Low-valent TiII species have typically been synthesized by the reaction of TiIV halides with strong metal reductants. Herein we report that TiII species can be generated simply by reacting TiIV imido complexes with 2 equiv of alkyne, yielding a metallacycle that can reductively eliminate pyrrole while liberating TiII. In order to probe the generality of this process, TiII-catalyzed alkyne trimerization reactions were carried out with a diverse range of TiIV precatalysts.

Herein, we describe the use of iterative supervised principal component analysis (ISPCA) in de novo catalyst design. The regioselective synthesis of 2,5-dimethyl-1,3,4-triphenyl-1H-pyrrole (C) via Ti-catalyzed formal [2+2+1] cycloaddition of phenyl propyne and azobenzene was targeted as a proof of principle. The initial reaction conditions led to an unselective mixture of all possible pyrrole regioisomers. ISPCA was conducted on a training set of catalysts, and their performance was regressed against the scores from the top three principal components. Component loadings from this PCA space along with k-means clustering were used to inform the design of new test catalysts. The selectivity of a prospective test set was predicted in silico using the ISPCA model, and only optimal candidates were synthesized and tested experimentally. This data-driven predictive-modeling workflow was iterated, and after only three generations the catalytic selectivity was improved from 0.5 (statistical mixture of products) to over 11 (> 90% C) by incorporating 2,6-dimethyl-4-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)pyridine as a ligand. The successful development of a highly selective catalyst without resorting to long, stochastic screening processes demonstrates the inherent power of ISPCA in de novo catalyst design and should motivate the general use of ISPCA in reaction development. File list (4) download file view on ChemRxiv PCA Manuscript.pdf (2.53 MiB) download file view on ChemRxiv PCA SI.pdf (10.22 MiB) download file view on ChemRxiv PCA4U2.m (43.70 KiB) download file view on ChemRxiv PCAModelingData.xlsx (94.82 KiB)

<div> <div> <div> <p>Herein, we describe the use of iterative supervised principal component analysis (ISPCA) in de novo catalyst design. The regioselective synthesis of 2,5-dimethyl-1,3,4-triphenyl-1H- pyrrole (C) via Ti- catalyzed formal [2+2+1] cycloaddition of phenyl propyne and azobenzene was targeted as a proof of principle. The initial reaction conditions led to an unselective mixture of all possible pyrrole regioisomers. ISPCA was conducted on a training set of catalysts, and their performance was regressed against the scores from the top three principal components. Component loadings from this PCA space along with k-means clustering were used to inform the design of new test catalysts. The selectivity of a prospective test set was predicted in silico using the ISPCA model, and only optimal candidates were synthesized and tested experimentally. This data-driven predictive-modeling workflow was iterated, and after only three generations the catalytic selectivity was improved from 0.5 (statistical mixture of products) to over 11 (> 90% C) by incorporating 2,6-dimethyl- 4-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)pyridine as a ligand. The successful development of a highly selective catalyst without resorting to long, stochastic screening processes demonstrates the inherent power of ISPCA in de novo catalyst design and should motivate the general use of ISPCA in reaction development. </p> </div> </div> </div>

The ring-opening oxidative amination of methylenecyclopropanes (MCPs) with diazenes catalyzed by py3TiCl2(NR) complexes is reported.