Cover Picture: Ruthenium-Catalyzed Propargylic Substitution Reactions of Propargylic Alcohols with Oxygen-, Nitrogen-, and Phosphorus-Centered Nucleophiles (Chem. Eur. J. 5/2005)

✍ Scribed by Yoshiaki Nishibayashi; Marilyn Daisy Milton; Youichi Inada; Masato Yoshikawa; Issei Wakiji; Masanobu Hidai; Sakae Uemura

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 250 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0947-6539
• DOI: 10.1002/chem.200590014

✦ Synopsis

The pair of statues of the Nio (Agyo and Ungyo), or Heavenly Kings, were made in 1203 AD and stand at the entrance gate of Todaiji temple (a world culture heritage) in Nara, Japan; Agyo (left) represents the beginning of the universe with its mouth open, while Ungyo (right) represents the end of the universe with its mouth tightly closed. Conceived as a pair they complement each other in protecting the temple from demons and keeping it in the good spirits. In a similar manner, the two Ru atoms in the thiolate‐bridged diruthenium complex work cooperatively to catalyse the propargylic substitution reactions of propargylic alcohols with heteroatom‐centred nucleophiles such as alcohols, amines, amides, and phosphine oxide. Y. Nishibayashi, M. Hidai, S. Uemura, and their co‐workers describe the scope and limitations of the reactions on page 1433 ff.