Harnying W, Sudkaow P, Biswas A, Berkessel A. N-Heterocyclic Carbene/Carboxylic Acid Co-Catalysis Enables Oxidative Esterification of Demanding Aldehydes/Enals, at Low Catalyst Loading.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2021;
60:19631-19636. [PMID:
34010504 PMCID:
PMC8457137 DOI:
10.1002/anie.202104712]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
We report the discovery that simple carboxylic acids, such as benzoic acid, boost the activity of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysts in the oxidative esterification of aldehydes. A simple and efficient protocol for the transformation of a wide range of sterically hindered α- and β-substituted aliphatic aldehydes/enals, catalyzed by a novel and readily accessible N-Mes-/N-2,4,6-trichlorophenyl 1,2,4-triazolium salt, and benzoic acid as co-catalyst, was developed. A whole series of α/β-substituted aliphatic aldehydes/enals hitherto not amenable to NHC-catalyzed esterification could be reacted at typical catalyst loadings of 0.02-1.0 mol %. For benzaldehyde, even 0.005 mol % of NHC catalyst proved sufficient: the lowest value ever achieved in NHC catalysis. Preliminary studies point to carboxylic acid-induced acceleration of acyl transfer from azolium enolate intermediates as the mechanistic basis of the observed effect.
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