Reactivity carbene complexes

Highly reactive dipolar bis(tnfluoromethyl)-subsmtuted heterodienes are excellent traps for one-skeleton-atom species , even when these are short lived The hetero-1,3-dienes add electron nch and electron poorcarbenes[/2,, 125,126,127,128 129,130], carbene complexes [131], carbene analogues [SnClj, Sn(C< H, )2, GeCl2, Gey [132, 133], isonitriles [128], etc, to give [4-t-l] cycloadducts (equation 29)... 

Trifluoromethyl-substituted diazonium betaines [176]. Synthetic routes to trifluoromethyl-substituted diazo alkanes, such as 2,2,2-trifluorodiazoethane [ 177, 7 78, 179] and alkyl 3,3,3-trifluoro-2-diazopropionates [24], have been developed Rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of 3,3,3-tnfluoro-2-diazopropionates offers a simple preparative route to highly reactive carbene complexes, which have an enormous synthetic potential [24] [3-1-2] Cycloaddition reactions were observed on reaction with nitnles to give 5-alkoxy-4-tnfluoromethyloxazoles [750] (equation 41)... 

Organometallic complexes of copper, silver, and gold are ideal precursors for carbene complexes along with some C- and N-coordinated species. Their reactivity pattern, in particular in oxidative addition reactions, was the most comprehensively studied. 

The use of imidazolium-based ionic liquids in Pd-catalyzed Heck reactions always carries with it the possibility of in situ formation of Pd-carbene complexes (for more details see Section 5.2.2.3). The formation of these under the conditions of the Heck reaction was confirmed by investigations by Xiao et al. [30], who described a significantly enhanced reactivity of the Heck reaction in [BMIM]Br in relation to the same reaction in [BMIM][Bp4] and explained this difference by the fact that formation of Pd-carbene complexes was observed only in the bromide melt. 

The reactivity of these carbene complexes can be understood as an electron-deficient carbene carbon atom due to the electron-attracting CO groups, while... 

Schrock-type carbenes are nucleophilic alkylidene complexes formed by coordination of strong donor ligands such as alkyl or cyclopentadienyl with no 7T-acceptor ligand to metals in high oxidation states. The nucleophilic carbene complexes show Wittig s ylide-type reactivity and it has been discussed whether the structures may be considered as ylides. A tantalum Schrock-type carbene complex was synthesized by deprotonation of a metal alkyl group [38] (Scheme 7). 

These carbene (or alkylidene) complexes are used for various transformations. Known reactions of these complexes are (a) alkene metathesis, (b) alkene cyclopropanation, (c) carbonyl alkenation, (d) insertion into C-H, N-H and O-H bonds, (e) ylide formation and (f) dimerization. The reactivity of these complexes can be tuned by varying the metal, oxidation state or ligands. Nowadays carbene complexes with cumulated double bonds have also been synthesized and investigated [45-49] as well as carbene cluster compounds, which will not be discussed here [50]. 

Fischer-type carbene complexes, generally characterized by the formula (CO)5M=C(X)R (M=Cr, Mo, W X=7r-donor substitutent, R=alkyl, aryl or unsaturated alkenyl and alkynyl), have been known now for about 40 years. They have been widely used in synthetic reactions [37,51-58] and show a very good reactivity especially in cycloaddition reactions [59-64]. As described above, Fischer-type carbene complexes are characterized by a formal metal-carbon double bond to a low-valent transition metal which is usually stabilized by 7r-acceptor substituents such as CO, PPh3 or Cp. The electronic structure of the metal-carbene bond is of great interest because it determines the reactivity of the complex [65-68]. Several theoretical studies have addressed this problem by means of semiempirical [69-73], Hartree-Fock (HF) [74-79] and post-HF [80-83] calculations and lately also by density functional theory (DFT) calculations [67, 84-94]. Often these studies also compared Fischer-type and... 

