Robertus J. M. Klein Gebbink

Merging porphyrins with organometallics: synthesis and applications

The coordination chemistry of porphyrins has traditionally involved the ability of the porphyrins tetrapyrrolic core to accommodate metal ions of varying charges and sizes, and on the organometallic chemistry of the resulting metalloporphyrins. However, the organometallic chemistry of porphyrins is not necessarily restricted to the metal bound in the porphyrin core, but can also be extended to the porphyrin periphery, be it through direct metalation of the porphyrin macrocycle at the meso or beta position, or by attachment to or merger of the porphyrin skeleton with ligands, followed by metalation. This Review focuses on the synthetic strategies used for porphyrins with peripheral metal-carbon bonds. The exciting results that have been produced underscore the importance and future potential of this field.

Hexacationic Dendriphos ligands in the Pd-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction: scope and mechanistic studies.

The combination of Pd(2)dba(3) x CHCl(3) and hexacationic triarylphosphine-based Dendriphos ligands (1-3) leads to a highly active catalytic system in the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction. Under relatively mild reaction conditions, nonactivated aryl bromides and activated aryl chlorides can be coupled at a low Pd loading (0.1 mol %). The observed activity of this catalytic system, in particular in coupling reactions of aryl chlorides, is dramatically higher than that of conventional Pd catalysts employing triarylphosphine ligands. Through control and poisoning experiments, it is concluded that a homogeneous Pd(0)-Dendriphos complex is the active species in this catalytic system. Despite their triarylphosphine-based structure, Dendriphos ligands behave as very bulky phosphine ligands and lead to a preferential formation of coordinatively unsaturated and catalytically active Pd(0) species, which explains the observed high catalytic activity for these systems. The presence of six permanent cationic charges in the backbone of this class of ligands is proposed to result in a significant interligand Coulombic repulsion and plays a crucial role in their bulky behavior. In the coupling reactions of activated aryl chlorides, a positive dendritic kinetic effect was observed among the different Dendriphos generations, indicating an increased ability of the higher ligand generations to stabilize the active species due to steric effects. For aryl bromides, no dendritic effect was observed due to a shift in the rate-determining step in the catalytic cycle, from oxidative addition for aryl chlorides to transmetalation for aryl bromides.

Highly Active Catalysts for the Telomerization of Crude Glycerol with 1,3‐Butadiene

The first description of a telomerization reaction came from Smutny in 1967 who was studying the oligomerization and dimerization of 1,3-butadiene and its reactions with nucleophiles. Since then, numerous studies have appeared concentrated on monofunctional alcohols and other simple nucleophiles such as ammonia.

Efficient Exciton Transport in Layers of Self-Assembled Porphyrin Derivatives

The photosynthetic apparatus of green sulfur bacteria, the chlorosome, is generally considered as a highly efficient natural light-harvesting system. The efficient exciton transport through chlorosomes toward the reaction centers originates from self-assembly of the bacteriochlorophyll molecules. The aim of the present work is to realize a long exciton diffusion length in an artificial light-harvesting system using the concept of self-assembled natural chlorosomal chromophores. The ability to transport excitons is studied for porphyrin derivatives with different tendencies to form molecular stacks by self-assembly. A porphyrin derivative denoted as ZnOP, containing methoxymethyl substituents ({meso-tetrakis[3,5-bis(methoxymethyl)phenyl]porphyrinato}zinc(II)) is found to form self-assembled stacks, in contrast to a derivative with tert-butyl substituents, ZnBuP ({meso-tetrakis[3,5-bis(tert-butyl)phenyl]porphyrinato}zinc(II)). Exciton transport and dissociation in a bilayer of these porphyrin derivatives and TiO2 are studied using the time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) method. For ZnOP layers it is found that excitons undergo diffusive motion between the self-assembled stacks, with the exciton diffusion length being as long as 15 +/- 1 nm, which is comparable to that in natural chlorosomes. For ZnBuP a considerably shorter exciton diffusion length of 3 +/- 1 nm is found. Combining these exciton diffusion lengths with exciton lifetimes of 160 ps for ZnOP and 74 ps for ZnBuP yields exciton diffusion coefficients equal to 1.4 x 10(-6) m2/s and 1 x 10(-7) m2/s, respectively. The larger exciton diffusion coefficient for ZnOP originates from a strong excitonic coupling for interstack energy transfer. The findings show that energy transfer is strongly affected by the molecular organization. The efficient interstack energy transfer shows promising prospects for application of such self-assembled porphyrins in optoelectronics.

Palladium-Based Telomerization of 1,3-Butadiene with Glycerol Using Methoxy-Functionalized Triphenylphosphine Ligands

Glycerol is considered a potential renewable building block for the synthesis of existing as well as new chemicals. A promising route is the telomerization of 1,3-butadiene with glycerol leading to C8 chain ethers of glycerol with applications in, for example, surfactant chemistry. Recently, we reported a new set of palladium-based homogeneous catalytic systems for the telomerization of 1,3-butadiene with glycerol and found that palladium complexes bearing methoxy-functionalized triphenylphosphine ligands are highly active catalysts capable of converting crude glycerol without any significant loss of activity. Herein, we present a detailed account of these investigations by reporting on the influence of the butadiene/glycerol ratio, temperature, and reaction time on product selectivity and activity allowing further optimization of catalyst performance. Maximum activity and yield were reached for high 1,3-butadiene/glycerol ratios at a temperature of 90 degrees C, whereas the selectivity for mono- and diethers of glycerol could be optimized by combining high reaction temperatures and short reaction times with low butadiene/glycerol ratios. Variation of the PdII metal precursors and the metal/ligand ratio showed that palladium precursors with halogen ligands gave unsatisfying results, in contrast to precursors with weakly coordinated ligands such as [Pd(OAc)2] and [Pd(acac)2]. [Pd(dba)2], the only Pd0 precursor tested, gave the best results in terms of activity, which illustrates the importance of the ability to form a Pd0 species in the catalytic cycle. Finally, base addition resulted in a shortening of the reaction time and most likely facilitates the formation of a Pd0 species. Based on these results, we were able to realize the first attempts towards a rational ligand design aimed at a high selectivity for mono- and diether formation.

