Interaction of formaldehyde with a water-tolerant frustrated Lewis pair.

A facile complexation of formaldehyde with the water-tolerant frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) B(C6F5)3/PtBu3 and its Al-analog under ambient conditions is reported. Unprecedented formaldehyde adducts 1, 2 and 4 have been identified and crystallographically characterized.

Ruthenium-catalyzed reductive methylation of imines using carbon dioxide and molecular hydrogen.

The use of the well-defined [Ru(triphos)(tmm)] catalyst, CO2 as C1 source, and H2 as reducing agent enabled the reductive methylation of isolated imines, as well as the direct coupling of amines with aldehydes and the subsequent reductive methylation of the in situ formed imines. The method, which afforded the corresponding N-methyl amines in very good to excellent yields, was also used for the preparation of the antifungal agent butenafine in one step with no apparent waste, thus increasing the atom efficiency of its synthesis.

Asymmetric hydrogenation of imines with a recyclable chiral frustrated Lewis pair catalyst.

A camphor based chiral phosphonium hydrido borate zwitterion was synthesised and successfully applied in the enantioselective hydrogenation of imines with selectivities up to 76% ee. The high stability of the novel chiral FLP-system enables effective recycling of the metal-free catalyst.

New ruthenium metathesis catalysts with chelating indenylidene ligands: synthesis, characterization and reactivity.

Six new ruthenium complexes bearing a bidentate (κ(2)O,C)-isopropoxy-indenylidene and PPh(3) or PCy(3) ligands have been synthesized and characterized by (1)H, (13)C NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. Some of these complexes were synthesized in dimethyl carbonate, a green solvent that was recently shown to be suitable for several catalytic transformations including olefin metathesis. The thermal stability and catalytic efficiency of the PCy(3)-containing complexes have been evaluated in a series of test reactions.