A N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) platinum complex as pre-catalyst for the intramolecular hydroamination of olefins with secondary alkylamines and oxidative amination of ω-alkenic amines

Development of highly efficient platinum catalysts for hydroalkoxylation and hydroamination of unactivated alkenes

Hydrofunctionalization, the direct addition of an X-H (e.g., X=O, N) bond across an alkene, is a desirable strategy to make heterocycles that are important structural components of naturally occurring molecules. Described here is the design and discovery of "donor-acceptor"-type platinum catalysts that are highly effective in both hydroalkoxylation and hydroamination of unactivated alkenes over a broad range of substrates under mild conditions. A number of alkene substitution patterns are accommodated, including tri-substituted, 1,1-disubstituted, (E)-disubstituted, (Z)-disubstituted and even mono-substituted double bonds. Detailed mechanistic investigations suggest a plausible pathway that includes an unexpected dissociation/re-association of the electron-deficient ligand to form an alkene-bound "donor-acceptor"-type intermediate. These mechanistic studies help understand the origins of the high reactivity exhibited by the catalytic system, and provide a foundation for the rational design of chiral catalysts towards asymmetric hydrofunctionalization reactions.

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.

N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes in C-H Activation Reactions

In this contribution, we provide a comprehensive overview of C-H activation methods promoted by NHC-transition metal complexes, covering the literature since 2002 (the year of the first report on metal-NHC-catalyzed C-H activation) through June 2019, focusing on both NHC ligands and C-H activation methods. This review covers C-H activation reactions catalyzed by group 8 to 11 NHC-metal complexes. Through discussing the role of NHC ligands in promoting challenging C-H activation methods, the reader is provided with an overview of this important area and its crucial role in forging carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds by directly engaging ubiquitous C-H bonds.

Chiral Bidentate NHC Ligands Based on the 1,1'-Binaphthyl Scaffold: Synthesis and Application in Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Asymmetric Reactions

The use of the chiral 1,1'-binaphthyl scaffold to construct chiral ligands can be traced back for a long time. However, the development of bidentate NHC ligands based on the same backbone has only appeared recently. In this account, we describe the design and synthesis of a new family of chiral NHC ligands based on the 1,1'-binaphthyl scaffold and demonstrate the applications of these chiral NHC-metal complexes in the catalyzed oxidative kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols, asymmetric carbon-carbon bond formations, hydrosilylations, and cyclizations of 1,6-enynes. The chiral NHC ligands containing the 1,1'-binaphthyl backbone can be synthesized in good yields from enantiomerically pure 1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diamine. These transition metals coordinated with chiral bidentate NHC ligands exhibit high catalytic activities and good enantioselectivities for a wide range of metal-catalyzed asymmetric reactions.

Recent advances in metal free- and late transition metal-catalysed hydroamination of unactivated alkenes

This Perspective article outlines some of the recent advancements in the development of (chiral) metal-free and late transition metal catalysts for hydroamination of unactivated alkenes.

Reactivity of functionalized indoles with rare-earth metal amides. Synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity of rare-earth metal complexes incorporating indolyl ligands

The synthesized rare-earth metal amido complexes displayed different catalytic activity for intramolecular hydroamination of aminoalkenes.

Synthesis of axially chiral gold complexes and their applications in asymmetric catalyses

Several novel chiral N-heterocyclic carbene and phosphine ligands were prepared from (S)-BINOL. Moreover, their ligated Au complexes were also successfully synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystal diffraction. A weak gold-π interaction between the Au atom and the aromatic ring in these gold complexes was identified. Furthermore, we confirmed the formation of a pair of diastereomeric isomers in NHC gold complexes bearing an axially chiral binaphthyl moiety derived from the hindered rotation around C–C and C–N bonds. In the asymmetric intramolecular hydroamination reaction most of these chiral Au(I) complexes showed good catalytic activities towards olefins tethered with a NHTs functional group to give the corresponding product in moderate yields and up to 29% ee.