Steric, Electronic, and Secondary Effects on the Coordination Chemistry of Ionic Phosphine Ligands and the Catalytic Behavior of Their Metal Complexes

The effects of introducing ionic functionalities in phosphine ligands on the coordination chemistry of these ligands and the catalytic behavior of the corresponding metal complexes are reviewed. The steric and electronic consequences of such functionalizations are discussed. Apart from these steric and electronic effects, the presence of charged groups often leads to additional, supramolecular interactions that occur in the second coordination sphere of the metal complex, such as intramolecular, interligand hydrogen bonding and Coulombic repulsion. These interactions can significantly alter the behavior of the phosphine ligand in question. Such effects have been observed in phosphine-metal association/dissociation equilibria, ligand substitution reactions, and stereoisomerism in phosphine-metal complexes. By drawing general conclusions, this review offers an insight into the coordination and catalytic behavior of phosphine ligands containing ionic functionalities and their corresponding metal complexes.

Iron Catalyzed Highly Enantioselective Epoxidation of Cyclic Aliphatic Enones with Aqueous H2O2

An iron complex with a C1-symmetric tetradentate N-based ligand catalyzes the asymmetric epoxidation of cyclic enones and cyclohexene ketones with aqueous hydrogen peroxide, providing the corresponding epoxides in good to excellent yields and enantioselectivities (up to 99% yield, and 95% ee), under mild conditions and in short reaction times. Evidence is provided that reactions involve an electrophilic oxidant, and this element is employed in performing site selective epoxidation of enones containing two alkene sites.

Polycationic (Mixed) Core-Shell Dendrimers for Binding and Delivery of Inorganic/Organic Substrates

The convergent synthesis of a series of polycationic aryl ether dendrimers has been accomplished by a convenient procedure involving quantitative quaternarization of aryl(poly)amine core molecules. The series has been expanded to the preparation of the first polycationic, mixed core-shell dendrimer. All these dendrimers consist of an apolar core with a peripheral ionic layer which is surrounded by a less polar layer of dendritic wedges. These cationic, macromolecular species have been investigated for their ability to form assemblies with (anionic) guest molecules. The results obtained from UV/Vis and NMR spectroscopies, and MALDI-TOF-MS demonstrate that all the cationic sites throughout the dendrimer core are involved in ion pair formation with anionic guests giving predefined guest/host ratios up to 24. The large NMR spectroscopic shifts of resonances correlated with the groupings located in the core of the dendrimers, together with the relaxation time data indicate that the anionic guests are associated with the cationic core of these dendrimers. The X-ray molecular structure of the octacationic, tetra-arylsilane model derivative [Si(C6H3[CH2NMe3](2)-3,5)4]8+. 8I- shows that the iodide counterions are primarily located near the polycationic sphere. The new polycationic dendrimers have been investigated for their catalytic phase-transfer behavior and substrate delivery over a nanofiltration membrane.

Chemical Imaging of Catalyst Deactivation during the Conversion of Renewables at the Single Particle Level: Etherification of Biomass-Based Polyols with Alkenes over H-Beta Zeolites

The etherification of biomass-based alcohols with various linear alpha-olefins under solvent-free conditions was followed in a space- and time-resolved manner on 9 microm large H-Beta zeolite crystals by confocal fluorescence microscopy. This allowed us to visualize the interaction with the substrate and distribution of the coke products into the catalyst at the level of an individual zeolite crystal during the etherification process. The spectroscopic information obtained on the micrometer-scale zeolite was in line with the results obtained with bulk characterization techniques and further confirmed by the catalytic results obtained both for micrometer-scale and nanoscale zeolites. This allowed us to explain the influence of the substrate type (glycerol, glycols, and alkenes) and zeolite properties (Si/Al ratio and particle size) on the etherification activity. The etherification of the biomass-based alcohols takes place mainly on the external surface of the zeolite particles. The gradual blockage of the external surface of the zeolite results in a partial or total loss of etherification activity. The deactivation could be attributed to olefin oligomerization. The high conversions obtained in the etherification of 1,2-propylene glycol with long linear alkenes (up to 80%) and the pronounced deactivation of the zeolite observed in the etherification of glycerol with long linear alkenes (max. 20% conversion) were explained by the spectroscopic measurements and is due to differences in the adsorption, i.e., in the center of the zeolite particle for glycerol and on the external surface in the case of glycols.

Transition Metal Dendrimer Catalysts

The development of environmental friendly processes in catalysis has been the focus of much research over the past decade. The attachment of a metal or an organometallic moiety to a dendrimer provides nanosized catalysts with unique architectures and properties that permit catalysts to be recovered from product streams through a variety of separation technologies. This review surveys progress in the synthesis and application of recyclable metallodendrimers for homogeneous catalysis and membrane filtration technology.