Alkynes, conjugated dienes hydrometalation

Although zirconium is only one out of over 50 potentially usable metals in this class (including the lanthanides and actinides), virtually all synthetic applications of hydrometallation with transition metals involve zirconium Why is this so The primary reason derives from the near requirement of a d -metal center for hydrometallation of a general alkene or alkyne. For later transition metals, hydrometallation to give a stable organometallic product can usually be achieved only for special cases—conjugated dienes, alkenes with electronegative substituents, etc. This is due to the relative stability of the ti -complex, as discussed previously. 

Generation of stereo- and regio-defined alkenylmetals via hydrometallation or carbometallation of alkynes followed by cross-coupling (Scheme 1-11) is a synthetically attractive notion for preparing arylated alkenes, conjugated dienes, and conjugated enynes. Its feasibility was demonstrated in 1976 [14,15] in the prototypical examples shown in Schemes 1-4 and 1-5. In these processes, hydroalumination was employed for generating the required alkenylmetals. 

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