Alcohols reaction with alkoxycarbene complexes

Most efforts to explore the reactivity of ruthenium carbene complexes have employed the alkoxycarbene species so readily synthesized from the inter- or intramolecular reaction of vinylidene complexes with alcohols. These electrophilic alkoxycarbene complexes exhibit only limited reactivity at Ca, primarily with hydride reagents. For example, treatment of the 2-oxacyclopentylidene complex 97 with NaAlH2(OCH2CH2OMe)2 affords the neutral 2-tetrahydrofuranyl complex (98) [Eq. (89)] (55), as was anticipated from similar reductions of iron carbene complexes (87). 

It is noteworthy that the methylplatinum(II)-vinylidene intermediates are four-coordinate square-planar complexes, with essentially no hindrance to attack from above or below the square-plane. Only alkoxycarbene complexes have ever been isolated from the reactions in alcohol solvents (10). 

As a supporting evidence, it is well-known that the electron-rich 0 6-arene)Ru complex of terminal alkyne 428 rearranges easily by the treatment with NaPR, of the )/ -vinylidenc complex 429, which is a strongly electrophilic carbene complex. Attack of ROH on the carbene carbon generates the the alkoxycarbene complex 431 via 430 [166]. Formation of ketone 427 by attack of the allylic alcohol is understanable by this mechanism. Formation of Ru-vinylidene complex 429 from the terminal alkyne has been proposed as the intermediate 432 of the reaction of terminal alkyne, amine and CO2 to form the vinyl carbamate 433 [167,168]. 

Three different strategies have been envisaged. The chiral information can either be incorporated into the alkyne or linked to the heteroatom or to the a,/ -unsaturated substituent at the carbene complex carbene carbon. High diastereoselectivities (57a 57b >96 4) have been observed in reactions of vinyl carbene complex 55 with the chiral propargylic ether 56 bearing the bulky trityloxy substituent [57a]. A more general approach is based on chiral alcohols incorporated into the alkoxycarbene complex. Upon benzannulation with tert-butylethyne, the menthyloxy carbene complex 58 gave a diastereoselectivity of 10 1 in favor of the naphthalene tricarbonylchromium complex 59a [57c, 57d]. Finally, the tandem benzannulation-Mitsunobu reaction of optically active carbene complex 60 with 5-hexyn-l-ol afforded the anti-benzoxepine complex 61 as the only diastereomer (Scheme 23) [57b]. 

The vast majority of work exploring the reactivity of ruthenium viny-lidene complexes has focused on the attack of alcohols at the electrophilic a carbon of monosubstituted vinylidenes, resulting in the formation of ruthenium alkoxycarbene complexes. Bruce and co-workers have determined, for example, that the phenylvinylidene complex 80 is slowly transformed in refluxing MeOH to the methoxycarbene complex 82 in good yield (73,83). The mechanism for this reaction must involve initial attack of the alcohol at the electrophilic Ca to form a transient vinyl intermediate 81 which is rapidly protonated at the nucleophilic Cp, generating the product carbene 82 [Eq. (79)]. In contrast to monosubstituted vinylidene complexes, disubstituted vinylidene complexes are generally unreactive to nucleophiles even the relatively small dimethylvinylidene complex 83 shows no reaction with MeOH after 70 hours at reflux [Eq. (80)]. 

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