Chelation-Assisted Hydroesterification of Alkenes: New Ruthenium Catalyst Systems and Ligand Effects

Abstract

New types of ruthenium catalysts were developed for the chelation-assisted intermolecular olefin hydroesterification that employs 2-pyridylmethyl formate as an ester source. Two classes of ligands, NHCs and phosphines, were found to facilitate the reaction delivering isomeric ester products (linear versus branched) with different ratios, thus allowing access to ligand-guided selective hydroesterification.