116668-46-3Relevant academic research and scientific papers
Oxidation and β-Alkylation of Alcohols Catalysed by Iridium(I) Complexes with Functionalised N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands
Jiménez, M. Victoria,Fernández-Tornos, Javier,Modrego, F. Javier,Pérez-Torrente, Jesús J.,Oro, Luis A.
, p. 17877 - 17889 (2015)
The borrowing hydrogen methodology allows for the use of alcohols as alkylating agents for C-C bond forming processes offering significant environmental benefits over traditional approaches. Iridium(I)-cyclooctadiene complexes having a NHC ligand with a O- or N-functionalised wingtip efficiently catalysed the oxidation and β-alkylation of secondary alcohols with primary alcohols in the presence of a base. The cationic complex [Ir(NCCH3)(cod)(MeIm(2- methoxybenzyl))][BF4] (cod=1,5-cyclooctadiene, MeIm=1-methylimidazolyl) having a rigid O-functionalised wingtip, shows the best catalyst performance in the dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol in acetone, with an initial turnover frequency (TOF0) of 1283 h-1, and also in the β-alkylation of 2-propanol with butan-1-ol, which gives a conversion of 94 % in 10 h with a selectivity of 99 % for heptan-2-ol. We have investigated the full reaction mechanism including the dehydrogenation, the cross-aldol condensation and the hydrogenation step by DFT calculations. Interestingly, these studies revealed the participation of the iridium catalyst in the key step leading to the formation of the new C-C bond that involves the reaction of an O-bound enolate generated in the basic medium with the electrophilic aldehyde.
