Alkynes interesting/important

Precise placement of metal complexing sites within the infrastructure of a cascade molecule is of importance from a variety of perspectives. In the construction of the above noted Micellane family (cf. Sect. 3.1), we reported the construction of dendrimers with four alkyne moieties at sites equidistant from each other in the interior (17, Fig. 8) [60]. These were treated with decaborane (B10H14) to afford 1,2-dicarba-closo-dodecaboranes (o-carboranes) [71]. Rendering boron clusters soluble in water is of interest because of their use in cancer treatment by Boron Neutron Cancer Therapy. First and second generation water-soluble dendrimers containing four and twelve precisely located boron cluster sites, respectively, were synthesized (e.g., 18). These water soluble dendrimers and their precursors were characterized by 13C-, and nB-NMR spectroscopy (Fig. 8). 

In a similar way as described for the hydroformylation, the rhodium-catalyzed silaformylation can also be used in a domino process. The elementary step is the formation of an alkenyl-rhodium species by insertion of an alkyne into a Rh-Si bond (silylrhodation), which provides the trigger for a carbocyclization, followed by an insertion of CO. Thus, when Matsuda and coworkers [216] treated a solution of the 1,6-enyne 6/2-87 in benzene with the dimethylphenylsilane under CO pressure (36 kg cm"2) in the presence of catalytic amounts of Rh4(CO)12, the cyclopentane derivative 6/2-88 was obtained in 85 % yield. The procedure is not restricted to the formation of carbocycles rather, heterocycles can also be synthesized using 1,6-enynes as 6/2-89 and 6/2-90 with a heteroatom in the tether (Scheme 6/2.19). Interestingly, 6/2-91 did not lead to the domino product neither could 1,7-enynes be used as substrates, while the Thorpe-Ingold effect (geminal substitution) seems important in achieving good yields. 

Because of their high reactivity and their low steric demand, alkynes are highly versatile partners. The resulting vinylmetal species are also important reactive entities. Accordingly, the intermolecular carbopalladation of alkynes has attracted the interest of organic chemists for years.42-45... 

In addition to alkenes and alkynes, allenes have attracted considerable interest due to their unique reactivity and multireaction sites. Therefore, transition-metal-catalyzed nucleophilic addition reaction of amines and imines to allenes has been extensively studied to prepare biologically important amines and nitrogen-heterocycles.31,31d... 

In relation to the mechanistic proposal, an interesting reactivity of (boryl)(silyl)platinum(n) complex has been reported.223 The complex is prepared by the reaction of silylborane with Pt(cod)2 complex via oxidative addition (Scheme 46). The (boryl)(silyl)platinum complex undergoes insertion of alkynes at the B-Pt bond to give (/3-borylalkenyl)(silyl)platinum(n) complex in high yield. Importantly, the insertion takes place regioselectively, with Pt-G bond formation at the internal. -carbon atom. This result may indicate that the boron-transition metal bond is more prone to undergo insertion of unsaturated molecules. 

One of the important challenges in modern synthetic and pharmaceutical chemistry is to design and develop efficient, clean, and fast routes to obtain architectural molecules from simple starting materials [102, 103]. The ewdo-selective cydoisome-rization (Scheme 4.13a) of terminal alkynes tethered to alcohols, nitrogen, and sulfur nudeophiles is one of the interesting transformations widely utilized in effident syntheses of antiviral nucleosides [104, 105], polycyclic ethers [106], and oligosac-... 

As catalytic semihydrogenation of alkynes to Cis-alkenes is not only a very important synthetic operation (ref. 1) but also of industrial interest, it is a challenging task for both synthetic and catalytic chemists. For instance, the importance of the problem is illustrated by numerous recent publications on different aspects of the selective hydrogenation of many compounds related to the propargyl alcohol structure (refs. 2-7). In this respect, 1,4-butenediol, obtained by the liquid-phase semihydrogenation of 1,4-butynediol, is a raw material for insecticides and Vitamin Bg (refs. 2,8,9). Furthermore, the total and selective liquid-phase hydrogenation of this compound is one of the procedure for making butanediol, the top 95 chemical produced in the United States (refs. 10,11), whose major use is in the manufacture of polyesters. 

