Urea derivatives, polyureas, and poly(urea-urethanes) are materials of great interest. However, their current methods of synthesis involve toxic feedstocks – isocyanate and phosgene gas. There is significant interest in developing alternative methodologies for their synthesis from safer feedstocks. We report here new methods for the synthesis of urea derivatives, polyureas, and poly(urea-urethane) using a ruthenium pincer catalyst. In this approach, urea derivatives and polyureas are synthesized from the self-coupling of formamides and diformamides, respectively, whereas poly(urea-urethanes) are synthesized from the coupling of diformamides and diols. CO and H₂ gases are eliminated in all these processes. Decarbonylation of formamides using such organometallic catalysts has not been reported before and therefore mechanistic insights have been provided using experiments and DFT computation to shed light on pathways of these processes.

中文翻译：

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利用甲酰胺的脱羰和脱氢来合成脲、聚脲和聚（脲-氨基甲酸酯）


脲衍生物、聚脲和聚（脲-氨基甲酸酯）是备受关注的材料。然而，它们目前的合成方法涉及有毒原料——异氰酸酯和光气。人们对开发从更安全的原料合成它们的替代方法非常感兴趣。我们在此报告了使用钌钳形催化剂合成脲衍生物、聚脲和聚（脲-氨基甲酸酯）的新方法。在这种方法中，脲衍生物和聚脲分别由甲酰胺和二甲酰胺的自偶联合成，而聚（脲-氨基甲酸酯）由二甲酰胺和二醇的偶联合成。 CO和H ₂气体在所有这些过程中都被消除。使用此类有机金属催化剂进行甲酰胺脱羰之前尚未有报道，因此通过实验和 DFT 计算提供了机理见解，以阐明这些过程的途径。