Hydration of nitriles using a metal-ligand cooperative ruthenium pincer catalyst.

ABSTRACT: Nitrile hydration provides access to amides that are important structural elements in organic chemistry. Here we report catalytic nitrile hydration using ruthenium catalysts based on a pincer scaffold with a dearomatized pyridine backbone. These complexes catalyze the nucleophilic addition of H₂O to a wide variety of aliphatic and (hetero)aromatic nitriles in ^t BuOH as solvent. Reactions occur under mild conditions (room temperature) in the absence of additives. A mechanism for nitrile hydration is proposed that is initiated by metal-ligand cooperative binding of the nitrile.

SUBMITTER: Guo B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7020783 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature