Metallophthalocyanine catalyzed olefination of aldehydes

The Wittig reaction to synthesize olefins is a very attractive method in organic synthesis. Recently, this methodology has been achieved utilizing simple metal catalysts and diazo compounds in addition to a phosphine and an aldehyde. The following work investigates the use of a variety of metallophthalocyanines (MPc’s) to catalyze Wittig-like reactions from ethyldiazoacetate. We also examine the influence of substitution on the aromatic ring of the aldehyde as well as various phosphines, arsines and antimony complexes. We have been able to exclusively synthesize the trans-olefins in excellent yields in short periods of time (1 h).