Reaction alkene metathesis

The synthetic utility of the alkene metathesis reaction may in some cases be limited because of the formation of a mixture of products. The steps of the catalytic cycle are equilibrium processes, with the yields being determined by the thermodynamic equilibrium. The metathesis process generally tends to give complex mixtures of products. For example, pent-2-ene 8 disproportionates to give, at equilibrium, a statistical mixture of but-2-enes, pent-2-enes and hex-3-enes ... 

Acyclic alkadienes, metathesis of, 134 Acyclic alkenes, metathesis reaction of, 133, 134... 

Fig. la—d Typical alkene metathesis reactions ring-closing (RCM) and ring-opening (ROM) metathesis (a), diene cross metathesis (CM, b), ROM-RCM (c), and ROM-double RCM (d) sequences (ring-rearrangement reactions, RRM)... 

Carbenes are both reactive intermediates and ligands in catalysis. They occur as intermediates in the alkene metathesis reaction (Chapter 16) and the cyclopropanation of alkenes. As intermediates they carry hydrogen and carbon substituents and belong therefore to the class of Schrock carbenes. As ligands they contain nitrogen substituents and are clearly Fischer carbenes. They have received a great deal of attention in the last decade as ligands in catalytic metal complexes [58], but the structural motive was already explored in the early seventies [59],... 

Heck [245, 429], Sonogashira [140] Wittig ]177], Diels-Alder [263] and alkene metathesis reactions have been used. 

The formation of carbon-carbon bonds has always been one of the key challenges in synthetic organic chemistry, and particularly methods to obtain optically pure products are of fundamental importance. In DCC, however, with the exception of the powerful alkene metathesis reaction, C-C bond formation has only been explored in a few systems [1,5,6,18-20]. 

Two observations initiated a strong motivation for the preparation of indenylidene-ruthenium complexes via activation of propargyl alcohols and the synthesis of allenylidene-ruthenium intermediates. The first results from the synthesis of the first indenylidene complexes VIII and IX without observation of the expected allenylidene intermediate [42-44] (Schemes 8.7 and 8.8), and the initial evidence that the well-defined complex IX was an efficient catalyst for alkene metathesis reactions [43-44]. The second observation concerned the direct evidence that the well-defined stable allenylidene ruthenium(arene) complex Ib rearranged intramo-lecularly into the indenylidene-ruthenium complex XV via an acid-promoted process [22, 23] (Scheme 8.11) and that the in situ prepared [33] or isolated [34] derivatives XV behaved as efficient catalysts for ROMP and RCM reactions. 

Utilizing the Grubbs alkene metathesis reaction, Katzenellenbogen et al. 164 described the synthesis of the ten-membered-ring lactam p-turn mimetic 129 (Scheme 47, some experimental details given below) and prepared a mimetic 130 of the neuropeptide substance P, and in particular of the four C-terminal amino acid sequence -Phe8-Gly-Leu-Metn-. Compound 130 was unable to inhibit the binding of radiolabeled substance P. 

With the advances in pro-catalyst design that have been witnessed over the last decade or so, the transition-metal-catalysed alkene metathesis reaction has now become a practical procedure that can be utilised by the chemist at the bench. Undeniably, this has added a new dimension to the repertoire of synthetic organic chemistry as it facilitates disconnections that, pre-metathesis, simply would not have been considered. Take, for example, a macro-cyclic amide where the normal disconnection would be at the amide. Now, with the ready reduction of alkenes to alkanes, a ring-closing diene metathesis (RCM), followed by hydrogenation, becomes an alternative disconnection. And, when one considers that any of the C—C linkages could be established in such a manner, the power of the RCM disconnection becomes obvious. 

The alkene metathesis reaction arose serendipitously from the exploration of transition-metal-catalysed alkene polymerisation. Due to the complexity of the polymeric products, the metathetic nature of the reaction seems to have been overlooked in early reports. However, in 1964, Banks and Bailey reported on what was described as the olefin disproportionation of acyclic alkenes where exchange was evident due to the monomeric nature of the products [8]. The reaction was actually a combination of isomerisation and metathesis, leading to complex mixtures, but by 1966 Calderon and co-workers had reported on the preparation of a homogeneous W/Al-based catalyst system that effected extraordinarily rapid alkylidene... 

Early mechanistic proposals for the alkene metathesis reaction... 

The alkene metathesis reaction was unprecedented - such a non-catalysed concerted four-centred process is forbidden by the Woodward-Hoffmann rules - so new mechanisms were needed to account for the products. Experiments by Pettit showed that free cyclobutane itself was not involved it was not converted to ethylene (<3%) under the reaction condition where ethylene underwent degenerate metathesis (>35%, indicated by experiments involving Di-ethylene) [10]. Consequently, direct interconversion of the alkenes, via an intermediate complex (termed a quasi-cyclobutane , pseudo-cyclobutane or adsorbed cyclobutane ) generated from a bis-alkene complex was proposed, and a detailed molecular orbital description was presented to show how the orbital symmetry issue could be avoided, Scheme 12.14 (upper pathway) [10]. 

