No description available.

The development of efficient catalyst for water oxidation is of paramount importance to artificial photosynthesis, but before this can be achieved a deeper understanding of this reaction is essential. In nature this reaction occurs in a tetranuclear Mn-cluster which serves as the work-horse of oxygenic photosynthesis. This thesis summarises my efforts at developing molecular systems capable of mimicking this complex employing a biomimetic approach. Three different approaches towards this goal are described here-in. The first section describes a screening study, in which a number of manganese complexes were tested to see whether or not they were capable of catalysing the formation of dioxygen when treated with different oxidants (Papers I). For those reactions in which dioxygen formation was observed the reactions were repeated in labelled water and the incorporation of labelled O-atoms was studied by mass spectrometry. This allowed us to determine to what extent water was the source of the evolved dioxygen (Papers II-III). In Chapter three a reported catalyst and a derivative thereof is studied in depth. The influence of changes to the ligand on the oxygen–oxygen bond forming reaction could unfortunately not be reliably addressed, because of the instability of the complexes under “catalytic” conditions. Nevertheless, the study allowed us to revise the “carboxylate shift”-mechanism suggested in the literature (Papers IV-V). Chapter four describes the continuation of my work on ligands featuring the carboxylate ligand motif first introduced in Chapter three. In this study ligands containing multiple binding pockets were designed and synthesised (Paper VI). A better understanding of the mechanism in the natural water oxidising enzyme will facilitate the design of biomimetic complexes, this is discussed in Chapter five. In this work model complexes (Paper VII) are used to study the mechanism by which natures own water oxidising catalyst performs this reaction.

No description available.

Els compostos organoborats són intermedis de reacció molt valuosos en síntesi orgànica, degut a que l'enllaç carboni-bor pot ser derivatitzat de múltiples maneres. La diboració catalitzada d'alquins i alquens ha estat ampliament estudiada en els darrers quinze anys, essent la diboració catalitzada d'alquins un procés en el que s'han obtingut elevats rendiments i activitats. No obstant això, en la diboració catalitzada d'alquens la presència de la reacció secundaria de b-eliminació de H sempre s'ha presentat com un seriós inconvenient, impedint un bon compromís entre activitat catalítica i quimioselectivitat. En el primer capítol de la present tesi es recull l'evolució a través de la bibliografia de les reaccions de diboració d'alquens i alquins, els diferents metalls i lligands utilitzats en la reacció catalítica de diboració i els estudis mecanístics que s'han realitzat fins a data d'avui. Tanmateix, s'han posat de manifest les diferents derivatitzacions que s'han dut a terme a partir d'intermitjos organoborats. També es descriu breument la tècnica de les microones. Com a punt final del capítol, s'introdueixen els objectius de la tesi, incloent-hi el desenvolupament de nous sistemes catalítics que millorin l'activitat, quimioselectivitat i enantioselectivitat dels catalitzadors reportats prèviament en la reacció de diboració catalítica, l'estudi del mecanisme de la reacció de diboració d'alquens catalitzada per rodi, i la busqueda de nous mètodes de fluorofuncionalització d'esters vinic(bisboronics). En el segon capítol es descriu l'activitat, quimioselectivitat i enantioselectivitat de diferents precursors catalítics en la diboració catalitzada d'alquens i alquins. En el primer apartat es porta a terme un estudi en profunditat de la diboració d'alquens catalitzada per compostos de Rh(I), observant-se que en aquest cas els efectes estèrics en el diborà tenen un efecte dramàtic en la quimioselectivitat de la reacció. També s'observa que el lligand que ofereix una major quimioselectivitat es el DPPM (bis(difenilfosfino)metà), mostrant una influència del bite angle del lligand, mentre que el lligand QUINAP (1-(2-difenilfosfino-1-naftil)isoquinolina) és el que ofereix una major enantioselectivitat. En els següents apartats es descriu la utilització de diferents complexos d’or, argent, coure i platí modificats amb lligands carbens, els quals augmenten la quimioselectivitat de la reacció, reduïnt la producció de subproductes de b-eliminació de H. Malgrat que s’han utilitzat diferents carbens quirals, només en un cas s’ha aconseguit induir asimetria, utilitzant un complex de Cu(I) modificat amb un lligand carbé quiral, però comprometent la quimioselectivitat. També es descriu l’aplicació de carbens de platí i coure a la diboració catalitzada d’alquins, obtenint-se bons resultats d’activitat i quimioselectivitat. La utilització d’unes noves condicions de reacció, en les que es requereix un excés de diborà (2 eq.) i l’addició d’una base (NaOAc), fa que precursors catalítics en principi inactius, com complexos d’Au(I) modificats amb lligands difosfina tipus BINAP (2,2'-bis(difenilfosfino)-1,1'-binaftil), donin bons resultats d’activitat i quimioselectivitat, encara que malauradament no indueixen asimetria. Per últim, es descriu l’aplicació de les tècniques de microones com a mitjà d’acceleració en la diboració d’alquins catalitzada per Pt(0), disminuint-se espectacularment els temps de reacció. En el tercer capítol de la tesi es porta a terme un estudi mecanístic de la reacció de diboració d’alquens catalitzada per Rh(I)-QUINAP. En primer lloc es porta a terme un estudi de RMN (Ressonància Magnètica Nuclear) per a detectar les possibles espècies metàl·liques implicades. A partir d’aquí, es realitza un estudi computacional DFT (Density Functional Theory) del mecanisme de reacció, observant-se que després de l’addició oxidant es produeix la inserció de l’alqué en un enllaç Rh-B, seguida d’un reordenament per a ocupar la posició vacant creada, finalitzant amb la eliminació reductora del producte, essent el camí més favorable aquell en el qual l’alquè queda coordinat trans al nitrogen del lligand QUINAP. L’estudi de la reacció secundària de b-eliminació de H demostra que la utilització de BINAP com a lligand l’afavoreix, en comparació amb la utilització del lligand QUINAP. En el quart capítol es descriu la flurofuncionalització d’ésters vinil (bisborònics), la qual dóna lloc a la formació de cetones a,a-difluorades a través d’un procés de fluoració electròfila. Primer de tot, es fa una petita introducció als processos de fluoració electròfila, amb especial interès en la fluoració electròfila de compostos organosilats, els quals estan força relacionats amb els compostos organoborats. La reacció es duu a terme a partir dels alquins, a través d’un procés tandem de diboració catalítica/fluoració electròfila. Només els esters vinil(bisborònics) derivats del bis(pinacolato)diborà són susceptibles d’ésser derivatitzats d’aquesta manera. Els alquins interns són més actius que els alquins terminals. També es descriu la síntesi d’a,a-difluoroimines directament a partir d’alquins mitjançant un procés tandem de diboració catalítica/fluoració electròfila/iminació, l’eficiència del qual depen de les propietats electròniques del sustrat. Per últim, en el capítol 5 es descriu la fluoració electròfila asimètrica d’a- nitroésters, la qual es porta a terme mitjançant la utilització d’auxiliars quirals derivats d’alcaloids de cincona, obtenint-se excessos enantiomèrics de fins a un 40%. / Organoboron compounds are very useful intermediates in organicsynthesis, because the carbon-boron bond can be cleaved in a variety of ways leading to the formation of useful functional groups. The catalyzed diboration ofalkenes and alkynes has been widely studied in the last 15 years, obtaining high yields and activities in the alkyne catalyzed diboration reaction. However, when alkenes are used as substrates in the catalyzed diboration reaction, the problem of b-hydride elimination could arise, preventing a good agreement between catalytic activity and chemoselectivity. In the first chapter of this thesys an overview of the precedents of the diboration reactions of alkenes and alkynes is presented, including the different metals and ligands used in this reactions and the mechanistic studies published to date. Moreover, there has been collected the different derivatizations of organoboron intermediates carried out. The microwave technique is also described briefly. Finally, the scope of this thesys is explained, including the development of new catalytic systems which improve the activity, chemoselectivity and enantioselectivity of the catalytic systems previously reported, the study of the mechanism of the rhodium catalyzed alkene diboration reaction, and the search of new routes for the fluorofunctionalization of organoboron compounds. In the second chapter, the activity, chemoselectivity and enantioselectivity of different catalytic precursors in the alkene and alkyne catalytic diboration reaction is described. In the first part, a deep study on the rhodium catalyzed alkene diboration reaction is carried out, finding in this case that the steric effects on the diborating reagent have a dramatic effect on the chemoselectivity of the reaction. It is also observed that the DPPM (bis(diphenylphosphino)methane) is the ligand which provide a better chemoselectivity, showing an important bite angle influence on the ligand, while QUINAP (1-(2-diphenilphosphino-1-naphthyl)isoquinoline) is the ligand which offers a higher enantioselectivity. In the next parts it is described the utilization of different gold, silver, copper and platinum complexes as catalyst precursors, which improve the chemoselectivity of the reaction, reducing the b-hydride elimination side reaction. Despite several chiral carbene modified complexes have been used, only in one case some enantioselectivity was induced, using a carbene modified copper complex, but reducing chemoselectivity. It is also described the application of arbene modified copper and platinum complexes as catalyst precursors in the alkyne diboration reaction, obtaining good results in activity and chemoselectivity. The utilization of new reaction conditions, in which an excess of the diborating reagent (2 eq.) and the addition of a base (NaOAc) is required, improve the activity of catalytic systems like BINAP 2,2’-bis(difenilfosfino)-1,1’-binaphthyl) modified gold complexes, whose activity was very low under the typical conditions; unfortunately, no enantioselectivity was obtained in this case. Finally, it is described the application of microwave techniques to the platinum catalyzed alkyne diboration reaction, in order to reduce the reaction times.In the third chapter, an in-depth study of the mechanism of the Rh(I)-catalyzed alkene diboration reaction is described. First of all, an NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Ressonance) study was carried out in order to identify plausible intermediates. Next, a DFT (Density Functional Theory) study of the reaction mechanism was carried out, finding that after the oxidative addition of the diborane, an insertion of the alkene into a Rh-B bond is produced, followed by an internal rearrangement in order to ocupy the vacant position created, and,finally, reductive elimination of the product is produced, being the most favourable path that in which the alkene is placed trans to the nitrogen of the QUINAP ligand. The study of the b-hydride elimination side reaction shows that the utilization of BINAP as ligand favours it, with respect to the utilization of QUINAP. In the fourth chapter, the fluorofunctionalization of cis-1,2-bis(boryl)alkenes is described, leading to the formation of a,a-difluorinated ketones through an eletrophilic fluorination process. First of all, a little introduction to the electrophilic fluorination processes is made, with special interest to the electrophilic fluorination of organosilanes, which are quite similar to the organoboron compounds. The reaction is carried out starting from alkynes, through a tandem catalytic diboration/electrophilic fluorination process process. Only the cis-1,2-bis(boryl)alkenes derived from bis(pinacolato)diboron are susceptible to the fluorination process. Internal alkynes are more reactive than terminal ones. It is also described the synthesis of a,a-difluoroimines directly from alkynes through a tandem catalytic diboration/electrophilic fluorination/imination process, the efficiency of which depends on the electronic properties of the substrate.Finally, in the fifth chapter, the asymmetric electrophilic fluorination of a-nitro esters is described. This process was carried out using cinchona derivatives chiral auxiliaries, obtaining enantiomeric excesses up to 40%.

Formic acid (FA) has been considered as one of the most promising materials for hydrogen storage today. The catalytic decarboxylation of formic acid ideally leads to the formation of CO2 and H2, and such CO2/H2 mixtures can be successfully applied in fuel cells. A large number of transition-metal based homogeneous catalysts with high activity and selectivity have been reported for the formic acid decarboxylation. In this presentation, we report ruthenium and rhodium complexes containing an N, N′-diimine ligand for the selective decomposition of formic acid to H2 and CO2 in water in the absence of any organic additives. Among them, the Ru complex could provide a TOF (turnover frequency) of 12 000 h–1 and a TON (turnover number) of 350 000 at 90 °C in the HCOOH/HCOONa aqueous solution. In addition to that, efficient production of high-pressure H2 and CO2 (24.0 MPa (3480 psi)) was achieved through the decomposition of formic acid with no formation of CO by this Ru complex. Moreover, well-defined ruthenium (II) PN3P pincer complexes were also developed for the reversible reaction-hydrogenation of carbon dioxide. Excellent product selectivity and catalytic activity with TOF and TON up to 13,000 h-1 and 33,000, respectively, in a THF/H2O biphasic system were achieved. Notably, effective conversion of carbon dioxide from the air into formate was conducted in the presence of an amine, allowing easy product separation and catalyst recycling.

