Acid-base bifunctional and dielectric outer-sphere effects in heterogeneous catalysis: a comparative investigation of model primary amine catalysts.
Dielectric and acid-base bifunctional effects are elucidated in heterogeneous aminocatalysis using a synthetic strategy based on bulk silica imprinting. Acid-base cooperativity between silanols and amines yields a bifunctional catalyst for the Henry reaction that forms alpha,beta-unsaturated product via quasi-equilibrated iminium intermediate. Solid-state UV/vis spectroscopy of catalyst materials treated with salicylaldehyde demonstrates zwitterionic iminium ion to be the thermodynamically preferred product in the bifunctional catalyst. This product is observed to a much lesser extent relative to its neutral imine tautomer in primary amine catalysts having outer-sphere silanols partially replaced by aprotic functional groups. One of these primary amine catalysts, consisting of a polar outer-sphere environment derived from cyano-terminated capping groups, has activity comparable to that of the bifunctional catalyst in the Henry reaction, but instead forms the beta-nitro alcohol product in high selectivity (approximately 99%). This appears to be the first observation of selective alcohol formation in primary amine catalysis of the Henry reaction. A primary amine catalyst with a methyl-terminated outer-sphere also produces alcohol, albeit at a rate that is 50-fold slower than the cyano-terminated catalyst, demonstrating that outer-sphere dielectric constant affects catalyst activity. We further investigate the importance of organizational effects in enabling acid-base cooperativity within the context of bifunctional catalysis, and the unique role of the solid surface as a macroscopic ligand to impose this cooperativity. Our results unequivocally demonstrate that reaction mechanism and product selectivity in heterogeneous aminocatalysis are critically dependent on the outer-sphere environment.
Bass
John D
JD
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-1462, USA.
Solovyov
Andrew
A
Pascall
Andrew J
AJ
Katz
Alexander
A
D000143:Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D000588:Amines / Q000737:chemistry*; D002219:Carbamates / Q000737:chemistry; D002384:Catalysis; D004563:Electrochemistry; D008239:Lysine / Q000737:chemistry; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013816:Thermodynamics
D000143:Acids; D000588:Amines; D002219:Carbamates; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D008239:Lysine