Predicting Gold-Mediated Catalytic Oxidative-Coupling Reactions from Single Crystal Studies

Abstract

Though metallic gold is chemically inert under ambient conditions, its surface is extremely reactive and selective for many key oxidative chemical transformations when activated by atomic oxygen. A molecular-level understanding of the mechanism of these processes could allow researchers to design "green" catalytic processes mediated by gold-based materials. This Account focuses on the mechanistic framework for oxidative-coupling reactions established by fundamental studies on oxygen-activated Au(111) and the application of these principles to steady-state catalytic conditions. We also discuss the importance of the paradigms discovered both for predicting new oxidative-coupling reactions and for understanding existing literature. The mechanistic framework for the oxidative coupling of alcohols on gold surfaces predicts that new oxidative-coupling reactions should occur between amines and aldehydes and amines and alcohols as well as through alcohol carbonylation. Adsorbed atomic oxygen on the gold surface facilitates the activation of the substrates, and nucleophilic attack and β-H elimination are the two fundamental reactions that propagate the versatile chemistry that ensues. In the self-coupling of primary alcohols, adsorbed atomic oxygen first activates the O-H bond in the hydroxyl group at ∼150 K, which forms the corresponding adsorbed alkoxy groups. The rate-limiting step of the self-coupling reaction is the β-H elimination reaction of alkoxy groups to form the corresponding aldehydes and occurs with an activation barrier of approximately 12 kcal/mol. The remaining alkoxy groups nucleophilically attack the electron-deficient aldehyde carbonyl carbon to yield the adsorbed "hemiacetal". This intermediate undergoes facile β-H elimination to produce the final coupling products, esters with twice the number of carbon atoms as the starting alcohols. This mechanistic insight suggests that cross-coupling occurs between alcohols and aldehydes, based on the logic that the nucleophilic reaction should be independent of the origin of the aldehydes, whether formed in situ or introduced externally. As a further example, adsorbed amides, formed from deprotonation of amines by atomic oxygen, can also attack aldehydes nucleophilically to yield the corresponding amides. Our mechanistic framework can also explain more elaborate gold-mediated chemistry, such as a unique carbonylation reaction via two subsequent nucleophilic attacks. These model studies on well-defined Au(111) at low pressure predict steady-state catalytic behavior on nanoporous gold under practical conditions. The fundamental principles of this research can also explain many other oxygen-assisted gold-mediated reactions observed under ambient conditions.