Abstract
(Pyrazolyethyl)pyridine palladium (II)complexes have been structurally characterized and found to give active catalysts in themethoxycarbonylation of higher olefins to mainly linear esters. The catalyticactivities of the complexes were mainly controlled by nature of the acidpromotor, phosphine derivative and olefin chain length. DFT studies establishedthe formation of monophosphine‐palladium hydride intermediate as the activespecies.
Reactions of 2‐[1‐(3,5‐dimethylpyrazol‐1‐yl)ethyl]pyridine (L1) and 2‐[1‐(3,5‐diphenylpyrazol‐1‐yl)ethyl]pyridine (L2) with the [Pd (COD)Cl2] or [Pd (COD)MeCl] produced palladium (II) complexes [Pd(L1)ClMe] (1), [Pd(L1)Cl2] (C2), [Pd(L2)ClMe] (3), and [Pd(L2)Cl2] (4) in quantitative yields. Solid state structures of complexes 1, 3 and 4 established the formation of mononuclear compounds, containing one bidentate ligand unit per metal atom, to give square planar complexes. All the other spectroscopic characterization data and elemental analyses were consistent with the observed structures. All the palladium (II) complexes 1–4 gave active catalysts in the methoxycarbonylation of 1‐octenes. The catalysts demonstrated 100% chemoselectivities towards esters and favored the formation of linear isomers. Reaction conditions such as the type of phosphine derivative, acid promoter, solvent system, time, pressure and temperature have been investigated and shown to affect both the catalytic activity and regio‐selectivity of the catalysts. Solid‐angle modelling established the comparable steric contributions from the ligands, consistent with the similar regioselectivities of the resultant catalysts.