Metal-catalyzed reactions in water

Nico Erdmann

doi:10.1515/gps-2014-0059

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Metal-catalyzed reactions in water

Nico Erdmann

Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 27. August 2014

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Aus der Zeitschrift Green Processing and Synthesis Band 3 Heft 5

Reviewed Publication:

Dixneuf Pierre H. Cadierno Victorio Wiley-VCH 2013 Hardcover/e-book, 407 pp. US$ 210.00 (hardcover), US$ 168.99 (e-book) 978-3-527-33188-8 978-3-527-65679-0

The book Metal-catalyzed reactions in water provides a broad overview of the current state-of-the-art metal catalysis in and on water.

Water as a solvent in organic reactions has received considerable interest in recent years. The advantages of water as a solvent are its sustainable, non-toxic, non-flammable nature and the enhancement of greenness of a process, i.e., by reducing the required amount of organic solvent. The book by P. H. Dixneuf and V. Cadierno provides several examples where the merger of metal catalysis and the use of water whether as co-solvent or solvent can have additional advantages. It is shown that higher reaction rates can be achieved by the use of water, but also that it allows the reuse of water soluble catalysts in a biphasic system and catalyst immobilization by using supported water films in a three-phasic system (gas/organic phase/aqueous phase), e.g., for hydroformylations.

The book covers all the major areas of homogeneous metal-catalyzed transformations ranging from classical cross-coupling via C-H activation, nucleophilic addition of alkynes, hydroformylation, oxidation and hydrogenation, rearrangements and allylations to alkene metathesis in water which are all discussed in separate chapters. The last chapter deals with nanocatalysis in water. Whereas for several examples in the previous chapters it is indicated that nano-sized species could be involved in the catalysis, this chapter focuses on the intentional use of nanocatalysts. Each of the nine chapters has an introduction, a conclusion and references. In the introduction the chapter authors give the historical background, limitations of the covered area and the utility of water as a solvent for the discussed transformation. At the end, the current state-of-the-art is summarized and future perspectives are discussed.

In conclusion, the book reaches the goal of the authors to introduce the reader to the innovative field of metal catalysis in water by providing a broad summary of cutting-edge results from the literature and the know-how shared by the chapter authors. Moreover, it is easy to read which makes the book attractive not only for researchers but also for interested students and teachers. In this context, it would have been advantageous to include a short discussion on the controversial debate about water as a green solvent in the general introduction (Blackmond, D.G.; Armstrong, A.; Coombe, V.; Wells, A. Angew. Chem. 2007, 119, 3872–3874; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2007, 46, 3798–3800.). Nonetheless the chapter authors use the introductory part of their section to provide their opinion on the greenness of water as a solvent. The author of chapter 5 Roger A. Sheldon finds the right expression by saying that there are many shades of green. Overall the book is recommendable to get a broad overview over state-of-the-art metal-catalyzed reaction in and on water as well as to get inspiration to improve the greenness of a process.

Published Online: 2014-8-27

Published in Print: 2014-10-1

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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