Chemistry Commons^™

Dft-Assisted Design And Evaluation Of Bifunctional Amine/Pyridine-Oxazoline Metal Catalysts For Additions Of Ketones To Unactivated Alkenes And Alkynes, Eric Greve, Jacob D. Porter, Chris Dockendorff

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Bifunctional catalyst systems for the direct addition of ­ketones to unactivated alkenes/alkynes were designed and modeled by density functional theory (DFT). The designed catalysts possess bidentate ligands suitable for binding of pi-acidic group 10 metals capable of activating alkenes/alkynes, and a tethered organocatalyst amine to ­activate the ketone via formation of a nucleophilic enamine intermediate. The structures of the designed catalysts before and after C–C bond formation were optimized using DFT, and reaction steps involving group 10 metals were predicted to be significantly exergonic. A novel oxazoline precatalyst with a tethered amine separated by a meta-substituted benzene spacer was synthesized …