Olefin metathesis is a valuable synthetic tool, widely used in several fields of science. Due to the importance of this transformation several contributions have been made in this field in order to understand mechanistic aspects, reactivity and applicability of this process. In this topic, ruthenium indenylidene complexes have shown great activity and stability in metathesis, making them very valuable pre-catalysts. However, several aspects of these pre-catalysts have not been evaluated yet. For example, even though reports of active second generation ruthenium indenylidene complexes bearing bulky N-heterocyclic carbenes are present in the literature, no studies have been done to understand how steric hindrance affects the process. For these reasons, [RuCl₂(IPr*)(PPh₃)(3-phenylindenylidene)] (IPr*-PPh₃) and [RuCl₂(IPr*)(Py)(3-phenylindenylidene)] (IPr*-Py), bearing the very bulky ligand, IPr* have been synthesised and compared with [RuCl₂(IPr)(PPh₃)(3-phenylindenylidene)] (IPr-PPh₃) and the new [RuCl₂(IPr)(Py)(3-phenylindenylidene)] (IPr-Py). Another important aspect, presented in this thesis, is the investigation of the stability of indenylidene pre-catalysts in alcohol solvents. Surprisingly, several different decomposition processes occur depending on the starting complex and the alcohol used. Mechanistic investigation into this decomposition, allowed us to develop a better understanding of this process, and to predict the decomposition product based on the environment. In particular, this study revealed that [RuCl(η⁵-3-phenylindenyl)(PPh₃)₂] (Eta-5) is accessed from [RuCl₂(3-phenylindenylidene)(PPh₃)₂] (M₁₀) via a novel indenylidene to η⁵-indenyl rearrangement. This formal decomposition product has been found to be active in at least 20 different catalytic transformations, rendering it a versatile catalytic tool.

Palladium catalysed asymmetric hydroxy- and alkoxycarbonylation reactions of alkenes have the potential to deliver valuable chiral carboxylic acid and ester building blocks from cheap feedstocks: alkenes, carbon monoxide and water (alcohols in the case of alkoxycarbonylation). Despite the attractive nature of these reactions, extensive research has so far been unable to produce effective catalysts which are capable of controlling both regio- and enantioselectivity. Building on exciting recent results involving the use of highly enantioselective palladium catalysts derived from Phanephos-type ligands, this research focuses on paracyclophane-diphosphines and their use in asymmetric hydroxy- and alkoxycarbonylation reactions. An investigation into reaction conditions analysed several factors, including solvents, CO-pressure, acidic additives and halide sources, to provide optimal activity and selectivities. Two novel electron-poor paracyclophane-diphosphines and their mono- and di-palladium complexes were synthesised and shown to provide exceptional levels of regioselectivity while maintaining high levels of asymmetric induction. These are the first such examples of hydroxy- or alkoxycarbonylation catalysts to facilitate simultaneous control over both regio- and enantioselectivity. The most effective catalyst was used to promote the reactions of a selection of aryl alkenes and was shown to be tolerant of several different functional groups. A selection of non-symmetric paracyclophane-diphosphine ligands and their palladium complexes were also synthesised and assessed for their performance in hydroxy- and alkoxycarbonylation. We also report the use of Phanephos-type ligands to promote the highly enantioselective hydroxycarbonylation of N-(p-toluenesulfonyl)-3-pyrroline to deliver a chiral proline derivative in high ee.

