Synthesis, characterisation, and catalytic application of a soluble molecular carrier of sodium hydride activated by a substituted 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine

MacDonald, Peter A. and Kennedy, Alan R. and Weetman, Catherine E. and Robertson, Stuart D. and Mulvey, Robert E. (2024) Synthesis, characterisation, and catalytic application of a soluble molecular carrier of sodium hydride activated by a substituted 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine. Communications Chemistry, 7 (1). 94. ISSN 2399-3669 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-024-01184-5)

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Abstract

Recently main group compounds have stepped into the territory of precious transition metal compounds with respect to utility in the homogeneous catalysis of fundamentally important organic transformations. Inspired by the need to promote more sustainability in chemistry because of their greater abundance in nature, this change of direction is surprising since main group metals generally do not possess the same breadth of reactivity as precious transition metals. Here, we introduce the dihydropyridylsodium compound, Na-1,2-tBu-DH(DMAP), and its monomeric variant [Na-1,2-tBu-DH(DMAP)]·Me6TREN, and demonstrate their effectiveness in transfer hydrogenation catalysis of the representative alkene 1,1-diphenylethylene to the alkane 1,1-diphenylethane using 1,4-cyclohexadiene as hydrogen source [DMAP = 4-dimethylaminopyridine; Me6TREN = tris(N,N-dimethyl-2-aminoethyl)amine]. Sodium is appealing because of its high abundance in the earth's crust and oceans, but organosodium compounds have been rarely used in homogeneous catalysis. The success of the dihydropyridylsodium compounds can be attributed to their high solubility and reactivity in organic solvents.

ORCID iDs

MacDonald, Peter A., Kennedy, Alan R. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3652-6015, Weetman, Catherine E. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5643-9256, Robertson, Stuart D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9330-8770 and Mulvey, Robert E. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1015-2564;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)