The intriguing methoxycarbonylation of trimethylsilylacetylene in the presence of Drent's catalytic system

Abstract

The alkoxycarbonylation of trimethylsilylacetylene has been studied in order to develop an atom economic sustainable synthesis of 2-(trimethylsilyl)acrylates, a family of valuable intermediates. Pd(OAc)2 in combination with CH3SO3H and diphenyl-(pyridin-2-yl)phosphine or diphenyl-(6-methyl-pyridin-2-yl)phosphine is an active catalyst for the reaction affording mixtures of the sought 2-(trimethylsilyl)acrylate and the isomeric 3-(trimethylsilyl)acrylate. The phosphine ligand has a dramatic effect on the reaction. When employing diphenyl-(pyridin-2-yl)phosphine, it is necessary to carry out the reaction at 80°C in order to observe a modest catalytic activity, and the product is an almost equimolecular mixture of the two isomeric esters. On the contrary, when employing diphenyl-(6-methyl-pyridin-2-yl)phosphine, the reaction proceeds under much milder conditions affording with high rate (turnover frequency [TOF] up to 1200 h−1) and selectivity (>95%) of the sought 2-(trimethylsilyl)acrylate. The reaction conditions have been optimized, and the effects of phosphine/palladium, acid/palladium, reaction time, temperature, and CO pressure have been investigated.