Samarium(II)-mediated pinacol coupling in water: occurrence of unexpected disproportionation and action of low-valent samarium as an active species

Satoru Matsukawa; Yumi Hinakubo

doi:10.1021/ol0341344

Samarium(II)-mediated pinacol coupling in water: occurrence of unexpected disproportionation and action of low-valent samarium as an active species

Org Lett. 2003 Apr 17;5(8):1221-3. doi: 10.1021/ol0341344.

Authors

Satoru Matsukawa¹, Yumi Hinakubo

Affiliation

¹ Department of Science, Faculty of Education, Ibaraki University, Mito, Ibaraki 310-8512, Japan. smatsukawa@mx.ibaraki.ac.jp

PMID: 12688724
DOI: 10.1021/ol0341344

Abstract

[reaction: see text] Mechanistic studies of one-electron reduction in water using samarium were carried out. Unexpected disproportionation in water was observed via UV-vis spectroscopic analysis. This fact indicates that low-valent samarium species can exist in water. Furthermore, the SmCl(3)-Sm and SmCl(3)-Mg systems were found to act as good one-electron reducing agents in water.