[Synthetic organic reactions with mesoporous silicas]

Some hexagonal mesoporous silicas were attempted to use as a promoter for fine organic synthesis. Ti-HMS, a Ti-loaded hexagonal mesoporous silica, which possesses Lewis acid sites due to Ti-atom, was found to accelerate deprotection of benzyl ethers under hydrogenolytic conditions with palladium catalyst. Such acid-sensitive functional groups as silyl ether and acetal moieties in the molecule were little affected by Ti-HMS. MCM-41, a hexagonal mesoporous silica, /MeOH heterogeneous system was found to remove selectively and easily triethylsilyl (TES) group of silyl ethers of several types in the presence of t-butyldimethylsilyl (TBS) groups. FSM-16, another hexagonal mesoporous silica, was found to catalyze oxidative photodecarboxylation of alpha-hydroxy carboxylic acid and phenyl acetic acid derivatives to afford the corresponding carbonyl compounds. Furthermore, FSM-16 proved to be reuseable by recalcination at 450 degrees C after the reaction. Efficiency of these reactions was investigated concerning the solvent effect and activities of the promoters including common zeolites and ion-exchange resins.