The possibility of being involved in olefin metathesis is one of the most important properties of Fischer carbene complexes. [2+2] Cycloaddition between the electron-rich alkene 11 and the carbene complex 12 leads to the intermediate metallacyclobutane 13, which undergoes [2+2] cycloreversion to give a new carbene complex 15 and a new alkene 14 [19]. The (methoxy)phenylcar-benetungsten complex is less reactive in this mode than the corresponding chromium and molybdenum analogs (Scheme 3). 

Recently, Aumann et al. reported that rhodium catalysts enhance the reactivity of 3-dialkylamino-substituted Fischer carbene complexes 72 to undergo insertion with enynes 73 and subsequent formation of 4-alkenyl-substituted 5-dialkylamino-2-ethoxycyclopentadienes 75 via the transmetallated carbene intermediate 74 (Scheme 15, Table 2) [73]. It is not obvious whether this transformation is also applicable to complexes of type 72 with substituents other than phenyl in the 3-position. One alkyne 73, with a methoxymethyl group instead of the alkenyl or phenyl, i.e., propargyl methyl ether, was also successfully applied [73]. 

The insertion of alkynes into a chromium-carbon double bond is not restricted to Fischer alkenylcarbene complexes. Numerous transformations of this kind have been performed with simple alkylcarbene complexes, from which unstable a,/J-unsaturated carbene complexes were formed in situ, and in turn underwent further reactions in several different ways. For example, reaction of the 1-me-thoxyethylidene complex 6a with the conjugated enyne-ketimines and -ketones 131 afforded pyrrole [92] and furan 134 derivatives [93], respectively. The alkyne-inserted intermediate 132 apparently undergoes 671-electrocyclization and reductive elimination to afford enol ether 133, which yields the cycloaddition product 134 via a subsequent hydrolysis (Scheme 28). This transformation also demonstrates that Fischer carbene complexes are highly selective in their reactivity toward alkynes in the presence of other multiple bonds (Table 6). 

In 20 years of usage, a,/J-unsaturated Fischer carbene complexes demonstrated their multitalented versatility in organic synthesis, yet new reaction types are still being discovered every year. In view of their facile preparation and multifold reactivity, their versatile chemistry will undoubtedly be further developed and applied in years to come. The application of chirally modified Fischer carbene complexes in asymmetric synthesis has only begun, and it will probably be an important area of research in the near future. 

S+3C] Heterocyclisations have been successfully effected starting from 4-amino-l-azadiene derivatives. The cycloaddition of reactive 4-amino-1-aza-1,3-butadienes towards alkenylcarbene complexes goes to completion in THF at a temperature as low as -40 °C to produce substituted 4,5-dihydro-3H-azepines in 52-91% yield [115] (Scheme 66). Monitoring the reaction by NMR allowed various intermediates to be determined and the reaction course outlined in Scheme 66 to be established. This mechanism features the following points in the chemistry of Fischer carbene complexes (i) the reaction is initiated at -78 °C by nucleophilic 1,2-addition and (ii) the key step cyclisation is triggered by a [l,2]-W(CO)5 shift. 

A pathway may be considered which involves a double regioselective alkyne insertion followed by a stereoselective cyclisation to undergo a novel [3+2+2]-cyclisation. These examples illustrate the scope in which the reactivity of Fischer carbene complexes can be tuned in a qualitative manner by transmetalation. 

Casey CP (1981) Metal-carbene complexes. In Jones M Jr, Moss RA (eds) Reactive intermediates. Wiley, New York, p 135... 

Abstract The photoinduced reactions of metal carbene complexes, particularly Group 6 Fischer carbenes, are comprehensively presented in this chapter with a complete listing of published examples. A majority of these processes involve CO insertion to produce species that have ketene-like reactivity. Cyclo addition reactions presented include reaction with imines to form /1-lactams, with alkenes to form cyclobutanones, with aldehydes to form /1-lactones, and with azoarenes to form diazetidinones. Photoinduced benzannulation processes are included. