Molecular molybdenum catalyst covalently anchored onto a polystyrene resin for the alkylation of alcohols with ketones

Abstract

Herein, we report a molybdenum catalyst covalently anchored onto a chloromethylated polystyrene resin and its use in the alkylation of ketones and alcohols. In this reaction, the substrate is widely versatile and the catalyst can be reused. The proposed methodology applies to not only methyl ketones but also cyclic ketones and can be used to synthesize the drug donepezil. The molecular molybdenum catalyst covalently anchored onto the polystyrene resin was fully characterized and analyzed via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analysis (EA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). In addition, the reaction mechanism of the alkylation of alcohols and ketones was investigated by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and in situ infrared (IR) spectroscopy.