Alkenes (unsaturated hydrocarbons with double bonds) are the oldest and most studied carbon ligands, with interest in their study dating from around 1827 [3,185-189]. An important aspect is the structure of 71-alkene and similar n-alkyne complexes. Their structural data is summarized in reviews [186-189] and presented in... 

The application of alkene [1] - and, more recently, enyne [2] and alkyne - metathesis to the synthesis of natural products has been triggered by the development of powerful catalysts that allow metathesis reactions to be carried out under mild conditions. Scheme 1 outlines two important cases of alkene and alkyne metathesis of particular interest to the synthesis of natural products (together with the general scheme of enyne metathesis, not discussed in this review). The metathesis products can be obtained in high yields, since ethene/2-butyne are formed as volatile products. After the alkene/alkyne metathesis, the substituents (R) of the alkenes/alkynes are located on the same multiple bond. Enyne metathesis can be considered as the more general case of alkene metathesis, because two new double bonds are again formed, albeit now connected by a single bond. 

Alkyne scission reactions also occur and some are of exceptional interest and importance. Schrock, et al.166 discovered the following remarkable reaction ... 

Nina A. Nedolya was born in Irkutsk (Russia) and educated in organic chemistry at the Irkutsk State University (Diploma 1972, PhD 1982, DSc 1998). From 1995 to 1999 she was associated with Prof. L. Brandsma at the Utrecht University (The Netherlands). In 1999 she obtained her second PhD from the Utrecht University. She is presently Head of the Research Group of Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds at A. E. Favorsky Irkutsk Institute of Chemistry. She is the author of over 210 review articles and research papers. She is also one of the inventors for 112 patents. She is interested in the chemistry of polyfunctional unsaturated heteroatomic systems (vinyl, allenyl, and alkynyl ethers and their derivatives, linear and cyclic heteropolyenes, hetero-cumulenes), including synthesis of important heterocycles, particularly pyrroles, thiophenes, thiazoles, imidazoles, dihydrofurans, dihydropyridines, pyridines, quinolines, dihydroazepines, and azepines, based on metallated allenes or alkynes and/or heterocumulenes. 

A major effort to study the chemistry of the zero oxidation state lanthanides on a preparative scale involved their reactivity with neutral unsaturated hydrocarbons 14, 60). This class of reagents was of interest because reactions of unsaturated hydrocarbons with metals constitute such an important component of organometallic chemistry and because species such as alkenes and alkynes were not common as ligands or reactants in organolanthanide chemistry at that time. 

Tsuchii et al. reported a very interesting four-component domino process where an alkyne, two olefins and diphenyl diselenide sequentially react to form a highly functionalized cyclopentane derivative, after a linear addition sequence and 5-exo-trig cyclization [136]. This reaction can be seen as an interrupted polymerization process initiated by the addition of selenyl radical to an electron-deficient alkyne in the presence of a large excess of a Michael acceptor. The identity of each reaction partner is important for the outcome of the reaction. For instance, use of (PhS)2 instead of (PhSe)2 leads to the polymerization product rather than to the cyclization one, while (PhTe)2 did... 

A central metal ion usually has a pronounced effect on the reactivity of a coordinated ligand at the coordinated atom or atoms. An important reaction of this type which has synthetic value is the reaction of alkenes and alkynes with hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the presence of a metal carbonyl. This is actually the catalytic process of hydroformylation and, although catalysis is beyond the scope of this work, it is nevertheless of interest from the standpoint of ligand reactivity. The reaction of ethylene with hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the presence of HCo(CO)4 as a catalyst is proposed to proceed (at least formally) through the steps shown 1U13) ... 

The hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbons continues to attract attention by reason both of the practical importance and of the theoretical interest of this system. This is particularly true for the selective hydrogenation of alkadienes and alkynes in alkenes rich cuts [74]. Fundamental studies [75] have shown that Pd is the most active and selective metal for these reactions. Some reasons for the better performances exhibited by Pd-based catalysts can be learned from the mechanism and the surface complexes involved in these transformations. 

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