Organoactinides promote the dimerization of aldehydes: Scope, kinetics, thermodynamics, and calculation studies

Surprising catalytic activities have been found for the actinide complexes Cp*₂ThMe₂ (1), Th(NEtMe)₄ (2), and Me₂SiCp″₂Th(C₄H₉) ₂(3) toward oxygenated substrates. During the catalytic dimerization of benzaldehydes to their corresponding esters, complexes 1 and 2 gave 65 and 85% yield in 48 h, respectively, while the geometry-constrained complex 3 gave 96% yield in 24 h. Exploring the effect of substituents on benzaldehyde, it has been found that, in general, electron-withdrawing groups facilitate the reaction. Kinetic study with complexes 1 and 3 reveals that the rate of the reaction is first order in catalyst and substrate, which suggests the rate equation "rate = k[catalyst]¹[aldehyde]¹". The activation energy of the reaction was found to be 7.16 ± 0.40 and 3.47 ± 0.40 kcal/mol for complexes 1 and 3 respectively, which clearly indicates the advantage of the geometry-constrained complex. Astonishing are the reactivity of the organoactinide complexes with oxygen-containing substrates, and especially the reactivity of complex 3, toward the dimerization of substrates like p-methoxybenzaldehyde, m/p-nitrobenzaldehyde, and furanaldehyde and the reactivity toward the polymerization of terephthalaldehyde. Density functional theory mechanistic study reveals that the catalytic cycle proceeds via an initially four-centered transition state (+6 kcal/mol), followed by the rate-determining six-centered transition state (+13.5 kcal/mol), to yield thermodynamically stable products.