Operationally Simple Enantioselective Silane Reduction of Ketones by the [Ir(OMe)(cod)]2/Azolium Catalytic System

An operationally simple protocol was designed for the enantioselective silane reduction (ESR) of ketones using air- and moisture-stable [Ir(OMe)(cod)]2 (cod = 1,5-cyclooctadiene) (3) as a metal catalyst precursor. This reaction was driven by chiral hydroxyamide-functionalized azolium salt 2. The catalytic ESR reaction could be performed under benchtop conditions at room temperature. Treatment of 2 with 3 in THF yielded the monodentate IrCl(NHC)(cod) (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) complex 4 in 93% yield, herein the anionic methoxy ligand of 3 serves as an internal base that deprotonates the azolium ring of 2. The well-defined Ir complex 4 catalyzed the ESR reaction of propiophenone (6) with (EtO)2MeSiH using the pre-mixing reaction procedure. Based on this success, the catalytic ESR reaction was designed and implemented using an in situ-generated NHC/Ir catalyst derived from 2 and 3. Thus, a wide variety of aryl ketones could be reduced to the corresponding optically active alcohols in moderate to excellent stereoselectivities at room temperature without temperature control. Since the high catalytic activity of 3 was observed, we next evaluated several other transition metal catalyst precursors for the catalytic ESR reaction under the influence of 2. This evaluation revealed that Ir(acac)(cod) (acac = acetylacetonate) (28) and [IrCl(cod)]2 (5) can be successfully used as metal catalyst precursors in the ESR reaction.

Partially charged single-atom Ru supported on ZrO_(2) nanocrystals for highly efficient ethylene hydrosilylation with triethoxysilane

Homogeneous noble metal catalysts used in alkene hydrosilylation reactions to manufacture organosilicon compounds commercially often suffer from difficulties in catalyst recovering and recycling,undesired disproportionation reactions,and energyintensive purification of products.Herein,we report a heterogeneous 0.5Ruδ+/ZrO_(2) catalyst with partially charged single-atom Ru(0.5 wt.%Ru)supported on commercial ZrO_(2) nanocrystals synthesized by the simple impregnation method followed by H2 reduction.When used in the ethylene hydrosilylation with triethoxysilane to produce the desired ethyltriethoxysilane,0.5Ruδ+/ZrO_(2) showed excellent catalytic performance with the maximum Ru atom utilization and good recyclability,even superior to homogeneous catalyst(RuCl3·H2O).Structural characterizations and density functional theory calculations reveal the atomic dispersion of the active Ru species and their unique electronic properties distinct from the homogeneous catalyst.The reaction route over this catalyst is supposed to follow the typical Chalk-Harrod mechanism.This highly efficient and supported singleatom Ru catalyst has the potential to replace the current homogeneous catalyst for a greener hydrosilylation industry.

SILICON-CONTAINING POLY(p-ARYLENE VINYLENE)S:SYNTHESIS AND PHOTOPHYSICS

A series of new silicon-containing poly（p-arylene vinylene）s （PAVs） with anthracene units in the main chain were synthesized by hydrosilylation reaction. The introduction of organosilicon units improved the solubility of the polymers, and the π-π conjugation of polymeric chains was interrupted. These polymers behaved as blue-green light emitters with their fluorescence maximum at 447-499 nm and quantum yields in the range of 0.28-0.30 in solution.