Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Fri, 01/13/2017 - 11:06
My Notes
Description

This literature discussion is based on a paper detailing catalytic transfer hydrogenation of various unsaturated organic molecules (Organometallics, 2016, 35, 943). In this paper, two ruthenium compounds with N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands are examined as catalytic precursors for transfer hydrogenation. This LO walks students through the paper, but it does so in a slightly different order than the paper presents the material. In parcticular, the proposed catalytic mechanism appears very late in the paper, but very early in the LO.

Attachment Size
Questions for students 19.06 KB
Learning Goals

Upon completing this LO students should be able to

  1. Use the CBC method to count electrons in the ruthenium compounds in this paper
  2. Describe the bonding interactions in a N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand
  3. Describe catalytic transfer hydrogenation and identify the reactions taking place in the proposed mechanism
  4. Examine a series of catalytic results and rationalize observed trends
Time Required
50 minutes or so
Evaluation
Evaluation Methods

This was developed after the semester in which I teach this material. I look forward to using it next fall and I hope to post some evaluation data at that point.

Creative Commons License
Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike CC BY-NC-SA