COMMUNICATION
poly(methylhydrosiloxane) (PMHS), (EtO) MeSiH, and
tion reaction with acetophenone was performed with the fil-
trate of a {Cu3(BTC) }-catalyzed reaction. To our surprise,
2
Ph SiH did not lead to the desired 1-phenylethanol, the re-
ACHTUNGTRENNUNG
2
2
2
action proceeded smoothly when the more reactive phenyl-
silane was used (Table 1, entries 4–6). Even in the presence
we again obtained near-complete conversion (98%) and
94% yield of 1-phenylethanol, apparently thus demonstrat-
ing significant catalyst leaching.
Moreover, we looked for the activity of any acidic or
basic impurities present in the reaction. To our surprise,
smooth reduction of acetophenone took place in the pres-
ence of base in methanol at room temperature. Whilst it is
known that phenylsilane undergoes alcoholysis with alcohol
Table 1. Hydrosilylation of acetophenone with {Cu
silanes and solvents.
3 2
ACHTUNGTNERNUG( BTC) }: variation of
[24]
and base, there have been no reports on the reduction of
ketones under such conditions. In the presence of 5 mol%
of tBuONa or an inexpensive 1m solution of NaOH in meth-
anol, the starting material disappeared quickly, leading to
the formation of the corresponding silyl ether in good to
quantitative yield (Table 2). Interestingly, apart from
PhSiH , other less expensive silanes, such as (EtO) MeSiH
[
a]
Entry
Cu
3
A
C
H
T
U
N
G
T
R
E
N
N
U
N
G
(BTC)
2
[mg]
Silane
(EtO) MeSiH
Ph SiH
PMHS
Solvent T [8C] Yield [%]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
1
7.5
7.5
7.5
7.5
1
1
1
1
1
A
H
U
G
R
N
U
G
2
THF
65
<1
6
2
2
toluene
toluene
toluene
toluene
toluene
AcOEt
RT
RT
RT
RT
RT
RT
RT
RT
RT
RT
<1
>99
99
PhSiH
PhSiH
PhSiH
PhSiH
PhSiH
PhSiH
PhSiH
PhSiH
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
[
[
[
[
b]
b]
b]
b]
99
74
3
2
and Ph SiH worked well in this benchmark reduction.
2
2
CH
Et
2
Cl
O
2
40
94
2
[
[
b]
0
1
1
1
THF
n-hexane
81
38
[a]
Table 2. Base-catalyzed hydrosilylation of acetophenone.
b]
[
a] Reaction conditions: MOF (0.0125 mmol), acetophenone (0.5 mmol),
toluene (2 mL), then addition of the silane (1.3 equiv (EtO) MeSiH;
equiv Ph SiH ; 3 equiv PMHS; 2 equiv PhSiH ). After 16 h, NaOH in
2
2
2
2
3
methanol (2 mL, 1m) was added to the solution at 08C and the mixture
was left to stir for 2 h at RT. Yield was determined by GC analysis (50 m
Lipodex E, 95–2008C) with diglyme as an internal standard; [b] Reaction
time: 1 h. THF=tetrahydrofuran, Ac=acetyl.
[
a]
Entry
Base [5 mol%]
Silane [2 equiv]
(EtO) MeSiH
PhSiH
Ph SiH
(EtO) MeSiH
Conv. [%]
Yield [%]
1
2
3
4
5
tBuOK
tBuOK
tBuOK
tBuONa
tBuONa
NaOH
A
H
U
G
R
N
U
G
2
>99
>99
>99
>99
99
98
98
96
95
96
60
3
2
2
A
H
U
T
E
N
N
2
PhSiH
PhSiH
3
of only 1 mg of {Cu
A
H
U
G
E
N
N
(BTC) }, which corresponds to around
[b]
3
2
6
3
60
1
mol% of copper, we obtained >99% yield of 1-phenyl-
[
(
a] Reaction conditions: acetophenone (0.5 mmol), toluene (2 mL), silane
2 equiv). After 1 h, NaOH (2m) was added to the solution at 08C and
ACHTUNGTRENNUNGe thanol within 1 hour. With respect to the solvent, the best
results were observed in toluene and diethyl ether. Other
solvents, such as ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, and n-
hexane also worked, but gave significantly lower yields.
Noteworthy, in toluene and diethyl ether the blue color of
the mixture was stirred for 2 h at RT. Yield was determined by GC analy-
sis (50 m Lipodex E, 95–2008C) with diglyme as an internal standard.
[
b] 1 mmol acetophenone, addition of the silane (2 equiv). After 0.5 h,
NaOH in methanol (2 mL, 1m) was added to the solution at 08C and the
mixture was left to stir for 2 h at RT.
{
Cu ACHTUNGTRENNUNG( BTC) } did not change during the reaction. However,
3 2
in the other solvents the reaction solution turned black a
few minutes after the addition of silane. Apparently, in the
latter cases, leaching of copper ions and formation of
copper(0) took place. This effect proceeded within minutes
in n-hexane, whilst in toluene it was only observed after
The performance of these simple bases was quite unex-
pected, considering the reaction of ketones and aldehydes
with stoichiometric amounts of pentacoordinated hydrosi-
[25]
[26]
lanes or with more complex lithium amino-alkoxides.
2
days. It is important to note that not only the solvent
In order to demonstrate the general applicability of these
convenient procedures, we investigated the hydrosilylation
of different ketones in the presence of: A) a 2m solution of
NaOH in methanol and B) catalytic amounts (5 mol%) of
tBuOK. Under the latter conditions, complete formation of
the corresponding silyl ether was obtained within a few mi-
nutes. The two procedures are compared in Table 3. In gen-
eral, the reactions catalyzed by potassium tert-butoxide gave
somewhat higher yields compared to NaOH. However, in
the case of 4-phenylbut-3-en-2-one, NaOH gave the allylic
alcohol in 76% yield, whilst tBuOK gave only 46% yield
(Table 3, entry 10). Acetophenones containing electron-
withdrawing substituents (Cl, Br, F, CF -, CN, NO ), in the
played a crucial role in preventing the formation of elemen-
tal copper, because reduction to copper(0) could also be ob-
served in toluene after 20 minutes, if no ketone was added.
Based on these initial promising results, we tested 15 dif-
ferent MOF-based materials in the standard reaction under
the optimized conditions (2 equivalents of PhSiH , toluene,
3
room temperature). In addition to various copper-based
MOFs, different zinc-, iron-, and one chromium-containing
metal-organic framework were considered and gave product
yields in the range 30–80%. However, there was no clear
trend observed with respect to the size of the pores or the
coordinating metal. Hence, we wanted to investigate in
more detail what was happening in the reaction media. In
order to confirm any leaching effect, a second hydrosilyla-
[23]
3
2
ortho-, meta-, or para-positions provided their corresponding
benzyl alcohols in moderate to good yields (48–92%) in the
2342
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Chem. Asian J. 2010, 5, 2341 – 2345