Silane/MoO2Cl2 as an efficient system for the reduction of esters

Enantioselective reduction of ketones and imines catalyzed by (CN-box)Re(V)-oxo complexes

The development and application of chiral, non-racemic Re(V)-oxo complexes to the enantioselective reduction of prochiral ketones is described. In addition to the enantioselective reduction of prochiral ketones, we report the application of these complexes to 1) a tandem Meyer-Schuster rearrangement/reduction to access enantioenriched allylic alcohols and 2) the enantioselective reduction of imines.

An efficient method for the preparation of oxo molybdenum salalen complexes and their unusual use as hydrosilylation catalysts

A number of molybdenum(VI) dioxo salalen complexes were prepared from the reaction of Mo(CO)(6) and salen ligands containing bulky substituents, providing a novel and facile entry to Mo-salalen compounds. Two of the complexes were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Reduction with organic phosphines or silanes afforded the monooxo molybdenum(IV) complexes, along with dinuclear molybdenum(V) species featuring a bridged oxo ligand (mu-O). One of the dinuclear complexes as well as a molybdenum(VI) dioxo salan complex was characterized structurally. All of the molybdenum compounds except the monooxo molybdenum(IV) were fully characterized by NMR, mass spectrometry, and elemental analyses. Investigations of acetophenone and 4-Ph-2-butanone reduction with PhSiH(3) showed that all of these molybdenum oxo complexes could serve as catalysts at reasonably low loading (1 mol % Mo) and approximately 110 degrees C. The time profiles and efficacy of catalysis varied depending on the precursor form of the catalyst, Mo(VI)(O)(2) vs (O)Mo(V)-O-Mo(V)(O) vs Mo(IV)(O). Solvent effects, radical scavenger probes, and other mechanistic considerations reveal that the monooxo molybdenum(IV) is the most likely active form of the catalyst.

Highly chemo- and regioselective reduction of aromatic nitro compounds using the system silane/oxo-rhenium complexes

The reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to the corresponding amines with silanes catalyzed by high valent oxo-rhenium complexes is reported. The catalytic systems PhMe(2)SiH/ReIO(2)(PPh(3))(2) (5 mol %) and PhMe(2)SiH/ReOCl(3)(PPh(3))(2) (5 mol %) reduced efficiently a series of aromatic nitro compounds in the presence of a wide range of functional groups such as ester, halo, amide, sulfone, lactone, and benzyl. This methodology also allowed the regioselective reduction of dinitrobenzenes to the corresponding nitroanilines and the reduction of an aromatic nitro group in presence of an aliphatic nitro group.

Analysis of an unprecedented mechanism for the catalytic hydrosilylation of carbonyl compounds

This work details an in-depth evaluation of an unprecedented mechanism for the hydrosilylation of carbonyl compounds catalyzed by (PPh3)2Re(O)2I. The proposed mechanism involves addition of a silane Si-H bond across one of the rhenium-oxo bonds to form siloxyrhenium hydride intermediate 2 that reacts with a carbonyl substrate to generate siloxyrhenium alkoxide 4, which, in turn, affords the silyl ether product. Compelling evidence for the operation of this pathway includes the following: (a) isolation and structural characterization by X-ray diffraction of siloxyrhenium hydride intermediate 2, (b) demonstration of the catalytic competence of intermediate 2 in the hydrosilylation reaction, (c) 1H and 31P{1H} NMR and ESI-MS evidence for single-turnover conversion of 2 into 1, (d) observation of intermediate 2 in the working catalyst system, and (e) kinetic analysis of the catalytic hydrosilylation of carbonyl compounds by 1.

Catalyzing aldehyde hydrosilylation with a molybdenum(VI) complex: a density functional theory study

[MoCl(2)O(2)] catalyzes the hydrosilylation reaction of aldehydes and ketones, as well as the reduction of other related groups, in apparent contrast to its known behavior as an oxidation catalyst. In this work, the mechanism of this reaction is studied by means of density functional theory calculations using the B3LYP functional complemented by experimental data. We found that the most favorable pathway to the first step, the Si--H activation, is a [2+2] addition to the Mo=O bond, in agreement with previous and related work. The stable intermediate that results is a distorted-square-pyramidal hydride complex. In the following step, the aldehyde approaches this species and coordinates weakly through the oxygen atom. Two alternative pathways can be envisaged: the classical reduction, in which a hydrogen atom migrates to the carbon atom to form an alkoxide, which then proceeds to generate the final silyl ether, or a concerted mechanism involving migration of a hydrogen atom to a carbon atom and of a silyl group to an oxygen atom to generate the silyl ether weakly bound to the molybdenum atom. In this Mo(VI) system, the gas-phase free energies of activation for both approaches are very similar, but if solvent effects are taken into account and HSiMe(3) is used as a source of silicon, the classical mechanism is favored. Several unexpected results led us to search for still another route, namely a radical path. The energy involved in this and the classical pathway are similar, which suggests that hydrosilylation of aldehydes and ketones catalyzed by [MoCl(2)O(2)] in acetonitrile may follow a radical pathway, in agreement with experimental results.