Methanol is an abundant (35 million metric tons per year), renewable chemical feedstock, yet its use as a one-carbon building block in fine chemical synthesis is highly underdeveloped. Using a homogeneous iridium catalyst developed in our laboratory, methanol engages in a direct CâC coupling with allenes to furnish higher alcohols that incorporate all-carbon quaternary centres, free of stoichiometric by-products. A catalytic mechanism that involves turnover-limiting methanol oxidation, a consequence of the high energetic demand of methanol dehydrogenation, is corroborated through a series of competition kinetics experiments. This process represents the first catalytic CâC coupling of methanol to provide discrete products of hydrohydroxymethylation. Methanol is an abundant, renewable chemical feedstock. Here, a homogenous iridium catalyst enables a byproduct-free CâC coupling of methanol and allenes, producing higher alcohols that incorporate all-carbon quaternary centres. This process represents the first catalytic CâC coupling of methanol to provide discrete products of hydrohydroxymethylation.
甲醇是一种丰富的(每年3500万吨)可再生
化学原料,但作为精细
化学合成中的一碳构建块,其应用仍未得到充分开发。我们实验室开发的均匀
铱催化剂使得
甲醇能够与烯炔直接进行C–C偶联,生成不含计量副产品的高碳醇,并且这些产物包含全碳的季碳中心。通过一系列竞争动力学实验,证实了一种催化机制,该机制涉及限速的
甲醇氧化,这是
甲醇脱氢的高能量需求所导致的。该过程代表了
甲醇的首个催化C–C偶联反应,能够提供独特的氢羟甲基化产品。
甲醇是一种丰富的可再生
化学原料。这里,均匀
铱催化剂实现了无副产品的
甲醇与烯炔的C–C偶联,生成的高碳醇具备全碳季碳中心。这一过程代表了
甲醇的首个催化C–C偶联反应,提供了独特的氢羟甲基化产品。