Alkyl complexes alkyne insertions

Few direct comparisons between the rates for insertions of alkenes and alkynes have been made. However, one comparison indicates that the insertions of alkenes are slower than die insertions of alkynes. The insertion of acetylene into the cationic palladium-alkyl complex in Equation 9.7H° is directly analogous to the insertions of ethylene into cationic palladium alkyl complexes. This insertion of acetylene is faster than the insertion of ettiylene into ttie same palladium-methyl complex. The insertion of 1-hexyne ismuch slower than the insertion of acetylene and gives a mixture of the two vinyl complexes that result from 1,2- and 2,1-insertion. 

The stoichiometric insertion of terminal alkenes into the Cu-B bond of the (NHC)Cu-B(cat) complex, and the isolation and full characterisation of the p-boryl-alkyl-copper (I) complex has been reported. The alkyl complex decomposes at higher temperatures by P-H elimination to vinylboronate ester [67]. These data provide experimental evidence for a mechanism involving insertion of alkenes into Cu-boryl bonds, and establish a versatile and inexpensive catalytic system of wide scope for the diboration of alkenes and alkynes based on copper. 

Besides hydrozirconation of terminal triple bonds Cp2Zr(H)Cl (16) also reacts with double bonds.8 The mechanism is similar to that described for alkynes. After coordination of alkene 5 to the Zr center giving -complex 23 the terminal double bond inserts into the Zr-H bond to form the stable (T-alkyl complex 24. The bulky zirconocene moiety again adds to the end-position of the terminal double bond. 

The reaction sequence in the vinylation of aromatic halides and vinyl halides, i.e. the Heck reaction, is oxidative addition of the alkyl halide to a zerovalent palladium complex, then insertion of an alkene and completed by /3-hydride elimination and HX elimination. Initially though, C-H activation of a C-H alkene bond had also been taken into consideration. Although the Heck reaction reduces the formation of salt by-products by half compared with cross-coupling reactions, salts are still formed in stoichiometric amounts. Further reduction of salt production by a proper choice of aryl precursors has been reported (Chapter III.2.1) [1]. In these examples aromatic carboxylic anhydrides were used instead of halides and the co-produced acid can be recycled and one molecule of carbon monoxide is sacrificed. Catalytic activation of aromatic C-H bonds and subsequent insertion of alkenes leads to new C-C bond formation without production of halide salt byproducts, as shown in Scheme 1. When the hydroarylation reaction is performed with alkynes one obtains arylalkenes, the products of the Heck reaction, which now are synthesized without the co-production of salts. No reoxidation of the metal is required, because palladium(II) is regenerated. 

Migratory insertion is the principal way of building up the chain of a ligand before elimination. The group to be inserted must be unsaturated in order to accommodate the additional bonds and common examples include carbon monoxide, alkenes, and alkynes producing metal-acyl, metal-alkyl, and metal-alkenyl complexes, respectively. In each case the insertion is driven by additional external ligands, which may be an increased pressure of carbon monoxide in the case of carbonylation or simply excess phosphine for alkene and alkyne insertions. In principle, the chain extension process can be repeated indefinitely to produce polymers by Ziegler-Natta polymerization, which is described in Chapter 52. 

Heck (149) has discussed several alkyne insertion reactions involving alkyl- and acyl-tetracarbonylcobalt complexes. Most reactions seem to give tricarbonyl-7T-(penteno-4-lactonyl)cobalt complexes and numerous other products. The reaction of CFaC CCFs with HCo(CO)4 results in reduction of the alkyne (85), but Co2(CO)e(HC2H) is formed (150) in the related reaction of HC—CH with HCo(CO)4 in methanol. 

Experimental evidence and computational analysis point to a mechanism in which the alkene (or alkyne) carbons and the M-H bond must be nearly coplanar to react. Once the metal alkene complex has achieved such geometry, 1,2-insertion can occur. During insertion, the reactant proceeds through a four-center transition state. 14The reaction involves simultaneous breakage of the M-H and C-C n bonds, as well as the formation of an M-C a bond and a C-H bond at the 2-position of the alkene (or alkyne). The result is a linear compound, L M(CH2CH3), in the case of ethene insertion. The reverse reaction, (3-elimination, follows the same pathway starting from a metal-alkyl complex with an open coordination site. 

Migration of more complex alkyl groups was recently reported [70]. Reversible migratory insertion/(3-carbon elimination occurs between the coordinated alkyne and the bound alkyl group of alkyl-niobium(alkyne) complex 52. 

The ability of organo-rare-earth metal complexes to undergo alkene or alkyne insertion provides the possibility to perform polyene cyclizations, producing metal-alkyl species which can then undergo o-bond metathesis with an appropriate reagent to produce a cyclic compound. Thus, termination via protonolysis (6) results in cycloalkane derivatives however, termination via silylation is more desirable as a functionalized cyclic framework is formed (Fig. 9). 

