Flexibility – a tool for chirality control in asymmetric catalysis

This thesis deals with the design and synthesis of ligands for asymmetric catalysis: palladium catalyzed allylic alkylations, and rho-dium and iridium catalyzed hydrogenations of olefins.

Chirally flexible phosphepine ligands based on biphenyl were synthesized and their properties were studied. The rotation barrier for configurationally flexible phosphepines was determined by NMR spectroscopy. The ratio of the atropisomers was shown to depend on the group bound to phosphorus. Only complexes with two homochiral ligands bound to the metal center were observed upon complexation with Rh(I). It was shown that one diastereomer of the flexible ligand exhibits higher activity but lower selectivity than its diastereomer in the rhodium catalyzed hydrogenation of methyl alfa-acetamidocinnamate. These ligands were also tested in nickel catalyzed silabora-tions.

Chiral P,N-ligands with pseudo-C₂ and pseudo-C_S symmetry based on pyrrolidines-phospholanes or azepines-phosphepines were synthesized and studied in palladium catalyzed allylic alkylations. Semi-flexible azepine-phosphepine based ligands were prepared and their ability to adopt pseudo-C₂ or pseudo-C_S symmetry depending on the substrate in allylic alkylations was studied. It was shown on model allyl systems with flexible N,N-ligands that the ligand prefers C_S-symmetry in compexes with anti-anti as well as syn-syn allyl moieties, but that for the latter type of complexes, according to computations, the configuration of the ligand is R*,R* in the olefin complexes formed after addition of a nucleophile to the allylic group.

A preliminary investigation of the possibilities to use a su-pramolecular approach for the preparation of P,N-ligands with pseudo-C₂ and pseudo-_S symmetry was made. An N,N-ligand with C₂ symmetry was prepared and its activity in palladium catalyzed ally-lic alkylation was studied.

Pyridine-based P,N-ligands were tested in iridium catalyzed hy-drogenations of unfunctionalized olefins with good activities and se-lectivities. In order to attempt to improve the selectivity, ligands with a chirally flexible phosphepine fragment were prepared and applied in catalysis with promising results.