Pt-catalysed intermolecular hydroamination of non-activated olefins using a novel family of catalysts: Arbuzov-type phosphorus metal complexes

Atomic Pt-Catalyzed Heterogeneous Anti-Markovnikov C-N Formation: Pt10 Activating N-H for Pt1δ+-Activated C═C Attack

C-N formation is of great significance to synthetic chemistry, as N-containing products are widely used in chemistry, medicine, and biology. Addition of an amine to an unsaturated carbon-carbon bond is a simple yet effective route to produce new C-N bonds. But how to effectively conduct an anti-Markovnikov addition with high selectivity has been a great challenge. Here, we proposed a strategy for highly regioselective C-N addition via hydroamination by using supported Pt. It has been identified that atomic-scale Pt is the active site for C-N addition with Pt₁²⁺ for Markovnikov C-N formation and atomic Pt (Pt₁^δ+ and Pt₁⁰) contributing to anti-Markovnikov C-N formation. A selectivity of up to 92% to the anti-Markovnikov product has been achieved with atomic Pt in the addition of styrene and pyrrolidine. A cooperating catalysis for the anti-Markovnikov C-N formation between Pt₁^δ+ and Pt₁⁰ has been revealed. The reaction mechanism has been studied by EPR spectra and in situ FT-IR spectra of adsorption/desorption of styrene and/or pyrrolidine. It has been demonstrated that Pt₁⁰ activates amine to be electrophilic, while Pt₁^δ+ activates C═C by π-bonding to make β-C nucleophilic. The attack of nucleophilic β-C to electrophilic amine affords the anti-Markovnikov addition. This strategy proves highly effective to a variety of substrates in anti-Markovnikov C-N formation, including aromatic/aliphatic amines reacting with aromatic olefins, aromatic/aliphatic olefins with aromatic amines, and linear aliphatic olefins with secondary aliphatic amines. It is believed that the results provide evidence for the function of varied chemical states in monatomic catalysis.

Enhancing the catalytic properties of well-defined electrophilic platinum complexes

Platinum complexes have been often considered as the least reactive of the group 10 triad metals. Slow kinetics are behind this lack of reactivity but, still, some industrially relevant catalytic process are dominated by platinum compounds and sometimes different selectivities can be found in comparison to Ni or Pd. Nevertheless, during the last years, it has been reported that the catalytic behaviour of well-defined platinum derivatives can be improved through a judicious choice of their electronic and steric properties, leading to highly electrophilic or low-electron count platinum systems. In this feature article, we highlight some catalytic processes in which well-defined electrophilic platinum complexes or coordinatively unsaturated systems play an important role in their catalytic activity.