Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Palladium N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes: Synthesis from Benzimidazolium Salts and Catalytic Activity in Carbon-carbon Bond-forming Reactions
Published on: July 30, 2017
Development of chiral nucleophilic pyridine catalysts: applications in asymmetric quaternary carbon synthesis
Scott A Shaw1, Pedro Aleman, Edwin Vedejs
1Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Abstract:
TADMAP (1a), a new chiral DMAP catalyst, has been designed to place a C(3)-benzylic trityl group over one face of the pyridine ring, while a C(3)-benzylic acetoxy group creates a chirotopic environment on the other face. TADMAP was prepared in four steps (37% overall) from triphenylacetic acid and (dimethylamino)pyridine and was resolved using camphorsulfonic acid. TADMAP catalyzes the enantioselective rearrangement from oxazolyl phenyl carbonates 4 to azlactones 5, from furanyl phenyl carbonate 8 to the furanone 9, from the benzofuranyl carbonates 11a and 11b to benzofuranones 12a and 12b, and from the indolyl carbonates 11c and 11d to oxindoles 12c and 12d. The products are formed in good yield and, in most cases, with practical levels of enantiomer excess at the newly formed quaternary carbon.
Related Concept Videos
Catalysis
Reduction of Alkenes: Asymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation
The metal catalyst used can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. When hydrogenation of an alkene generates a chiral center, a pair of enantiomeric products is expected to form. However, an enantiomeric excess of one of the products can be facilitated using an enantioselective reaction or an...
Preparation of Alkynes: Alkylation Reaction
Alkylation of terminal alkynes with primary alkyl halides in the presence of a strong base like sodium amide is one of the common methods for the synthesis of longer carbon-chain alkynes. For example, treatment of 1-propyne with sodium amide followed by reaction with ethyl bromide yields 2-pentyne.
Preparation of Acid Anhydrides
The carboxylate ion acts as a nucleophile that attacks the carbonyl carbon of the acid chloride to form a tetrahedral intermediate. Subsequently, the re-formation of the carbonyl group with the loss of the chloride ion as a leaving group leads to the formation of an acid...
Catalysis
Heterogeneous Catalysis

