Dr. Wolfe welcomes Montgomery to the Water Tribe! On his journey to becoming orgotar, he must learn the mechanism of hydrogenation. Dr. Wolfe is willing to share this ultimate technique if Montgomery promises to protect the Water Tribe from the Fire Nation (Research Ethics Note: Should Montgomery form this pact, although he has previously promised Dr. Schindler from the fire nation his loyalty?)
In the next step in the formation of Batzelladine, the product from Alkene Metathesis is exposed to H2 and Pd(OH)2, which leads to alkene hydrogenation, benzyl ether hydrogenolysis, and p-methoxybenzyl removal in a single pot procedure. The first reaction (hydrogenolysis) is a technique of the Water Tribe, although Montgomery must go to the Air Nomads in order to discover the mechanism for the deprotection mechanism for this reaction (benzyl ether hydrogenolysis and p-methoxybenzyl removal).
Basics on Hydrogenation:
Hydrogenation is used to reduce organic compounds by exposing them to H2 in the presence of a metal catalyst. In this specific step, hydrogenation is used to reduce the alkene present in the molecule. A basic reaction scheme for this step is below:
