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Probing The Mechanisms Of Enantioselective Hydrogenation Of Simple Olefins With Chiral Rhodium Catalysts In The Presence Of Anions, Jillian M. Buriak, Jason C. Klein, Deborah Herrington, John A. Osborn

Peer Reviewed Articles

The strong influence of various anions upon the hydrogenation of 2-phenyl-1-butene, catalyzed by chiral rhodium catalysts was investigated. Both sulfonates and halides exert large increases in the enantioselectivity when [Rh{(−)-bdpp}(NBD)]ClO4 (bdpp=2,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)pentane, NBD=2,5-norbornadiene) is used as the catalyst precursor at high pressures (70 atm) of dihydrogen in nonpolar solvents. A dihydride mechanism similar to that for Wilkinson's catalyst [RhCl(PPh3)3] was shown to be operating at both high- and low-pressure conditions through a combination of catalytic studies, 31P, 1H and parahydrogen-induced polarization (PHIP) NMR experiments. With sulfonate and in neat methanol, however, a mechanistic switch takes place from a dihydride route (dihydrogen …