Aldol reaction via in situ olefin migration in water

Carbon–carbon bond formation and green chemistry: one dream and 30 years hence

Carbon–carbon bond formation is the core of organic synthesis, in which organometallic reagents play the key role in the forms of 1,2-nucleophilic additions, conjugate additions, and transition-metal catalyzed cross-couplings. These reactions have enabled the production of a wide range of organic molecules in our society. Despite the enormous power of organometallic reagents in chemical synthesis, they have inherent drawbacks in the eyes of future sustainability. This account summarizes our efforts over the past three decades on the exploration of new scientific means to overcome the drawbacks and limitations of these classical organometallic reactions.

Reactions in Water - A Greener Approach Using Ruthenium Catalysts

Reactions using transition metals as catalysts have emerged as an efficient method in the recent times. However, the selection of solvent plays a crucial role in this regard. Several solvents used traditionally suffer majorly with problems of toxicity; high boiling point etc. leading to drastic reaction conditions. Water being a non-toxic, non-inflammable and environmentally benign can replace the hazardous organic solvents in laboratory as well as industry. Maintaining a minimum catalyst loading percentage we can advantageously avail high levels of selectivity. Water was found to be a good solvent medium for several metal catalysed reactions. An intramolecular deprotonation mechanism is followed by the ruthenium (II) catalysts in water; thereby, facilitating the catalytic action of the metal. These studies can help the industrial chemists to utilize water as a solvent for their reactions towards improvement of their waste management procedure. This review mainly focuses on the several recent developments in the above direction.

From Allylic Alcohols to Aldols by Using Iron Carbonyls as Catalysts: Computational Study on a Novel Tandem Isomerization-Aldolization Reaction

The tandem isomerization-aldolization reaction between allyl alcohol and formaldehyde mediated by [Fe(CO)3] was studied with the density functional B3LYP method. Starting from the key [(enol)Fe(CO)3] complex, several reaction paths for the reaction with formaldehyde were explored. The results show that the most favorable reaction path involves first an enol/allyl alcohol ligand-exchange process followed by direct condensation of formaldehyde with the free enol. During this process, formation of the new C-C bond takes place simultaneously with a proton transfer between the enol and the aldehyde. Therefore, the role of [Fe(CO)3] is to catalyze the allyl alcohol to enol isomerization affording the free enol, which adds to the aldehyde in a carbonyl-ene type reaction. Similar results were obtained for the reaction between allyl alcohol and acetaldehyde.

Application of a new tandem isomerization-aldolization reaction of allylic alcohols to the synthesis of three diastereoisomers of (2R)-1,2-O-isopropylidene-4-methylpentane-1,2,3,5-tetraol

The tandem isomerization-aldolization reaction of (2R)-1,2-O-isopropylidene-4-penten-1,2,3-triol 3 and formaldehyde gives a mixture of two aldol products 2a and 2b. The stereoselective reduction of each compound by l-Selectride affords two diastereoisomers of (2R)-1,2-O-Isopropylidene-4-methylpentane-1,2,3,5-tetraol while a third diastereoisomer is obtained by stereoselective reduction with Me(4)NHB(OAc)(3).

Aldol- and Mannich-type reactions via in situ olefin migration in ionic liquid

An aldol-type and a Mannich-type reaction via the cross-coupling of aldehydes and imines with allylic alcohols catalyzed by RuCl(2)(PPh(3))(3) was developed with ionic liquid as the solvent. The solvent/catalyst system could be reused for at least five times with no loss of reactivity.