Alkene complexes, ligands

Another interesting example of dehydrative C-C coupling involves the alkylation of benzimidazole 36 with allyl alcohol 37, which is catalysed by complex 39 [15], The reaction is believed to proceed by alkene complex formation with the allyl alcohol 37 with loss of water from the NH proton of the NHC ligand and OH of the allyl alcohol to give an intermediate Ji-allyl complex. The initially formed 2-allylbenzimidazole isomerises to a mixture of the internal alkenes 38 (Scheme 11.9). 

Copper olefin complexes are usually generated by the direct reaction of a Cu(l) source, the ligand, and the corresponding olefin. Copper ethylene complexes are of interest in view of their biochemical importance,98,98a-98e their applications in organic chemistry,99,99a,99b and industrial applications.100 100 Because of this, many copper alkene complexes have been reported, with different nuclearity, in compounds with one, two, or even three C=C units coordinated to a given copper center. 

It is important to realize that there is a great deal of overlap in the topics covered in this chapter. For example, the chemistry of metal carbonyls is intimately related to metal alkene complexes, because both types of ligands are soft bases and many complexes contain both carbonyl and alkene ligands. Also, both areas are closely associated with catalysis by complexes discussed in Chapter 22, because some of the best-known catalysts are metal carbonyls and they involve reactions of alkenes. Therefore, the separation of topics applied is certainly not a clear one. Catalysis by metal complexes embodies much of the chemistry of both metal carbonyls and metal alkene complexes. 

In this case, the bond between the carbon atoms is about the same as it is for a C-C single bond. Moreover, unlike the anion of Zeise s salt, the carbon atoms are in the plane formed by platinum and the other ligands. Clearly, this represents a significant difference from the usual alkene complexes. In essence, a three-membered C-P-C ring is formed. It appears in this case that the ability of the... 

Although there is a tendency for the alkene complexes to contain uncharged metals, a large number of complexes are known in which the metal ions are Pd2+, Fe2+, Cu+, Ag+, and Hg2 +. As we shall see, the formation of alkene complexes of these and other metals occurs as the metals catalyze certain reactions of the ligands. 

Since the early work dealing with Zeise s salt, many complexes have been prepared with the formula [PtL(C2H4)X2], where L = quinoline, pyridine, or ammonia and X=C1 , Br , I, or N()2. Similar compounds have been prepared that contain other alkenes than C2H4. Many of the complexes containing dienes, trienes, and tetraenes as ligands also contain carbonyl ligands. In fact, metal carbonyls are frequently starting complexes from which alkene complexes are obtained by substitution reactions. 

Hydroformylation results in Table 8.3 show that, with the exception of ligands 28 and 30, the rate of the reaction increases with decreasing phosphine basicity. An explanation for the deviant behaviour of 28 and 29 can be that catalyst formation is incomplete or deactivation of the catalyst occurs. Decreasing phosphine basicity facilitates CO dissociation from the (diphosphine)Rh(CO)2H complex and enhances alkene coordination to form the (diphosphine)Rh(CO)H(alkene) complex, and therefore, the reaction rate increases. 

Having generated suitable (partially) cationic, Lewis acidic metal centers, several factors need to be considered to understand the progress of the alkene polymerisation reaction the coordination of the monomer, and the role (if any) of the counteranion on catalyst activity and, possibly, on the stereoselectivity of monomer enchainment. Since in d° metal systems there is no back-bonding, the formation of alkene complexes relies entirely on the rather weak donor properties of these ligands. In catalytic systems complexes of the type [L2M(R) (alkene)] cannot be detected and constitute structures more closely related to the transition state rather than intermediates or resting states. Information about metal-alkene interactions, bond distances and energetics comes from model studies and a combination of spectroscopic and kinetic techniques. 

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