Late-stage ligand functionalization via the Staudinger reaction using phosphine-appended 2,2'-bipyridine.

The ability of a phosphine-appended-2,2'-bipyridine ligand ((Ph2P)2bpy) to serve as a platform for late-stage ligand modifications was evaluated using tetrahedral (Ph2P)2bpyFeCl2. We employed a post-metalation Staudinger reaction to install a series of functionalized arenes, including those containing Brønsted and Lewis acidic groups. This reaction sequence represents a versatile strategy to both tune the ligand donor properties as well as directly incorporate appended functionality.

Homeomorphic Isomerization as a Design Element in Container Molecules; Binding, Displacement, and Selective Transport of MCl2 Species (M = Pt, Pd, Ni).

The dibridgehead diphosphine ((CH2)14)3 P (1) can rapidly turn inside-out (homeomorphic isomerization) to give a mixture of in,in and out,out isomers. The exo directed lone pairs in the latter are able to scavenge Lewis acidic MCl2; cagelike adducts of the in,in isomer, trans- Cl2(P((CH2)14)3 P) (M = 2/Pt, 3/Pd, 4/Ni), then form. The NiCl2 unit in 4 may be replaced by PtCl2 or PdCl2, but 2 and 3 do not give similar substitutions. U-tubes are charged with CH2Cl2 solutions of 1 (lower phase), an aqueous solution of K2MCl4 (charging arm; M = Pt, Pd), and an aqueous solution of excess KCl (receiving arm). The MCl2 units are then transported to the receiving arm until equilibrium is reached (up to 22 d). When the receiving arm is charged with KCN, transport is much faster (ca. 100 h) and higher K2MX4 equilibrium ratios are obtained (≥96≤4). Analogous experiments with K2PtCl4/K2PdCl4 mixtures show PdCl2 transport to be more rapid. A similar diphosphine with longer methylene chains, P((CH2)18)3P, is equally effective. No transport occurs in the absence of 1, and other diphosphines or monophosphines assayed give only trace levels.

Steric control of the in/out sense of bridgehead substituents in macrobicyclic compounds: isolation of new "crossed chain" variants of in/out isomers.

Isomers of the cage like dibridgehead diphosphine P((CH2)14)3P (1) are treated with Ph3PAu(2,6-C6H3(Trip)2) (2 equiv.; Trip = 2,4,6-C6H2(iPr)3). With out,out-1, workup gives out,out-1·(Au(2,6-C6H3(Trip)2))2 (46%), as confirmed by a crystal structure. With in,out-1, crystallization affords not in,out-1·(Au(2,6-C6H3(Trip)2))2, but rather an out,out isomer in which one of the (CH2)14 segments threads through the macrocycle formed by the other two. Implications for mechanisms of interconversion of in,out isomers are analyzed.

4-(4-Nitro-benz-yl)pyridine.

The title compound, C12H10N2O2, has a twisted conformation, with a dihedral angle between the planes of the pyridine and benzene rings of 78.4 (2)°. The nitro group is coplanar with the attached benzene ring within experimental error. The mol-ecules form centrosymmetric dimers via Car-H⋯O inter-actions (H⋯O = 2.49 Å) and the dimers are π-stacked along the b axis [the separation between ring centroids is 3.788 (2) Å].

Acid-, water- and high-temperature-stable ruthenium complexes for the total catalytic deoxygenation of glycerol to propane.

The ruthenium aqua complexes [Ru(H(2)O)(2)(bipy)(2)](OTf)(2), [cis-Ru(6,6'-Cl(2)-bipy)(2)(OH(2))(2)](OTf)(2), [Ru(H(2)O)(2)(phen)(2)](OTf)(2), [Ru(H(2)O)(3)(2,2':6',2''-terpy)](OTf)(2) and [Ru(H(2)O)(3)(Phterpy)](OTf)(2) (bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine; OTf(-) = triflate; phen = phenanthroline; terpy = terpyridine; Phterpy = 4'-phenyl-2,2':6',2''-terpyridine) are water- and acid-stable catalysts for the hydrogenation of aldehydes and ketones in sulfolane solution. In the presence of HOS(O)(2)CF(3) (triflic acid) as a dehydration co-catalyst they directly convert 1,2-hexanediol to n-hexanol and hexane. The terpyridine complexes are stable and active as catalysts at temperatures > or = 250 degrees C and in either aqueous sulfolane solution or pure water convert glycerol into n-propanol and ultimately propane as the final reaction product in up to quantitative yield. For the terpy complexes the active catalyst is postulated to be a carbonyl species [(4'-R-2,2':6',2''-terpy)Ru(CO)(H(2)O)(2)](OTf)(2) (R = H, Ph) formed by the decarbonylation of aldehydes (hexanal for 1,2-hexanediol and 3-hydroxypropanal for glycerol) generated in the reaction mixture through acid-catalyzed dehydration. The structure of the dimeric complex [{(4'-phenyl-2,2':6',2''-terpy)Ru(CO)}(2)(mu-OCH(3))(2)](OTf)(2) has been determined by single crystal X-ray crystallography (Space group P1 (a = 8.2532(17); b = 12.858(3); c = 14.363(3) A; alpha = 64.38(3); beta = 77.26(3); gamma = 87.12(3) degrees, R = 4.36 %).