are afforded as products

Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reaction of Niobium(III)−Alkyne Complexes with Aryl Iodides

Nickel−catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of Nb(III)−alkyne complexes with aryl iodides are reported, in which addition of lithium alkoxide is indispensable and diarylated coupling products are afforded as products

Theoretical Mechanistic Investigation of the Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of N‑Protected Amino Acid Esters using Phase-Transfer Catalysts

A detailed theoretical mechanistic investigation on the dynamic kinetic resolution of N-protected amino acid esters using phase-transfer catalysts is described. Semiautomatic exhaustive conformation search of transition state (TS)-like structures were carried out using the ConFinder program and the pseudo-TS conformational search (PTSCS) method. This conformational search method successfully provided reasonable TS structures for determining the stereoselectivity in the asymmetric base hydrolysis of hexafluoroisopropyl (HFIP) esters as well as the racemization mechanism. Furthermore, the independent gradient model (IGM) analysis of the TS structures suggested that the H-bonding interactions with the oxyanion hole and π-stacking interactions are the common important features of the proposed TS structures that determine the stereoselectivity

Theoretical Mechanistic Investigation of the Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of N‑Protected Amino Acid Esters using Phase-Transfer Catalysts

A detailed theoretical mechanistic investigation on the dynamic kinetic resolution of N-protected amino acid esters using phase-transfer catalysts is described. Semiautomatic exhaustive conformation search of transition state (TS)-like structures were carried out using the ConFinder program and the pseudo-TS conformational search (PTSCS) method. This conformational search method successfully provided reasonable TS structures for determining the stereoselectivity in the asymmetric base hydrolysis of hexafluoroisopropyl (HFIP) esters as well as the racemization mechanism. Furthermore, the independent gradient model (IGM) analysis of the TS structures suggested that the H-bonding interactions with the oxyanion hole and π-stacking interactions are the common important features of the proposed TS structures that determine the stereoselectivity