Combined Transition-Metal- and Organocatalysis: An Atom Economic C3 Homologation of Alkenes to Carbonyl and Carboxylic Compounds

Transition Metal Catalysis Controlled by Hydrogen Bonding in the Second Coordination Sphere

Transition metal catalysis is of utmost importance for the development of sustainable processes in academia and industry. The activity and selectivity of metal complexes are typically the result of the interplay between ligand and metal properties. As the ligand can be chemically altered, a large research focus has been on ligand development. More recently, it has been recognized that further control over activity and selectivity can be achieved by using the "second coordination sphere", which can be seen as the region beyond the direct coordination sphere of the metal center. Hydrogen bonds appear to be very useful interactions in this context as they typically have sufficient strength and directionality to exert control of the second coordination sphere, yet hydrogen bonds are typically very dynamic, allowing fast turnover. In this review we have highlighted several key features of hydrogen bonding interactions and have summarized the use of hydrogen bonding to program the second coordination sphere. Such control can be achieved by bridging two ligands that are coordinated to a metal center to effectively lead to supramolecular bidentate ligands. In addition, hydrogen bonding can be used to preorganize a substrate that is coordinated to the metal center. Both strategies lead to catalysts with superior properties in a variety of metal catalyzed transformations, including (asymmetric) hydrogenation, hydroformylation, C-H activation, oxidation, radical-type transformations, and photochemical reactions.

Practical Synthesis of (Z)-α,β-Unsaturated Nitriles via a One-Pot Sequential Hydroformylation/Knoevenagel Reaction

Herein, the synthesis of (Z)-α,β-unsaturated nitriles by a sequential hydroformylation/Knoevenagel reaction has been first developed. A variety of crude α-olefins from Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, internal and special olefins, as well as alkynes could be transformed into value-added alkenyl nitriles (39 examples) up to 90% yield. Remarkably, compared with commonly used tedious multistep reactions, the one-pot protocol features cheap and easily available raw materials, excellent chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivity, very mild reaction conditions, and easy scale-up production.

Combinations of Aminocatalysts and Metal Catalysts: A Powerful Cooperative Approach in Selective Organic Synthesis

The cooperation and interplay between organic and metal catalyst systems is of utmost importance in nature and chemical synthesis. Here innovative and selective cooperative catalyst systems can be designed by combining two catalysts that complement rather than inhibit one another. This refined strategy can permit chemical transformations unmanageable by either of the catalysts alone. This review summarizes innovations and developments in selective organic synthesis that have used cooperative dual catalysis by combining simple aminocatalysts with metal catalysts. Considerable efforts have been devoted to this fruitful field. This emerging area employs the different activation modes of amine and metal catalysts as a platform to address challenging reactions. Here, aminocatalysis (e.g., enamine activation catalysis, iminium activation catalysis, single occupied molecular orbital (SOMO) activation catalysis, and photoredox activation catalysis) is employed to activate unreactive carbonyl substrates. The transition metal catalyst complements by activating a variety of substrates through a range of interactions (e.g., electrophilic π-allyl complex formation, Lewis acid activation, allenylidene complex formation, photoredox activation, C-H activation, etc.), and thereby novel concepts within catalysis are created. The inclusion of heterogeneous catalysis strategies allows for "green" chemistry development, catalyst recyclability, and the more eco-friendly synthesis of valuable compounds.

Palladium-Catalyzed Hydroamidocarbonylation of Olefins to Imides

Carbonylation reactions allow the efficient synthesis of all kinds of carbonyl-containing compounds. Here, we report a straightforward synthesis of various imides from olefins and CO for the first time. The established hydroamidocarbonylation reaction affords imides in good yields (up to 90 %) and with good regioselectivity (up to 99:1) when applying different alkenes and amides. The synthetic potential of the method is highlighted by the synthesis of Aniracetam by intramolecular hydroamidocarbonylation.

Crystal structure of (E)-undec-2-enoic acid

In the mol-ecule of the title low-melting α,β-unsaturated carb-oxy-lic acid, C11H20O2, the least-squares mean line through the octyl chain forms an angle of 60.10 (13)° with the normal to plane of the acrylic acid fragment (r.m.s. deviation = 0.008 Å). In the crystal, centrosymmetrically related mol-ecules are linked by pairs of O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds into dimers, forming layers parallel to the (041) plane.

A novel rhodium-catalyzed domino-hydroformylation-reaction for the synthesis of sulphonamides

An efficient and highly selective domino hydroformylation-reductive sulphonamidation reaction has been developed for the synthesis of sulphonamides using a rhodium/phosphine catalyst.

Molecular assembly of an achiral phosphine and a chiral primary amine: a highly efficient supramolecular catalyst for the enantioselective Michael reaction of aldehydes with maleimides

A combined catalyst system of a cinchonidine-derived primary amine and triphenylphosphine (CD-NH2 /PPh3 ) exhibited high catalytic performance in the Michael reaction of aldehydes with maleimides, thereby affording the corresponding functionalized aldehydes in excellent yields (up to 99 %) and enantioselectivities (>99 % ee). More interestingly, the significance of the phosphine in enhancing the enantioselectivities in the chiral-primary-amine-catalyzed Michael reaction was revealed. Furthermore, we explored the origin of the reaction mechanism in the Michael addition promoted by the dual organocatalytic system. On the basis of experimental results and spectroscopic analysis, such as UV/Vis, fluorescence emission (FL), NMR, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, as well as ESI-MS, we found that the molecular assembly of phosphine and primary amine played a crucial role in this enantioselective reaction, in which a possible supramolecular complex was formed as an effective chiral catalyst through noncovalent molecular interactions of a cinchona alkaloid-derived primary amine with triphenylphosphine.

The N-H functional group in organometallic catalysis

The organometallic approach is one of the most active topics in catalysis. The application of NH functionality in organometallic catalysis has become an important and attractive concept in catalyst design. NH moieties in the modifiers of organometallic catalysts have been shown to have various beneficial functions in catalysis by molecular recognition through hydrogen bonding to give catalyst-substrate, ligand-ligand, ligand-catalyst, and catalyst-catalyst interactions. This Review summarizes recent progress in the development of the organometallic catalysts based on the concept of cooperative catalysis by focusing on the NH moiety.