Well-defined silica-supported zirconium–imido complexes mediated heterogeneous imine metathesis†
Bilel Hamzaoui,Jérémie D. A. Pelletier,Edy Abou-Hamad,Jean-Marie Basset
Chemical Communications Pub Date : 02/15/2016 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C6CC00471G
Abstract

Upon prolonged thermal exposure under vacuum, a well-defined single-site surface species [([triple bond, length as m-dash]Si–O–)Zr(NEt2)3] (1) evolves into an ethylimido complex [([triple bond, length as m-dash]Si–O–)Zr([double bond, length as m-dash]NEt)NEt2] (2). Reactions of 2 with an imine substrate result in imido/imine ([double bond, length as m-dash]NRi, R: Et, Ph) exchange (metathesis) with the formation of [([triple bond, length as m-dash]Si–O–)Zr([double bond, length as m-dash]NPh)NEt2] (3). Compounds 2 and 3 effectively catalyze imine/imine cross-metathesis and are thus considered as the first heterogeneous catalysts active for imine metathesis.

Graphical abstract: Well-defined silica-supported zirconium–imido complexes mediated heterogeneous imine metathesis