Achiral wide bite angle ligands have been shown to be highly active and to induce excellent chemo- and regioselectivities in many homogeneously catalyzed reactions. However, only a few examples of chiral wide bite angle ligands are known so far. A diphenyl ether backbone was selected to allow maximum synthetic versatility and potential for a modular approach to design and synthesize such chiral diphosphorus ligands. Three synthetic strategies have been explored in this thesis: i) introduction of chiral substituents in the ligand backbone, ii) the use of P-stereogenic donor atoms and iii) the synthesis of chiral mixed-donor ligands bearing chiral auxiliary groups on the phosphorus atoms. Functionalization of the 3,3'-positions of 2,2'-bis(diphenylphosphino)diphenyl ether by carboxylic acid or ether auxiliaries was achieved via straightforward four-step routes to generate a library of ligands that were tested in various catalytic reactions. In the Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation of l,3-diphenyl-2-propenyl acetate and cyclohexyl-2-enyl acetate with dimethyl malonate the enantioselectivity was found to depend on the size of the chiral auxiliary introduced within the diphenyl ether backbone and its proximity to the phosphorus donor groups and hence to the active metal centre. Two types of mixed donor bidentate diphosphorus ligands based on the diphenylether backbone have been established, i.e. phosphine-phosphite and phosphine-phosphonite derivatives. A small ligand library bearing different chiral auxiliaries was accomplished via straightforward syntheses that enable derivatization of the respective phosphite and phosphonite moieties in the final step. In the Rh-catalysed hydrogenation of several benchmark substrates high conversion and moderate to high enantioselectivities (up to 97% for dimethyl itaconate) were obtained. The enantioselectivity was influenced by the size of the ortho-substituent on the chiral auxiliary group of the phosphite or phosphonite fragment. Two modular synthetic approaches for the preparation of novel wide bite angle diphosphine ligands containing stereogenic P-atoms have been developed. Both protocols involved diphenylether as backbone and the chiral ephedrine based precursor (2R[subscript(P)],4S[subscript(C)],5R[subscript(C)])-oxazaphospholidine borane as initial auxiliary to induce chirality at phosphorus. Various novel diphosphines were isolated as highly enantioenriched compounds with dr-ratios up to 95:5.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: see full text for abstract. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sien volteks vir die opsomming.

In this thesis, the effect of fluorinating reagents on a selection of transition metal-mediated organic transformations was investigated. The first four chapters are focused on gold-catalysed nucleophilic addition processes performed in the presence of “F⁺” sources. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to homogeneous gold catalysis and summarises the aims and objectives of the project. The effect of the electrophilic fluorinating reagent Selectfluor (82) on the gold-catalysed rearrangement of propargyl acetates 85 is discussed in Chapter 2. α-Fluoroenones 92 resulting from fluorodeacetylation of an allenyl acetate intermediate were delivered as the major products of these reactions (Scheme i). [Scheme i Gold-Catalysed Rearrangement-Fluorodeacetylation of Propargyl Acetates 85.] By contrast, performing the gold(I)-catalysed cyclisation of allenoates 102 in the presence of Selectfluor (82) led to products of oxidative coupling. The “F⁺” source in these processes most likely acts as an external oxidant in an Au<sup>I</sup</Au^III redox cycle. In Chapter 3, the cascade cyclisation-intramolecular arylation of benzyl-substituted substrates is discussed whilst the extension of the methodology towards intermolecular homocoupling and intermolecular alkynylation is presented in Chapter 4 (Scheme ii). [Scheme ii Gold-Catalysed Cyclisation-Oxidative Coupling of tert-Butyl Allenoates 102.] In Chapter 5, the feasibility of palladium-catalysed allylic [¹⁸F]radiofluorination was investigated using high-specific-activity [¹⁸F]fluoride. This study led to the development of the first transition metal-mediated C-¹⁸F bond-forming process of relevance for the preparation of radiotracers for PET imaging (Scheme iii). [Scheme iii Palladium-Catalysed Allylic [18F]Radiofluorination of Allylic Methyl Carbonate 227b.] Chapter 6 gives full experimental procedures and characterisation data for all compounds.