[reaction: see text] Imidazol-2-ylidenes, a family of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC), are efficient catalysts in the transesterification between esters and alcohols. Low catalyst loadings of aryl- or alkyl-substituted NHC catalysts mediate the acylation of alcohols with vinyl acetate in convenient reaction times at room temperature. Commercially available and more difficult to cleave methyl esters react with numerous alcohols in the presence of alkyl-substituted NHC to form efficiently the corresponding esters in very short reaction times.

[reaction: see text] The synthesis and characterization of [Pd(IPr)Cl(2)](2) (1), an air- and moisture-stable complex, is reported. The utilization of 1 as a catalyst for amination of aryl chlorides and bromides with a variety of amine coupling partners under mild conditions is described. The amination reactions with 1 show a remarkable insensitivity to oxygen and water, and thus the amination reactions could be performed in air on the benchtop with undried reagent grade solvents and substrates with small effects on reaction times and conversions.

N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) are efficient catalysts for transesterification/acylation reactions involving secondary alcohols. The catalytic transformations are carried out employing low catalyst loadings in convenient reaction times at room temperature.

The catalytic effect of alkali-metal tert-butoxide clusters on the rate of ester interchange for several pairs of esters has been determined in nonpolar and weakly polar solvents. Reactivities increase in the order (Li+ < Na+ < K+ < Rb+ < Cs+) with the fastest rates reaching 107 catalytic turnovers per hour (TO/h). Ester interchange rates were sensitive to the size of both the transferring OR groups and the ester substituent. Phenyl esters did not exchange with aliphatic esters due to nonstatistical breakdown patterns in the tetrahedral intermediate. A first-order equilibration analysis on the interchange between tert-butyl acetate (tBuAc) and methyl benzoate (MeBz) (5 mol % NaOtBu) indicated enhanced reaction rates as the reaction proceeded. Isolation and quenching (DCl/D2O) of precipitated catalyst points to a mechanism whereby sequential methoxy incorporation into the catalyst cluster increases activity, but eventually precipitates out of solution as a 3:1 OMe:OtBu cluster. The rate law was determined to be k obs[MeBz]1[tBuAc]0[NaOtBu] x , where x = 1.2(1), 1.4(1), and 0.85(1) in hexane, ether, and THF, respectively, under conditions where tetrameric catalyst aggregates are expected. Reaction rates were generally observed to be higher in nonpolar solvents (hexane > toluene, ether > THF). Eyring analysis over a 40 °C range yielded ΔH ‡ = 10.0(1) kcal mol-1 and ΔS ‡ = −32(3) eu. A Hammett (σ) plot generated with para-substituted methyl benzoates gave ρ = +2.35 (R = 0.996). These results are interpreted in terms of a catalytic cycle composed of two coupled transesterification reactions with a turnover-limiting addition of a tert-butoxy-containing cluster (tetramer) to methyl benzoate. Catalyst relative reactivities (Cs+ > Rb+ > K+ > Na+ > Li+) are interpreted in terms of competitive electrostatic interactions between the alkali-metal and ground-state and transition-state anions. This analysis predicts the observed linear dependence between log(k obs) and 1/r ionic.

The average solution aggregation state of the ester interchange catalyst 1, obtained by mixing 1 equiv of NaOt-Bu and 3 equiv of NaOC(6)H(4)-4-t-Bu, was determined to be 4.0 by vapor pressure osmometry (VPO) in THF. Low-temperature (1)H NMR spectra of 1 indicated that the THF solution contained a mixture of tetrameric clusters. On the basis of symmetry arguments and the sensitivity of the different species to the alkoxide/aryloxide ratio, the compounds were determined to be mixed clusters with 0:4, 1:3, 2:2, and 3:1 mixtures of the NaOt-Bu and NaOC(6)H(4)-4-t-Bu components. On a per -Ot-Bu basis, each cluster has a similar absolute activity, though the aryloxide-rich catalysts are significantly longer-lived. Unlike 1, catalysts containing ortho-substituted aryloxides, 2, do not give a strictly statistical distribution of clusters, and the activities of these catalysts depend on steric and electronic factors, though the absolute rate differences are not large.