Soluble polyisobutylene-supported reusable catalysts for olefin cyclopropanation

Polyisobutylene oligomers (PIB) have been used as soluble supports for the immobilization of cyclopropanation catalysts. In addition to simple carboxylate ligands, chiral bisoxazolines have been successfully attached to these heptane-soluble polymers. Their use and recovery has been investigated using cyclopropanation of styrene as an example. An achiral PIB-bound Rh(II) catalyst showed good activity and could be easily recycled nine times using a liquid–liquid biphasic separation technique. PIB-supported bisoxazoline ligands for Cu(I) catalysts were also prepared. These chiral catalysts showed good catalytic activity and stereoselectivity. A chiral ligand prepared from phenylglycine provided the most effective stereocontrol and gave the trans- and cis-cyclopropanation products in 94% ee and 68% ee, respectively. All three PIB-bound chiral bisoxazoline-Cu(I) catalysts prepared could be reused five to six times.