The transformations of the feedstocks e.g. catalytic alkene metathesis reactions. 

Later on, Calderon et al. [42,43] recognised that the ring-opening polymerisation of cyclic olefins is a special case of the more general alkene metathesis reaction, e.g. as for propylene ... 

In the mid to late 1980s, transition-metal catalysts were developed that were particularly useful for carrying out olefin (alkene) metathesis reactions (Rouhi 2002). Metathesis is a reaction in which two molecules containing carbon-carbon double bonds exchange carbon atoms along with any groups attached to them ... 

This work consists of an overview of the major developments in the alkene metathesis reaction since 1997. In view of the breadth of the subject area and the rapid pace of advancement in the field in recent years, this review is not intended to serve as a comprehensive survey, but rather as an account of how the development of novel catalyst systems has made a dramatic impact on the reaction in terms of scope and efficiency/selectivity. 

Ruthenium is not an effective catalyst in many catalytic reactions however, it is becoming one of the most novel and promising metals with respect to organic synthesis. The recent discovery of C-H bond activation reactions [38] and alkene metathesis reactions [54] catalyzed by ruthenium complexes has had a significant impact on organic chemistry as well as other chemically related fields, such as natural product synthesis, polymer science, and material sciences. Similarly, carbonylation reactions catalyzed by ruthenium complexes have also been extensively developed. Compared with other transition-metal-catalyzed carbonylation reactions, ruthenium complexes are known to catalyze a few carbonylation reactions, such as hydroformylation or the reductive carbonylation of nitro compounds. In the last 10 years, a number of new carbonylation reactions have been discovered, as described in this chapter. We ex-... 

The cascade alkene metathesis processes described above result from the combination of ROM and RCM. The cascade alkene metathesis reaction involving ROM, RCM and CM reported in Scheme 18 leads to [n.3.0]bicycles in a stereo-controlled manner [40]. The reaction combines ring opening of... 

All the above cascade alkene metathesis reactions are based on the ROM of a cycloalkene moiety. Harrity and co-workers have described the synthesis of functionalized spiro cyclic systems by cascade selective olefin ringclosing metathesis reactions from an acyclic tetraalkene. The selectivity for five-membered ring closure over seven-membered ring closure would be the result of a kinetically favored cyclization process [42] (Scheme 20). The syn-... 

Ring opening metathesis polymerization, which has been known since the discovery of the alkene metathesis reaction, has been given the acronym ROMP in recent years. In fact, the ROMP reaction was the first observation made in alkene metathesis chemistry, while the discovery of the exchange reaction in equation (1) actually occurred later. Acychc diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization (equation 3) has only recently been shown to be a viable method for polymer synthesis, and it has been termed ADMET polymerization. ROMP reactions are driven by the release of ring strain from the monomer, while ADMET polymerization is driven by a shift in the equilibrium caused by the removal of one of the reaction products. 

The mechanism of the alkene metathesis reaction is now very well understood and is shown in Scheme 1. The initial mechanistic proposal of a pairwise reaction (the pairwise mechanism) of two alkenes at a transition metal center in a pseudocyclobutane transition metal complex has been discarded in favor of the carbene mechanism (the Chauvin Mechanism) of Scheme 1. ... 

Evidence for the carbene mechanism is now so overwhelming (as discussed below) that the pairwise mechanism is only mentioned in this review for historical reasons. All alkene metathesis reactions are catalyzed by a metal carbene complex of some description, and the widely variable compositions used as catalysts are necessary to generate an active metal carbene group. 

The synthesis of d° Alkylidene complexes by Schrock demonstrated that carbene complexes could be isolated that were electronically similar to those postulated to be involved in the alkene metathesis reaction see Schrock-type Carbene Complexes). Eventually, this pioneering work led to the synthesis of a class of compounds that are among the most active catalysts known for metathesis chemistry. The first observation that a d° carbene complex was involved in metathesis chemistry was when Tebbe showed that the Ti complex (2) would catalyze the degenerate metathesis of... 

More recent developments in the mechanistic aspects of the alkene metathesis reaction include the observation that the alkene coordinates to the metal carbene complex prior to the formation of the metallacyclobutane complex. Thns a 2 - - 2 addition reaction of the alkene to the carbene is very unlikely, and a vacant coordination site appears to be necessary for catalytic activity. It has also been shown that the metal carbene complex can exist in different rotameric forms (equation 11) and that the two rotamers can have different reactivities toward alkenes. " The latter observation may explain why similar ROMP catalysts can produce polymers that have very different stereochemistries. Finally, the synthesis of a well-defined Ru carbene complex (equation 12) that is a good initiator for ROMP reactions suggests that carbenes are probably the active species in catalysts derived from the later transition elements. ... 

The ROMP reaction is a special example of the alkene metathesis reaction as shown in equation (2), and the mechanism of the ROMP reaction is shown in Scheme 3. The first step in the reaction involves coordination of the substrate... 

Studies involving the specific exchange mechanisms," as well as theoretical calculations" " of alkene metathesis reactions, generally agree that the mechaiusm begins with jt-coordination of the alkene to the electrophihc metal as shown for a general diene in Scheme 5. 

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