Highly efficient chemoselective catalytic hydrogenation of diaryl substituted α,β-unsaturated nitriles/carbonyls using homogeneous Pd(OAc)2/PPh3 catalyst

alpha,beta-unsaturated nitriles are chemoselectively hydrogenated to corresponding saturated nitriles with Pd(OAc)(2)/PPh3 as a homogeneous catalytic system using atmospheric pressure of molecular hydrogen. Various parameters like catalyst concentration, role of solvents, variation in the reaction temperature were screened and optimized reaction conditions were successfully used for chemoselective hydrogenation of other diaryl substituted alpha,beta-unsaturated nitriles. The present catalytic system have also been used for hydrogenation of alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyls at atmospheric pressure of hydrogen. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.