Epoxide ring-opening and Meinwald rearrangement reactions of epoxides catalyzed by mesoporous aluminosilicates

Mechanistic Studies on the Hexadecafluorophthalocyanine-Iron-Catalyzed Wacker-Type Oxidation of Olefins to Ketones*

The hexadecafluorophthalocyanine-iron complex FePcF₁₆ was recently shown to convert olefins into ketones in the presence of stoichiometric amounts of triethylsilane in ethanol at room temperature under an oxygen atmosphere. Herein, we describe an extensive mechanistic investigation for the conversion of 2-vinylnaphthalene into 2-acetylnaphthalene as model reaction. A variety of studies including deuterium- and ¹⁸ O₂ -labeling experiments, ESI-MS, and ⁵⁷ Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy were performed to identify the intermediates involved in the catalytic cycle of the oxidation process. Finally, a detailed and well-supported reaction mechanism for the FePcF₁₆ -catalyzed Wacker-type oxidation is proposed.

Catalytic, Kinetic, and Mechanistic Insights into the Fixation of CO2 with Epoxides Catalyzed by Phenol-Functionalized Phosphonium Salts

A series of hydroxy-functionalized phosphonium salts were studied as bifunctional catalysts for the conversion of CO2 with epoxides under mild and solvent-free conditions. The reaction in the presence of a phenol-based phosphonium iodide proceeded via a first order rection kinetic with respect to the substrate. Notably, in contrast to the aliphatic analogue, the phenol-based catalyst showed no product inhibition. The temperature dependence of the reaction rate was investigated, and the activation energy for the model reaction was determined from an Arrhenius-plot (Ea =39.6 kJ mol-1 ). The substrate scope was also evaluated. Under the optimized reaction conditions, 20 terminal epoxides were converted at room temperature to the corresponding cyclic carbonates, which were isolated in yields up to 99 %. The reaction is easily scalable and was performed on a scale up to 50 g substrate. Moreover, this method was applied in the synthesis of the antitussive agent dropropizine starting from epichlorohydrin and phenylpiperazine. Furthermore, DFT calculations were performed to rationalize the mechanism and the high efficiency of the phenol-based phosphonium iodide catalyst. The calculation confirmed the activation of the epoxide via hydrogen bonding for the iodide salt, which facilitates the ring-opening step. Notably, the effective Gibbs energy barrier regarding this step is 97 kJ mol-1 for the bromide and 72 kJ mol-1 for the iodide salt, which explains the difference in activity.

Oxidative Rearrangement of Stilbenes to 2,2-Diaryl-2-hydroxyacetaldehydes

A one-pot oxone-mediated/iodine-catalyzed oxidative rearrangement of stilbenes leading to 2,2-diaryl-2-hydroxyacetaldehydes is described. Control experiments revealed that a 2,2-diarylacetaldehyde was initially formed that undergoes subsequent α-hydroxylation. The resulting α-hydroxyaldehydes have been subjected to a one-pot Still-Gennari olefination followed by cyclization, leading to 5,5-diaryl-γ-butenolides.

Catalytic nanosponges of acidic aluminosilicates for plastic degradation and CO2 to fuel conversion

The synthesis of solid acids with strong zeolite-like acidity and textural properties like amorphous aluminosilicates (ASAs) is still a challenge. In this work, we report the synthesis of amorphous "acidic aluminosilicates (AAS)", which possesses Brønsted acidic sites like in zeolites and textural properties like ASAs. AAS catalyzes different reactions (styrene oxide ring-opening, vesidryl synthesis, Friedel-Crafts alkylation, jasminaldehyde synthesis, m-xylene isomerization, and cumene cracking) with better performance than state-of-the-art zeolites and amorphous aluminosilicates. Notably, AAS efficiently converts a range of waste plastics to hydrocarbons at significantly lower temperatures. A Cu-Zn-Al/AAS hybrid shows excellent performance for CO₂ to fuel conversion with 79% selectivity for dimethyl ether. Conventional and DNP-enhanced solid-state NMR provides a molecular-level understanding of the distinctive Brønsted acidic sites of these materials. Due to their unique combination of strong acidity and accessibility, AAS will be a potential alternative to zeolites.

Plasma-Assisted Immobilization of a Phosphonium Salt and Its Use as a Catalyst in the Valorization of CO2

The first plasma-assisted immobilization of an organocatalyst, namely a bifunctional phosphonium salt in an amorphous hydrogenated carbon coating, is reported. This method makes the requirement for prefunctionalized supports redundant. The immobilized catalyst was characterized by solid-state ¹³ C and ³¹ P NMR spectroscopy, SEM, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The immobilized catalyst (1 mol %) was employed in the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxides and CO₂ . Notably, the efficiency of the plasma-treated catalyst on SiO₂ was higher than those of the SiO₂ support impregnated with the catalyst and even the homogeneous counterpart. After optimization of the reaction conditions, 13 terminal and four internal epoxides were converted with CO₂ to the respective cyclic carbonates in yields of up to 99 %. Furthermore, the possibility to recycle the immobilized catalyst was evaluated. Even though the catalyst could be reused, the yields gradually decreased from the third run. However, this is the first example of the recycling of a plasma-immobilized catalyst, which opens new possibilities in the recovery and reuse of catalysts.

