Green and convenient: Olefins are oxidized to 1,2‐diols in high yield with 30 % H2O2 in the presence of resin‐supported sulfonic acid (see scheme) under metal‐free conditions without any organic solvent. The catalyst can be recycled easily and is effective for at least 10 cycles.

Multinuclear alkylene zinc (MAZ) compounds of the type EtZn-(R″-Zn)n-Et (R″ = ethyl and propyl branched alkylene groups) were synthesized by a simple one-step procedure in nonpolar hydrocarbon solvents from α,ω-dienes (e.g., 1,7-octadiene or 1,9-decadiene) and diethylzinc using a bis(salicylaldiminato)Zr(IV) complex, [(2-methylcyclohexyl)N═CH(2-O-C6H3-3,5-di-tert-butyl)]2ZrMe2, as a catalyst. The MAZ serves as a divalent reversible chain-transfer agent for olefin polymerization, resulting in telechelic Zn-metalated polyolefins whose molecular weights are controllable over a wide range. The Zn-terminated telechelics serve as a polymer precursor for further reactions and can be converted into a variety of telechelic functionalized polyolefins in high yield.

Cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol are oxidized to adipic acid in high yield with aqueous 30% H 2 O 2 in the presence of H 2 WO 4 as a catalyst under organic solvent-and halide-free conditions. It is important that no solvent is used in order to achieve high reactivity in this heterogeneous reaction. The use of t-butyl alcohol or dioxane as a solvent (homogeneous conditions) significantly decreases the yield of adipic acid from cyclohexanone. This ketone-to-dicarboxylic acid conversion is applicable to five-to eight-membered cyclic ketones. No operational problems are foreseen for a large-scale version of this green process.

No abstract

The reaction of Pt(η 2 -C 2 H 4 )(PPh 3 ) 2 (1) with HPh 2 Ge(SiMe 2 ) n GePh 2 H (2; n ) 0-3) initially forms the hydrido(germyl 3), followed by the generation of the cyclic bis(germyl)platinum complex Pt[GePh 2 -(SiMe 2 ) n GePh 2 ](PPh 3 ) 2 ( 4) and finally formation of a dinuclear platinum complex with bridging diphenylgermyl ligands containing a Pt-Pt bond, [Pt(µ-GePh 2 )-(PPh 3 )] 2 (5). The structures of 4 (n ) 2) and 5 were determined by X-ray crystallography.