Experimental and theoretical analysis of asymmetric induction in heterogeneous catalysis: diastereoselective hydrogenation of chiral alpha-hydroxyketones over Pt catalyst.

Assessing the origin of asymmetric induction in heterogeneously catalyzed hydrogenation is a challenging task. In this work, hydrogenation of a chiral compound, (R)-1-hydroxy-1-phenyl-2-propanone [(R)-PAC], in toluene over cinchonidine modified and unmodified Pt/Al(2)O(3) was studied. To reveal the detailed reaction mechanism and the origin of stereoselectivity in the Pt-catalyzed hydrogenation of the CO double bond, the structures and energies of several adsorption modes of (R)-PAC as well as whole reaction paths for hydrogenation were investigated on Pt(111) by density functional theory (DFT). In agreement with experimental results, the theoretically obtained potential energy profiles for the studied hydrogenation mechanisms implied that (1R,2S)-1-phenyl-1,2-propanediol is formed in excess with respect to the other diastereomeric product diol, (1R,2R)-1-phenyl-1,2-propanediol. Generally, if the elementary hydrogen addition step was thermodynamically more favorable on one of the two diastereotopic faces, it was also kinetically preferred on the same face, and vice versa. Pairwise addition of hydrogen was the most energetically favorable mechanism. Adsorption and hydrogenation of other structurally similar chiral alpha-hydroxyketones, (R)-3-hydroxy-2-butanone and (R)-2-hydroxy-1-cyclohexanone, were also studied computationally on Pt(111). The results showed that cluster model DFT calculations can be used to assess (dia)stereoselectivity in metal-catalyzed hydrogenation of even such complex organic molecules as studied here.

A combined NMR, DFT, and X-ray investigation of some cinchona alkaloid O-ethers.

Structures and conformational behavior of several cinchona alkaloid O-ethers in the solid state (X-ray), in solution (NMR and DFT), and in the gas phase (DFT) were investigated. In the crystal, O-phenylcinchonidine adopts the Open(3) conformation similar to cinchonidine, whereas the O-methyl ether derivatives of both cinchonidine and cinchonine are packed in the Closed(1) conformation. Dynamic equilibria in solutions of the alkaloids were revealed by combined experimental-theoretical spin simulation/iteration techniques for the first time. In the (1)H NMR spectra in CDCl3 and toluene-d8 at room temperature, Closed(1) conformation was observed for the O-silyl ethers as a separate set of signals. For O-methyl ether derivatives Closed(1) could be separated only at -30 degrees C in CDCl3 or toluene-d8 and for O-phenylcinchonidine at -70 degrees C in CDCl3/CD2Cl2. The ratio between the Closed(2) and Open(3) conformers was estimated by analyzing the vicinal coupling constant (3)J(H9,H8) at ambient and low temperatures. The observed conformational equilibria of O-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)cinchonidine in CDCl 3 and toluene-d8 are in good agreement with the theoretically estimated equilibrium populations of the conformations according to Boltzmann statistics. The conformational equilibria of four cinchona alkaloid O-ether solutes in CDCl3 and toluene-d8 are discussed in the light of their relevance to the mechanism of 1-phenyl-1,2-propanedione (PPD) hydrogenation over cinchona alkaloid modified heterogeneous platinum catalysts. It was demonstrated that the conformation found to be abundant in the liquid phase has no direct correlation with the enantioselectivity of the PPD hydrogenation reaction.