Zalina T. Gugkaeva

Robust bifunctional aluminium-salen catalysts for the preparation of cyclic carbonates from carbon dioxide and epoxides.

Summary Two new one-component aluminium-based catalysts for the reaction between epoxides and carbon dioxide have been prepared. The catalysts are composed of aluminium–salen chloride complexes with trialkylammonium groups directly attached to the aromatic rings of the salen ligand. With terminal epoxides, the catalysts induced the formation of cyclic carbonates under mild reaction conditions (25–35 °C; 1–10 bar carbon dioxide pressure). However, with cyclohexene oxide under the same reaction conditions, the same catalysts induced the formation of polycarbonate. The catalysts could be recovered from the reaction mixture and reused.

Using the same organocatalyst for asymmetric synthesis of both enantiomers of glutamic acid-derived Ni(II) complexes via 1,4-additions of achiral glycine and dehydroalanine Schiff base Ni(II) complexes.

Abstract(S)- and (R)-BIMBOL were efficient PT catalysts of asymmetric Michael addition of prochiral Ni–PBP–Gly (1) to acrylic esters and malonic esters to Ni–PBP–Δ-Ala (2) correspondingly. The salient feature of the catalysis is opposite configurations of Glu prepared via the two paths with BIMBOL of the same configuration and a perspective novel catalytic procedure for the synthesis of Gla derivatives.

A mechanistic study of the Lewis acid–Brønsted base–Brønsted acid catalysed asymmetric Michael addition of diethyl malonate to cyclohexenone

The Michael addition of diethyl malonate (Michael Donor, MD) to cyclohexenone (Michael Acceptor, MA) catalysed by the mono-lithium salt of (S)- or (R)-BIMBOL in dichloromethane is shown to exhibit biomimetic behavior. A combination of kinetics, spectroscopic studies, synthesis of catalyst analogues, inhibition studies and DFT calculations are used to show that the catalyst activates both components of the reaction and uses a chain of proton transfers to facilitate the deprotonation of diethyl malonate. The initial reaction rate was first order relative to both MA and MD and 0.5 order relative to the catalyst, indicating that an equilibrium exists between monomeric and dimeric forms of the catalyst, with the dimer predominating, but only the monomeric form being catalytically active. This was supported by DOSY 1H NMR experiments. The importance of the Lewis acidic lithium cation in the catalytic step was established by complete inhibition of the reaction by lithium complexing agents. The importance of the number of OH-groups and their relative intramolecular orientation and acidities in the polyol catalyst was shown by studying the relative catalytic activities of catalyst analogues. DFT calculations allowed the relative energies and structures of the likely intermediates on the reaction coordinate to be calculated and indicated that the ionisation of MD was facilitated due to the Lewis acidity of the lithium cation and hydrogen bond formation between deprotonated MD (MD−1) and the OH groups of the BIMBOL moiety.

New bifunctional organocatalysts based on (R,R)-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine for the asymmetric addition of nucleophiles to aldehydes

The amide and sulfamide derivatives of (1R,2R)-N,N-diethylcyclohexane-1,2-diamine can serve as organocatalysts for addition of Me3SiCN and Et2Zn to aldehydes.