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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    A Stable Manganese Pincer Catalyst for the Selective Dehydrogenation of Methanol
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2016-12-2) Andérez-Fernández, María; Vogt, Lydia K.; Fischer, Steffen; Zhou, Wei; Jiao, Haijun; Garbe, Marcel; Elangovan, Saravanakumar; Junge, Kathrin; Junge, Henrik; Ludwig, Ralf; Beller, Matthias
    For the first time, structurally defined manganese pincer complexes catalyze the dehydrogenation of aqueous methanol to hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which is a transformation of interest with regard to the implementation of a hydrogen and methanol economy. Excellent long-term stability was demonstrated for the Mn-PNPiPr catalyst, as a turnover of more than 20 000 was reached. In addition to methanol, other important hydrogen carriers were also successfully dehydrogenated.
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    Toward Green Acylation of (Hetero)arenes: Palladium-Catalyzed Carbonylation of Olefins to Ketones
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publ., 2017) Liu, Jie; Wei, Zhihong; Jiao, Haijun; Jackstell, Ralf; Beller, Matthias
    Green Friedel-Crafts acylation reactions belong to the most desired transformations in organic chemistry. The resulting ketones constitute important intermediates, building blocks, and functional molecules in organic synthesis as well as for the chemical industry. Over the past 60 years, advances in this topic have focused on how to make this reaction more economically and environmentally friendly by using green acylating conditions, such as stoichiometric acylations and catalytic homogeneous and heterogeneous acylations. However, currently well-established methodologies for their synthesis either produce significant amounts of waste or proceed under harsh conditions, limiting applications. Here, we present a new protocol for the straightforward and selective introduction of acyl groups into (hetero)arenes without directing groups by using available olefins with inexpensive CO. In the presence of commercial palladium catalysts, inter- and intramolecular carbonylative C-H functionalizations take place with good regio- and chemoselectivity. Compared to classical Friedel-Crafts chemistry, this novel methodology proceeds under mild reaction conditions. The general applicability of this methodology is demonstrated by the direct carbonylation of industrial feedstocks (ethylene and diisobutene) as well as of natural products (eugenol and safrole). Furthermore, synthetic applications to drug molecules are showcased.
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    Cobalt-Catalyzed Aqueous Dehydrogenation of Formic Acid
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2019) Zhou, Wei; Wei, Zhihong; Spannenberg, Anke; Jiao, Haijun; Junge, Kathrin; Junge, Henrik; Beller, Matthias
    Among the known liquid organic hydrogen carriers, formic acid attracts increasing interest in the context of safe and reversible storage of hydrogen. Here, the first molecularly defined cobalt pincer complex is disclosed for the dehydrogenation of formic acid in aqueous medium under mild conditions. Crucial for catalytic activity is the use of the specific complex 3. Compared to related ruthenium and manganese complexes 7 and 8, this optimal cobalt complex showed improved performance. DFT computations support an innocent non-classical bifunctional outer-sphere mechanism on the triplet state potential energy surface. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
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    Cooperative catalytic methoxycarbonylation of alkenes: Uncovering the role of palladium complexes with hemilabile ligands
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2018) Dong, Kaiwu; Sang, Rui; Wei, Zhihong; Liu, Jie; Dühren, Ricarda; Spannenberg, Anke; Jiao, Haijun; Neumann, Helfried; Jackstell, Ralf; Franke, Robert; Beller, Matthias
    Mechanistic studies of the catalyst [Pd2(dba)3/1,1′-bis(tert-butyl(pyridin-2-yl)phosphanyl)ferrocene, L2] for olefin alkoxycarbonylation reactions are described. X-ray crystallography reveals the coordination of the pyridyl nitrogen atom in L2 to the palladium center of the catalytic intermediates. DFT calculations on the elementary steps of the industrially relevant carbonylation of ethylene (the Lucite α-process) indicate that the protonated pyridyl moiety is formed immediately, which facilitates the formation of the active palladium hydride complex. The insertion of ethylene and CO into this intermediate leads to the corresponding palladium acyl species, which is kinetically reversible. Notably, this key species is stabilized by the hemilabile coordination of the pyridyl nitrogen atom in L2. The rate-determining alcoholysis of the acyl palladium complex is substantially facilitated by metal-ligand cooperation. Specifically, the deprotonation of the alcohol by the built-in base of the ligand allows a facile intramolecular nucleophilic attack on the acyl palladium species concertedly. Kinetic measurements support this mechanistic proposal and show that the rate of the carbonylation step is zero-order dependent on ethylene and CO. Comparing CH3OD and CH3OH as nucleophiles suggests the involvement of (de)protonation in the rate-determining step.
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    Homogeneous cobalt-catalyzed reductive amination for synthesis of functionalized primary amines
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2019) Murugesan, Kathiravan; Wei, Zhihong; Chandrashekhar, Vishwas G.; Neumann, Helfried; Spannenberg, Anke; Jiao, Haijun; Beller, Matthias; Jagadeesh, Rajenahally V.
    The development of earth abundant 3d metal-based catalysts continues to be an important goal of chemical research. In particular, the design of base metal complexes for reductive amination to produce primary amines remains as challenging. Here, we report the combination of cobalt and linear-triphos (bis(2-diphenylphosphinoethyl)phenylphosphine) as the molecularly-defined non-noble metal catalyst for the synthesis of linear and branched benzylic, heterocyclic and aliphatic primary amines from carbonyl compounds, gaseous ammonia and hydrogen in good to excellent yields. Noteworthy, this cobalt catalyst exhibits high selectivity and as a result the -NH2 moiety is introduced in functionalized and structurally diverse molecules. An inner-sphere mechanism on the basis of the mono-cationic [triphos-CoH]+ complex as active catalyst is proposed and supported with density functional theory computation on the doublet state potential free energy surface and H2 metathesis is found as the rate-determining step.