Alkyne polymerization in organic media has been reviewed [131]. A large variety of catalysts has been reported to polymerize alkynes in organic media. Similar to the polymerization of olefins, early transition metal as well as late transition metal catalysts are effective for this polymerization. Depending on the nature of the metal, two different mechanisms of polymerization have been suggested polymerization via a metal alkyl intermediate, or via a metal carbene (Scheme 7.9). With metal alkyl complexes, polymerization proceeds via migratory insertion of the alkyne into the metal-carbon bond [path (a) in Scheme 7.9] whereas with metal carbenes the mechanism is equivalent to that of metathesis [path (b)]. 

Vinyl complexes are typically prepared by the same methods used to prepare aryl complexes. Vinyl mercury compounds, like aryl mercury compoimds, are easily prepared (by the mercuration of acetylenes), and are therefore useful for the preparation of vinyl transition metal complexes by transmetallation. The use of vinyl lithium reagents has permitted the s rnthesis of homoleptic vinyl complexes by transmetallation (Equation 3.35). Reactive low-valent transition metal complexes also form vinyl complexes by the oxidative addition of vinyl halides with retention of stereochemistry about the double bond (Equation 3.36). Vinyl complexes have also been formed by the insertion of alkynes into transition metal hydride bonds (Equation 3.37), by sequential electrophilic and nucleophilic addition to alkynyl ligands (Equation 3.38), and by the addition of nucleophiles to alkyne complexes (Equation 3.39). The insertion of alkynes into transition metal alkyl complexes is presented in Chapter 9 and, when rearrangements are slower than insertion, occurs by s)m addition. In contrast, nucleophilic attack on coordinated alkynes, presented in Chapter 11, generates products from anti addition. 

An example of an alkyne insertion involving an early metal complex is shown in Equation 9.72. The insertion of dimethylacetylene into the permethylscandocene-alkyl complex occurs in a manner similar to that for the insertion of olefins into d metal-alkyl complexes. This reaction gave the product of a cis addition. The competition experiment shows that there is no measurable isotope effect of the a-hydrogen, implying that the modified Green-Rooney mechanism is not followed in this case. 

Electrophilic attack on olefin ligands coordinated to electron-rich, strongly backbonding metals is illustrated by the reactions of (P group 4 olefin and alkyne complexes, as well as some electron-rich olefin complexes. Zirconocene- and and hafnocene-olefin complexes generated by reaction of zirconocene dichloride with two equivalents of alkyl lithium and isolated upon addition of a phosphine ligand react with carbonyl compounds and weak protic acids to form insertion products and alkyl complexes. Several examples of the reactions of these complexes with electrophiles are shown in Equations 12.65-12.66. Zirconocene-alkyne complexes prepared by thermolysis of vinyl alkyl complexes and titanium-alkyne complexes generated by the reduction of Ti(OPr ) also react with electrophiles, such as aldehydes and acid, to form products from insertion into the M-C bond and protonation of the M-C bond respectively. 

One final route to alkyls is the attack of a nucleophile on a metal alkene complex, but we will postpone a detailed discussion to Chapter 5. This route is more useful for the synthesis of metal vinyls from alkyne complexes vinyls are also formed from alkyne insertion into M—H bonds ... 

Direct alkyne insertion into a Rh—Si bond has been observed for the intermediate rhodium silyl complex (dtbpm) Rh[Si(OEt)3] (PMe3) [dtbpm = di(ferf-butyl)phosphino methane] in the hydrosilylation of 2-butyne with triethoxysilane catalyzed by the rhodium alkyl complex (dtbpm)RhMe(PMc3). The crystal structure of (dtbpm)Rh[Si(OEt)3j (PMes) shows that the coordination around the Rh metal is planar with a Rh—Si bond length [2.325(2) A] similar to that found for the complex (Me3P)3RhH(C6F5) Si(OEt)3 (Table ll) . The proposed mechanism for the hydrosilylation reaction of 2-butyne with HSi(OEt)3 yielding mainly the E-isomer of MeCH=C(Me)Si(OEt)3 is outlined in Scheme 36. 

The L ligands (CO, alkene, alkyne, CNR , CS2, CO2) can insert into an M-R bond (R = H, R, OH, OR, NR2). The reverse reaction is extrusion (or, in the case of alkene insertion, P-H elimination from a metal-alkyl complex containing at least one P-H). 

Metal-alkyl complexes are characterized in NMR by upfield signals compared to alkanes. Metal-alkyl complexes can undergo a-, 3- or y-elimination, CO, NO, O2, SO2, olefin or alkyne insertion, and react with electrophiles d° metal-alkyl complexes undergo a bond metathesis... 

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