Microwave-assisted organic acid–base-co-catalyzed tandem Meinwald rearrangement and annulation of styrylepoxides

A microwave-assisted acid and base co-catalyzed strategy shows very high efficiency in the tandem reaction for the conversion of styrylepoxides into [1,1′-biaryl]-3-carbaldehydes.

BF3·OEt2-promoted tandem Meinwald rearrangement and nucleophilic substitution of oxiranecarbonitriles

Introducing a cyano leaving group into epoxides results in BF₃·OEt₂-promoted tandem Meinwald rearrangement and nucleophilic substitution to synthesize arylacetic derivatives from vicinal arylcyanoepoxides.

Biomimetic Non-Heme Iron-Catalyzed Epoxidation of Challenging Terminal Alkenes Using Aqueous H2O2 as an Environmentally Friendly Oxidant

Catalysis mediated by iron complexes is emerging as an eco-friendly and inexpensive option in comparison to traditional metal catalysis. The epoxidation of alkenes constitutes an attractive application of iron(III) catalysis, in which terminal olefins are challenging substrates. Herein, we describe our study on the design of biomimetic non-heme ligands for the in situ generation of iron(III) complexes and their evaluation as potential catalysts in epoxidation of terminal olefins. Since it is well-known that active sites of oxidases might involve imidazole fragment of histidine, various simple imidazole derivatives (seven compounds) were initially evaluated in order to find the best reaction conditions and to develop, subsequently, more elaborated amino acid-derived peptide-like chiral ligands (10 derivatives) for enantioselective epoxidations.

Nanoporous Aluminosilicate-Catalyzed Telescoped Acetalization-Direct Aldol Reactions of Acetals with 1,3-Dicarbonyl Compounds

Nanoporous aluminosilicate materials, synthesized by an evaporation-induced self-assembly process, catalyze the direct aldol reaction of acyclic acetals with a range of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to produce the corresponding aldol addition products in high yield, rather than the expected Knoevenagel elimination products. By carrying out the reaction in the presence of either dimethoxy propane or the corresponding orthoester, it is possible to capitalize on the ability of these aluminosilicate materials to catalyze the corresponding acetalization reaction leading to the development of novel telescoped, acetalization-direct aldol addition reaction protocols.

One-pot synthesis of epoxides from benzyl alcohols and aldehydes

A one-pot synthesis of epoxides from commercially available benzyl alcohols and aldehydes is described. The reaction proceeds through in situ generation of sulfonium salts from benzyl alcohols and their subsequent deprotonation for use in Corey–Chaykovsky epoxidation of aldehydes. The generality of the method is exemplified by the synthesis of 34 epoxides that were made from an array of electronically and sterically varied alcohols and aldehydes.

Chiral Pentacarboxycyclopentadiene-Based Brønsted Acid-Catalyzed Enantioselective Desymmetrization of Meso-Epoxides by 2-Mercaptobenzothiazoles

Enantioselective desymmetrization of meso-epoxides by 2-mercaptobenzothiazoles was realized by using the pentacarboxycyclopentadiene-based chiral Brønsted acid in combination of N-isopropylaniline as amine additive to give up to 90.5:9.5 er of the ring opening products.

Benzylic Ammonium Ylide Mediated Epoxidations

A high yielding synthesis of stilbene oxides using ammonium ylides has been developed. It turned out that the amine leaving group plays a crucial role as trimethylamine gives higher yields than DABCO or quinuclidine. The amine group also influences the diastereoselectivity, and detailed DFT calculations to understand the key parameters of these reactions have been carried out.

Efficient epoxide isomerization within a self-assembled hexameric organic capsule

The supramolecular organic nano-capsule formed by the self-assembly of six resorcin[4]arene units efficiently promotes the isomerization of epoxides (Meinwald isomerization) to the corresponding carbonyl compounds.

Catalytic applications of mesoporous silica-based materials

Mesoporous materials featuring high surface areas (>600m2g−1), narrow pore size distribution and tuneable pores diameters (>2nm), have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years due to their promising properties and applications in various areas including adsorption, separation, drug delivery, sensing and catalysis. Catalytic applications of such materials have been extended to numerous processes and reactions which range from acid catalysis (alkylations, acylations, esterifications, biodiesel production, etc.) to redox chemistries (oxidation of alcohols, alkenes, sulfides and hydrogenations of acids, aldehydes and ketones and alkenes/alkynes). In this chapter, we aim to provide an overview on the utilisation of mesoporous materials in heterogeneous catalysis, with special emphasis on acid and redox catalysed processes.