“…Although homogeneous catalysts for ester hydrogenation, based primarily on ruthenium, have been known since the early 1980s, 3 progress in the development of highly efficient catalysts has greatly accelerated over the past decade. 4 In 2006, Milstein and co-workers reported a highly active ruthenium PNN-pincer catalyst for ester hydrogenation, which is capable of reversible protonation and deprotonation at the methylene carbon linking the pyridine ring to the di-tert-butylphosphino moiety (Figure 1). 5 This acid/base reactivity at a ligand site has become an important design principle for catalytic hydrogenation of polar bonds via the heterolytic activation of H 2 .…”
Ruthenium
complexes supported by two new CNN-pincer ligands were
synthesized. Both were tested as catalysts for the hydrogenation of
esters under mild conditions (105 °C, 6 bar H2). A
striking dependence on ligand structure was observed, as a dimethylamino-substituted
ligand gave a nearly inactive catalyst, while a diethylamino-substituted
variant gave up to 980 catalytic turnovers for the hydrogenation of
benzyl benzoate. This system catalyzes the hydrogenation of various
substrates including ethyl, benzyl, and hexyl esters, but is surprisingly
unreactive toward methyl esters. Experiments demonstrate that base-catalyzed
transesterification is rapid under the reaction conditions and that
methyl esters are effectively hydrogenated when benzyl alcohol is
added to the reaction mixture. The reverse reaction, dehydrogenation
of primary alcohols to give esters, was tested as well; up to 920
catalytic turnovers were observed for the dehydrogenation of 1-hexanol
to hexyl hexanoate.
“…Although homogeneous catalysts for ester hydrogenation, based primarily on ruthenium, have been known since the early 1980s, 3 progress in the development of highly efficient catalysts has greatly accelerated over the past decade. 4 In 2006, Milstein and co-workers reported a highly active ruthenium PNN-pincer catalyst for ester hydrogenation, which is capable of reversible protonation and deprotonation at the methylene carbon linking the pyridine ring to the di-tert-butylphosphino moiety (Figure 1). 5 This acid/base reactivity at a ligand site has become an important design principle for catalytic hydrogenation of polar bonds via the heterolytic activation of H 2 .…”
Ruthenium
complexes supported by two new CNN-pincer ligands were
synthesized. Both were tested as catalysts for the hydrogenation of
esters under mild conditions (105 °C, 6 bar H2). A
striking dependence on ligand structure was observed, as a dimethylamino-substituted
ligand gave a nearly inactive catalyst, while a diethylamino-substituted
variant gave up to 980 catalytic turnovers for the hydrogenation of
benzyl benzoate. This system catalyzes the hydrogenation of various
substrates including ethyl, benzyl, and hexyl esters, but is surprisingly
unreactive toward methyl esters. Experiments demonstrate that base-catalyzed
transesterification is rapid under the reaction conditions and that
methyl esters are effectively hydrogenated when benzyl alcohol is
added to the reaction mixture. The reverse reaction, dehydrogenation
of primary alcohols to give esters, was tested as well; up to 920
catalytic turnovers were observed for the dehydrogenation of 1-hexanol
to hexyl hexanoate.
“…Unlike ketones and aldehydes, esters are generally inert toward mild reductants as typified by NaBH 4 and instead require more aggressive reductants such as BH 3 and LiAlH 4 , reagents which can pose significant handling risks and often suffer from poor selectivity in the presence of other reducible functionalities . Catalytic hydrogenation has been explored extensively as a more atom-efficient and selective route to ester reduction; however, the high pressures and temperatures required to achieve satisfactory conversions, typically in excess of 5 bar and 100 °C, pose significant safety concerns and require capital-intensive equipment . The need for safer and more convenient ester reduction methodologies has generated great interest in recent years in catalytic hydrosilylation, leading to a wealth of reports detailing the selective reduction of esters and other carbonyl groups at ambient pressures and moderate temperatures (typically <100 °C) .…”
Tris[N,N-bis(trimethylsilyl)amido]lanthanum
(LaNTMS) is an efficient, highly active, and selective
homogeneous catalyst for ester reduction with pinacolborane (HBpin).
Alkyl and aryl esters are cleaved to the corresponding alkoxy- and
aryloxy-boronic esters which can then be straightforwardly hydrolyzed
to alcohols. Ester reduction is achieved with 1 mol % catalyst loading
at 25–60 °C, and most substrates are quantitatively reduced
in 1 h. Nitro, halide, and amino functional groups are well tolerated,
and ester reduction is completely chemoselective over potentially
competing intra- or intermolecular alkene or alkyne hydroboration.
Kinetic studies, isotopic labeling, and density functional theory
calculations with energetic span analysis argue that ester reduction
proceeds through a rate-determining hydride-transfer step that is
ligand-centered (hydride is transferred directly from bound HBpin
to bound ester) and not through a metal hydride-based intermediate
that is often observed in organolanthanide catalysis. The active catalyst
is proposed to be a La-hemiacetal, [(Me3Si)2N]2La-OCHR(OR)[HBpin], generated in situ from LaNTMS via hydroboronolysis of a single La–N(SiMe3)2 bond. These results add to the growing compendium of selective
oxygenate transformations that LaNTMS is competent to catalyze,
further underscoring the value and versatility of homoleptic lanthanide
complexes in homogeneous catalytic organic synthesis.
“…In contrast to heterogeneous processes, they can often be conducted at milder reaction conditions, reducing side-product formation . Additionally, (de)hydrogenations use smaller amounts of catalysts and additives than the traditional methods with stoichiometric reagents.…”
The complex Ru-MACHO has been previously
shown to undergo uncontrolled
degradation subsequent to base-induced dehydrochlorination in the
absence of a substrate. In this study, we report that stabilization
of the dehydrochlorinated Ru-MACHO with phosphines furnishes complexes
whose structures depend on the phosphines employed: while PMe3 led to the expected octahedral RuII complex, PPh3 provided access to a trigonal-bipyramidal Ru0 complex.
Because both complexes proved to be active in base-free (de)hydrogenation
reactions, thorough quantum-chemical calculations were employed to
understand the reaction mechanism. The calculations show that both
complexes lead to the same mechanistic scenario after phosphine dissociation
and, therefore, only differ energetically in this step. According
to the calculations, the typically proposed metal–ligand cooperation
mechanism is not the most viable pathway. Instead, a metal–ligand-assisted
pathway is preferred. Finally, experiments show that phosphine addition
enhances the catalyst’s performance in comparison to the PR3-free “activated” Ru-MACHO.
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