Home > Community > Stereochemistry of hydrogenation with Raney nickel
Upvote

29

Downvote
+ Catalysis
+ Stereochemistry
Posted by
Kuliva Doreen

Stereochemistry of hydrogenation with Raney nickel

Bill Gillooly  Follow

Good old paper drawing has blindsided you. Think of the $\ce{H2}$ as adding on top of the molecule as you have drawn it on paper. Not all the molecules know that they are supposed to land "right-side" up.

right sideup drawing

Some will land up side down.

right sideup drawing

You get stereoisomers when there are four different groups bonded to a single carbon atom. Such a mixture will effect polarized light. One configuration will twist the polarized light positive and the other negative. An equal mixture of such stereoisomers is a racemic mixture and is optically inactive.

Right-side up you get (H)(D)(CH3) going clockwise looking down the C-C axis that was the C=C double bond. Upside-down you get (H)(CH3)(D) going clockwise.

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Ivan Bangov  Follow
Yes. Edited my answer to make that point more clearly.More
Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Hiyath Peiris  Follow
sorry, didnt understand what you mean by (H)(CH3)(D) going clockwiseMore
Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Jose Lameiro  Follow
so, is my book correct ?More
Upvote

VOTE

Downvote
Chee-Eng, Lim  Follow

The hydrogenation of alkenes using heterogenous catalysts such as Raney nickel is syn-stereospecific; i.e. both hydrogen atoms are added to the same face of the double bond.

Therefore, the hydrogenation of (2​E)-(2,3-2H2)but-2-ene yields (2​R,3​R)-(2,3-2H2)butane and
(2​S,3​S)-(2,3-2H2)butane.

hydrogenation

More

Upvote

VOTE

Downvote