Alkene complexes synthesis

The reaction between alkenes and synthesis gas (syngas), an equimolar mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, to form aldehydes was discovered in 1938 by Otto Roelen [1,2]. Originally called oxo-reaction , hydroformyla-tion is the term used today. This reflects the formal addition of formaldehyde to the olefinic double bond. Commercially, homogeneous metal complexes based on cobalt and rhodium are used as catalysts. With more than 10 million metric tons of oxo products per year, this reaction represents the most important use of homogeneous catalysis in the chemical industry. 

Cationic cyclopentadienyliron dicarbonyl (Fp) alkene complexes are generally reactive towards a wide variety of nucleophiles, including nitrogen nucleophiles, but they too generate stable chemical step (usually oxidation). This makes catalysis impossible and severely limits application of this methodology to organic synthesis (equation 21 ).36 However, in contrast to palladium, iron is relatively inexpensive and stoichiometric procedures... 

A second method subsequently reported for the synthesis of complexes of this type involves the use of the complexes Cp Ta(r 2-H2C = CHR)Cl2 (R = H, Me, "Pr) as starting materials [Eq. (14)]. These alkene complexes reacted with a further equivalent of ethene, propene or 1-pentene to yield the corresponding... 

Other methods for obtaining complexes of ethylene and other alkenes include ligand substitution reactions, reduction of a higher valent metal in the presence of an alkene, and synthesis from alkyl and related species [reductive elimination, of an allyl or hydride, for example hydride abstraction from alkyls protonation of sigma-allyls from epoxides (indirectly)] [74a],... 

Such J-mctals as Cu(I) [but not Cu(II)], form a variety of compounds with ethenes, for example [Cu(C2H4)(H20)2]C104 (from Cu, Cu2+, and C2H4) or Cu(C2H4)(bipy)+. It is necessary to mention that, of all the metals involved in biological systems, only copper reacts with ethylene [74b]. Such homoleptic alkene complexes can be useful intermediates for the synthesis of other complexes. The olefin complexes of the metals in high formal oxidation states are electron deficient and therefore inert toward electrophilic reagents. By contrast, the olefin complexes of the metals in low formal oxidation states are attacked by electrophiles such as protons at the electron-rich metal-carbon a-bonds [74c]. 

The chiral anisole derivative 37 has been used in the synthesis of several asymmetric functionalized cyclohexenes (Table 9) [22]. In a reaction sequence similar to that employed with racemic anisole complexes, 37 adds an electrophile and a nucleophile across C4 and C3, respectively, to form the cyclohexadiene complex 38. The vinyl ether group of 38 can then be reduced by the tandem addition of a proton and hydride to C2 and Cl, respectively, affording the alkene complex 39. Direct oxidation of 39 liberates cydohexenes 40 and 41, in which the initial asymmetric auxiliary is still intact. Alternatively, the auxiliary may be cleaved under acidic conditions to afford /y3 -allyl complexes, which can be regioselectively attacked by another nucleophile at Cl. Oxidative decomplexation liberates the cyclohexenes 42-44. HPLC analysis revealed high ee values for the organic products isolated both with and without the initial asymmetric group. 

Figure 6.1 Alkene complexes in organic (retro)synthesis ( n isomers shown iso or branched alternatives are also accessible)...

Acyloxy)alkenyl carbene complexes, synthesis, 223-224 Alkenes, bishydroxylation cycloreversion of rhenium diolates, 148-156... 

Since the vanadium center of vanadocenes is electron-deficient, various vanadium derivatives are formed by the attack with PR3, CO, or unsaturated tt-donating hgands/ This reaction provides a useful synthetic method for the synthesis of jj -alkene complexes as described later. Thus formed Cp 2V(CO) (22) is converted to the cyano derivative (23, see Cyanide Complexes of the Transition Metals) on treatment with the isocyanide (Scheme 12). ( -C5Me5)2V is incubated with O2 at -78 °C to yield [(/u.-)] -C5Me503)V(0)]2 via oxygen insertion into the carbon-vanadium bond." ... 

Both anhydrous and hydrated sodium or potassium sulfide in ethanol have been used in the synthesis of thietanes. A common procedure is to use a solution of sodium or potassium hydroxide saturated with hydrogen sulfide. Liquid ammonia has been used as a solvent for the preparation of thietane (32%) from sodium sulfide and 1,3-dibromopropane. Phase-transfer catalysis has been used to good effect.A variation in which l,3-dichloro-3-methylbutane 3 is treated with aluminium chloride and hydrogen sulfide followed by aqueous sodium hydroxide gave 2,2-dimethylthietane 4 in 90% yield. An intermediate aluminium chloride-alkene complex, 5 or 6, was proposed. 

The first synthesis of the hexacyclic himandrine skeleton was achieved by L.N. Mander and co-workers. The last six-membered heterocycle was formed via an intramolecular Wacker-type oxidation in which the terminal alkene side-chain reacted with the secondary amine functionality. The oxidation was conducted in anhydrous acetonitrile to insure that the Pd-alkene complex was substituted exclusively by the internal nucleophile. The resulting six-membered enamine was then hydrogenated and the MOM protecting groups removed to give the desired final product. 

Iron-alkene complexes have also been used for the synthesis of -lactams (Scheme 25). The alkene complex (19) is transfonned into the pyrroline complex (20) on exposure to ammonia. Reduction with NaBH4 gives a mixture of stereoisomeric pyrrolidine complexes which are then converted on heating to the diastereomeric chelate (21). Oxidation with air or silver oxide produces the lactam (22). 

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