Acetalization of alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds catalyzed by complexes of Pt(II)

A class of cationic diphosphine complexes of Pt(II) are sufficiently Lewis acidic to catalyze the acetalization of aldehydes and ketones. alpha,beta-U nsaturated substrates can be easily acetalized with ethylene glycol under m ild conditions in high yield and avoiding side reactions leading to formati on of undesired by-products arising from the nucleophilic addition to the c arbon-carbon double band conjugated to the carbonyl group. A comparison of the behavior of a Pt complex with respect to PTSA as catalysts under identi cal conditions shows the superior selectivity of the former in many cases. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.