Amination and hydration reactions using homogeneous catalysts
Description
The long-chain tertiary amines like hexadecyldiethyl amines are used as precursors in the production of detergents. A plausible approach towards the synthesis of these compounds involves the catalytic condensation reaction between long-chain terminal alcohols and secondary amines. The complexes that are found to catalyze this transformation are $\rm RuCl\sb2(PPh\sb3)\sb3$ and $\rm RuCl\sb2(PN)\sb2.$ The scope of this dehydration reaction towards secondary alcohols, aldehydes and ketones are also explored. The hydration of alkenes is a potentially important route for the synthesis of alcohols. The only reported hydration of alkenes to alcohols using a transition metal complex in water suffers from poor reproducibility. For the catalytic hydration of diethyl maleate, palladium(II) hydroxy complexes with phosphine ligands are synthesized and their catalytic properties examined. Since very little is known regarding the reactivity of these palladium(II) hydroxy complexes, their reaction chemistry towards unsaturated small molecules like $\rm CO\sb2$ are investigated. To avoid solubility problems for the hydration of alkenes in water, synthesis of water soluble phosphine sulfonate and phosphonate ligands are carried out and tested for these catalytic hydration reactions. The hydration and oxidation of diethyl maleate using the Wacker catalyst system is also inspected. While working on the hydration of alkenes, we also discovered that tertiary phosphines can function as useful catalysts for the isomerization of diethyl maleate to the trans form, diethyl fumarate