Reductive carbonylation of 2,4-dinitrotoluene to 2,4-toluendiurethane with palladium(1,10-phenanthroline)2(hexafluorophosphate)2, as catalyst, and 1,10-phenanthrolinium hexafluorophosphate, as cocatalyst

Oxidative Carbonylation of Aniline with a Mesoporous Silica Gel Immobilised Se-Functionalised Ionic Liquid Catalyst

A series of BMImBF4-templated mesoporous silica gel immobilised Se-functionalised ionic liquids have been prepared. The catalysts were characterised by BET, FTIR and ICP-AES, and the results showed that the content of Se increased from 2.7 to 4.76 wt% with pore volume increasing from 0.83 to 1.26 cm3 g−1. Preliminary tests of this catalyst system on the carbonylation of aniline to afford methyl phenyl carbamate (MPC) indicated that good catalytic activity (higher than 74% aniline conversion with 99% MPC selectivity) could be achieved with higher than 150 mol h−1 mol−1 turnover frequency (TOF). TOF and aniline conversion slightly increased with increasing the content of Se from 2.7 to 3.0 wt%, then decreased when the content of Se increased to more than 3.0 wt%, this suggested that 2.7 to 3.0 wt% Se content should be appropriate for MPC synthesis. The appropriate Se content could be obtaineded by adjusting the range of pore volume of mesoporous silica gel from 0.83 to 0.85 cm3 g−1. In addition, the recycling test indicated that there was almost no deactivation of the catalyst when it was reused four times.

Synthesis of oxazines and N-arylpyrroles by reaction of unfunctionalized dienes with nitroarenes and carbon monoxide, catalyzed by palladium-phenanthroline complexes

The reaction between an unfunctionalized conjugated diene and a nitroarene under CO pressure and at 100 degrees C, catalyzed by [Pd(Phen)2][BF4]2 (Phen = 1,10-phenanthroline), affords the corresponding hetero-Diels-Alder adduct (oxazine) in up to 91% yields in one pot. If the reaction mixture is then heated to 200 degrees C, the oxazines are converted into the corresponding N-arylpyrroles in good yields. Pressures as low as 5 bar can be employed, and 0.08% catalyst is sufficient to effect the transformation. The reaction can be equally run by employing the nitroarene or the diene as limiting agent and works well for nitroarenes bearing either electron-withdrawing or mildly electron-donating substituents. A moderate steric hindrance on the nitroarene (o-methyl) is well tolerated, but 1,4-disubstituted-1,3-dienes are not suitable substrates.