Acyclic carbene chemistry

A useful metalation approach that has little precedent in cyclic carbene chemistry [18] is the use of 2-chloroamidinium or chloroiminium ions as precursors for acyclic carbene ligands. Fiirstner and coworkers prepared cationic Pd complexes of acyclic diamino-, aminooxy-, aminoarjd, and aminothiocarbenes by oxidative addition of chloroiminium precursors to Pd(PPhs)4 (route d. Scheme 16.1), an approach that was also effective for ADC-Ni complexes [19]. This route permits complexation of sterically nonhindered acyclic carbenes that would not be stable in the free state. Chloroamidinium precursors can be meta-lated without a change in metal oxidation state via lithium-halogen exchange followed by transmetalation (route e). This strategy has been successfully employed with Pd", Rh, and Ir [20]. 

Alkyl groups of compounds other than alkanes can be regioselectively functionalized using C-H activation chemistry. For example, acyclic and cyclic ethers can be activated by Ir(m) complexes to yield carbene complexes (Equation (25)).35... 

Carbenes [74-76], and in particular W-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), are today the topics of very intense research [43 8]. Carbenes were originally considered as chemical curiosities before being introduced by Doering in organic chemistry in the 1950s [77], and by Fischer in organometallic chemistry in 1964 [5]. Eater, it was shown that the stability of carbenes could be dramatically enhanced by the presence of heteroatom substituents. After the discovery of the first stable carbene, a (phos-phino)(silyl)carbene, by Bertrand et al. in 1988 [78], a variety of stable acyclic and cyclic carbenes have been prepared. With the exception of bis(amino)cycloprope-nylidenes [79], all these carbenes feature at least one amino or phosphino group directly bonded to the electron-deficient carbenic center. 

Reactions of complexes of 1,2-cycloheptadienes have received only cursory attention. 1,2-cycloheptadiene is readily displaced from bisftriphenyl-phosphine)platinum(O)118 [Eq. (54)], but no reagent has been found that will displace the allene from iron.119 Reaction of the iron complex with alcohol in the presence of base (e.g., 312 — 322) is typical of Fp+ complexes of acyclic allenes.131132 The thermal chemistry of 312 is unusual in its decomposition to 324 (Scheme 41). This is probably attributable to the presence of the triflate counterion, since the corresponding fluoroborate salt is stable when warmed to 40°C for 16 h.119 A mechanism to 324 via carbene complex 321 appears likely. 

Olefin metathesis is a unique carbon skeleton redistribution in which unsaturated carbon-carbon bonds are rearranged in the presence of metal carbene complexes. With the advent of efficient catalysts, this reaction has emerged as a powerful tool for the formation of C-C bonds in chemistry [1]. Olefin metathesis can be utilized in five types of reactions ring-closing metathesis (RCM), ring-opening metathesis (ROM), respective ringopening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), cross-metathesis (CM), and acyclic diene metathesis polymerization (ADMET). 

One unique aspect of the carbenoid C-H insertion chemistry is its ability to form products that are typically obtained from more classical organic reactions. One example is the allylic insertion into silyl enol ethers 102 to form products equivalent to those from an asymmetric Michael reaction (Scheme 22) [92], Cyclic substrates provided the desired Michael adducts 103 in the highest ee values for the major isomer (89-96%), but with only moderate de, favoring the diastereomer shown about 1.5 1 to 3 1. The diastereoselectivity was markedly improved to >90% de with acyclic substrate 104 with sterically differentiated substituents, but the enantioselectivity dropped to below 85% ee. Notably, this transformation was limited to aryldiazoacetates. When EDA was utilized as the carbene precursor, cyclo-propanation of the olefin was the major reaction pathway, and only small amounts of the desired C-H insertion were observed. 

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