On the Mechanism of Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Diazonium Salts with Aryltrifluoroborates: A Combined ESI-MS/NMR Study

Predicting 195 Pt NMR Chemical Shifts in Water-Soluble Inorganic/Organometallic Complexes with a Fast and Simple Protocol Combining Semiempirical Modeling and Machine Learning

Water-soluble Pt complexes are the key components in medicinal chemistry and catalysis. The well-known cisplatin family of anticancer drugs and industrial hydrosylilation catalysts are two leading examples. On the molecular level, the activity mechanisms of such complexes mostly involve changes in the Pt coordination sphere. Using ¹⁹⁵ Pt NMR spectroscopy for operando monitoring would be a valuable tool for uncovering the activity mechanisms; however, reliable approaches for the rapid correlation of Pt complex structure with ¹⁹⁵ Pt chemical shifts are very challenging and not available for everyday research practice. While NMR shielding is a response property, molecular 3D structure determines NMR spectra, as widely known, which allows us to build up 3D structure to ¹⁹⁵ Pt chemical shift correlations. Accordingly, we present a new workflow for the determination of lowest-energy configurational/conformational isomers based on the GFN2-xTB semiempirical method and prediction of corresponding chemical shifts with a Machine Learning (ML) model tuned for Pt complexes. The workflow was designed for the prediction of ¹⁹⁵ Pt chemical shifts of water-soluble Pt(II) and Pt(IV) anionic, neutral, and cationic complexes with halide, NO₂ ^- , (di)amino, and (di)carboxylate ligands with chemical shift values ranging from -6293 to 7090 ppm. The model offered an accuracy (normalized root-mean-square deviation/RMSD) of 1.08 %/145.02 ppm on the held-out test set.

Palladium nanoparticles supported on a titanium dioxide cellulose composite (PdNPs@TiO2–Cell) for ligand-free carbon–carbon cross coupling reactions

Well-dispersed non-spherical PdNPs with a diameter of 39–45 nm supported on a TiO₂–cellulose composite can be synthesized by a simple route, and used for many coupling reactions under mild reaction conditions.

Charge-tagged ligands: useful tools for immobilising complexes and detecting reaction species during catalysis

A critical overview is presented on the use of charged tagged ligands (CTLs) as immobilising agents in organometallic catalysis and as probes for studying mechanisms through electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) based on the most recent literature.

In recent years, charge-tagged ligands (CTLs) have become valuable tools in organometallic catalysis. Insertion of an ionic side chain into the molecular skeleton of a known ligand has become a useful protocol for anchoring ligands, and consequently catalysts, in polar and ionic liquid phases. In addition, the insertion of a cationic moiety into a ligand is a powerful tool that can be used to detect reaction intermediates in organometallic catalysis through electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) experiments. The insertion of an ionic tag ensures the charge in the intermediates independently of the ESI-MS. For this reason, these ligands have been used as ionic probes in mechanistic studies for several catalytic reactions. Here, we summarise selected examples on the use of CTLs as immobilising agents in organometallic catalysis and as probes for studying mechanisms through ESI-MS.

Diaryl Sulfones Synthesis with Aryltrifluoroborates and Aryl Sulfinic Salts under Mild Conditions

CuI-catalysed cross-coupling reactions of various aryltrifluoroborates with aryl sulfinic salts have been achieved in good yields. A new efficient method is described for the conversion of potassium aryltrifluoroborates into diaryl sulfones. The reported reactions are tolerant to common functional groups regardless of whether they are electron-rich or electron-deficient, making this transformation an attractive alternative to traditional approaches.

Charged tags as probes for analyzing organometallic intermediates and monitoring cross-coupling reactions by electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry

Organic iodides bearing a cationic quaternary ammonium group at a remote position react with zerovalent Pd complexes, Zn, or In leading to a C-I bond insertion. The resulting charge-tagged organometallics can be detected by electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry, which provides detailed information on their stoichiometry, oxidation state, and coordination sphere. The properties of the observed organopalladium and -zinc intermediates largely agree with previous findings, whereas the organoindium species show a surprisingly high tendency to form ate complexes. Magnesium also undergoes insertion into the C-I bond of the charge-tagged organic iodides, but instead of the expected organomagnesium intermediates only the corresponding hydrolysis products could be detected in the diluted solutions. Electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry can also be used to study the reactivity of the charge-tagged species, as was demonstrated for a Pd-catalyzed Negishi cross-coupling reaction. The presented approach permits a straightforward identification of the rate-limiting step and the determination of the corresponding second-order rate constant.