The replacement of expensive noble metals by earth-abundant transition metals is a central topic in catalysis. Herein, we introduce a highly active and selective homogeneous manganese-based C=O bond hydrogenation catalyst. Our catalyst has a broad substrate scope, it is able to hydrogenate aryl-alkyl, diaryl, dialkyl, and cycloalkyl ketones as well as aldehydes. A very good functional group tolerance including the quantitative and selective hydrogenation of a ketone in the presence of a non-shielded olefin is observed. In Mn hydrogenation catalysis, the combination of the multidentate ligand, the oxidation state of the metal, and the choice of the right ancillary ligand is crucial for high activity. This observation emphasizes an advantage and the importance of homogeneous catalysts in 3d-metal catalysis. For coordination compounds, fine-tuning of a complex coordination environment is easily accomplished in comparison to enzyme and/or heterogeneous catalysts.
Catalysis with earth-abundant transition metals is an option to help save our rare noble-metal resources and is especially interesting when novel reactivity or selectivity patterns are observed. We report here on a novel reaction, namely the dehydrogenative alkylation or α-olefination of alkyl-substituted N-heteroarenes with alcohols. Manganese complexes developed in our laboratory catalyze the reaction with high efficiency whereas iron and cobalt complexes stabilized by the same ligands are essentially inactive. Hydrogen is liberated during the reaction, and bromine and iodine functional groups as well as olefins are tolerated. A variety of alkyl-substituted N-heteroarenes can be functionalized, and benzylic and aliphatic alcohols undergo the reaction.
The catalytic synthesis of linear α-olefins from ethylene is a technologically highly important reaction. A synthesis concept allowing the formation of selective products and various linear α-olefin product distributions with one catalyst system is highly desirable. Here, we describe a trimetallic catalyst system (Y–Al–Ni) consisting of a rare earth metal polymerization catalyst which can mediate coordinative chain transfer to triethylaluminum combined with a simultaneously operating nickel β-hydride elimination/transfer catalyst. This nickel catalyst displaces the grown alkyl chains forming linear α-olefins and recycles the aluminum-based chain transfer agent. With one catalyst system, we can synthesize product spectra ranging from selective 1-butene formation to α-olefin distributions centered at 850 gmol−1 with a low polydispersity. The key to this highly flexible linear α-olefin synthesis is the easy tuning of the rates of the Y and Ni catalysis independently of each other. The reaction is substoichiometric or formally catalytic regarding the chain transfer agent.
α-Olefins are important starting materials for the production of plastics, pharmaceuticals, and fine and bulk chemicals. However, the selective synthesis of α-olefins from ethylene, a highly abundant and inexpensive feedstock, is restricted, and thus a broadly applicable selective α-olefin synthesis using ethylene is highly desirable. Here, we report the catalytic reaction of an α-olefin with two ethylene molecules. The first ethylene molecule forms a 4-ethyl branch and the second a new terminal carbon-carbon double bond (C2 elongation). The key to this reaction is the development of a highly active and stable molecular titanium catalyst that undergoes extremely fast β-hydride elimination and transfer.
Based on two well-established ligand systems, the aminopyridinato (Ap) and the phenoxyimine (FI) ligand systems, new Ap-FI hybrid ligands were developed. Four different Ap-FI hybrid ligands were synthesized through a simple condensation reaction and fully characterized. The reaction of hafnium tetrabenzyl with all four Ap-FI hybrid ligands exclusively led to mono(Ap-FI) complexes of the type [(Ap-FI)HfBn2 ]. The ligands acted as tetradentate dianionic chelates. Upon activation with tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane, the hafnium-dibenzyl complexes led to highly active catalysts for the polymerization of 1-hexene. Ultrahigh molecular weights and extremely narrow polydispersities support the living nature of this polymerization process. A possible deactivation product of the hafnium catalysts was characterized by single-crystal X-ray analysis and is discussed. The coordination modes of these new ligands were studied with the help of model titanium complexes. The reaction of titanium(IV) isopropoxide with ligand 1 led to a mono(Ap-FI) complex, which showed the desired fac-mer coordination mode. Titanium (IV) isopropoxide reacted with ligand 4 to give a complex of the type [(ApH-FI)2 Ti(OiPr)2 ], which featured the ligand in its monoanionic form. The two titanium complexes were characterized by X-ray crystal-structure analysis.
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