Concerted Hydrosilylation Catalysis by Silica-Immobilized Cyclic Carbonates and Surface Silanols.

Developing a method for creating a novel catalysis of organic molecules is essential because of the growing interest in organocatalysis. In this study, we found that cyclic carbonates immobilized on a nonporous or mesoporous silica support showed catalytic activity for hydrosilylation, which was not observed for the free cyclic carbonates, silica supports, or their physical mixture. Analysis of the effects of linker lengths and pore sizes on the catalytic activity and carbonate C=O stretching frequency revealed that the proximity of carbonates and surface silanols was crucial for synergistic hydrosilylation catalysis. A carbonate and silanol concertedly activated the silane and aldehyde for efficient hydride transfer. Density functional theory calculations on a model reaction system demonstrated that both the carbonate and silanol contributed to the stabilization of the transition state of hydride transfer, which resulted in a reasonable barrier height of 16.8 kcal mol-1. Furthermore, SiO2/carbonate(C4) enabled the hydrosilylation of an aldehyde with an amino group without catalyst poisoning, owing to the weak acidity of surface silanols, in sharp contrast to previously developed acid catalysts. This study demonstrates that immobilization on a solid support can convert inactive organic molecules into active and heterogeneous organocatalysts.

Rhodium-Iodide Complex on a Catalytically Active SiO2 Surface for One-Pot Hydrosilylation-CO2 Cycloaddition.

In this study, a novel Rh-iodide complex was synthesized through a surface reaction between an immobilized Rh cyclooctadiene complex and alkylammonium iodide (N+ I- ) on SiO2 . In the presence of ammonium cations, the SiO2 -supported Rh-iodide complex could be effectively used for the one-pot synthesis of various silylcarbonate derivatives starting from epoxy olefins, hydrosilanes, and CO2 . The maximum turnover numbers (TONs) for the hydrosilylation reaction and the CO2 cycloaddition were 7600 (Rh) and 130 (N+ I- ), respectively. The catalyst exhibited much higher performance for hydrosilylation than solely the Rh complex on SiO2 . The mechanism of the Rh-catalyzed hydrosilylation reaction and the local structure of Rh, which is affected by the co-immobilized N+ I- , were investigated by using Rh and I K-edge XAFS and XPS. Analysis of the XAFS profiles indicated the presence of a Rh-I bond. The Rh unit was in its electron-rich state. Curve-fitting analysis of the Rh K-edge EXAFS profiles suggests dissociation of the cycloocta-1,5-diene (COD) ligand from the Rh center. Results from spectroscopic and kinetic analyses revealed that the high activity of the catalyst (during hydrosilylation) could be attributed to a decrease in steric hindrance and the electron-rich state of the Rh. The decrease in the steric hindrance could be attributed to the absence of COD, and the electron-rich state promoted the oxidative addition of Si-H. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of a one-pot silylcarbonate synthesis as well as a determination of a novel surface Rh-iodide complex and its catalysis.

Multifunctional Catalytic Surface Design for Concerted Acceleration of One-Pot Hydrosilylation-CO2 Cycloaddition.

Silica-supported Rh-ammonium iodide catalyst showed high performance for hydrosilylation-CO2 cycloaddition reaction sequences. The catalyst was prepared by surface grafting of Rh and the silane-coupling reaction of the ammonium iodide moiety. The acceleration of each catalytic reaction was realized due to the concerted catalysis between Rh species, immobilized organic functions, and surface Si-OH groups. As a result, good to excellent yields of silyl carbonates were obtained from epoxyolefins, hydrosilanes, and CO2 under mild reaction conditions.