Au Clusters Catalyze The Disulfide Metathesis Reaction By A Reductive Addition-Oxidative Elimination Mechanism

Belén Lerma-Berlanga, Francesco Orlando, Estíbaliz Merino, Antonio Leyva-Pérez*

A plethora of industrial and academic organic chemical reactions are catalyzed by the well-known oxidative addition-reductive elimination (OARE) mechanism. However, the micro-reversed counterpart, i. e. the reductive addition-oxidative elimination (RAOE) mechanism, has to our knowledge not been reported yet in a catalytic manner. Here we show that a gold cluster can act as homogeneous catalyst capable of triggering a reductive addition step with disulfides, manage the incoming electrons and finally execute an oxidative elimination step, to perform the disulfide metathesis reaction. These findings suggest that not only new organic reactions but also other previously reported processes catalyzed by metal clusters may operate through the RAOE mechanism.

ChemCarChem 2024
DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01204-6