Dihydrogen can be activated by lithium and potassium organoamides,
particularly the
diisopropyl and bis(trimethylsilyl) derivatives, to reduce
aromatic compounds at 1000 psig and
200 °C. Naphthalene was hydrogenated to tetralin in 100% yield
by both reagents; anthracene
was reduced with the bis(trimethylsilyl)amide catalyst to a
mixture of the corresponding
monocyclic aromatic derivatives,
1,2,3,4,4a,9,10,10a-octahydroanthracene (15%) and
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octahydroanthracene (84%); phenanthrene was reduced with this base to a
mixture of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octahydrophenanthrene (63%),
1,2,3,4,4a,9,10,10a-octahydrophenanthrene (33%), and
1,2,3,4-tetrahydrophenanthrene (4%); chrysene was converted by the same reagent
to 1,2,2a,3,4,5,6,
6a,9,10,11,12-dodecahydrochrysene (70%) and
1,2,2a,3,4,5,6,6a-octahydrochrysene (25%); and
1,2-benzanthracene was hydrogenated to a mixture of dihydro- and
dodecahydro-1,2-benzanthracenes.
The reaction products show a striking selectivity for the
preservation of an interior benzene ring.
The catalytic properties of the strong bases depend on the nature
of the organic ligands in the
dialkylamide and the corresponding metal cations. The reactions
proceed at modest pressures,
about 500 psig, but require high temperatures, about 200 °C. The
products of the reaction with
dideuterium were investigated by magnetic resonance spectroscopy to
define the reaction pathway.
The results of these experiments and other available information
suggest that hydrogen is
transferred from an anionic dihydrogen−dialkylamide complex to the
aromatic compound in the
slow step of the reaction.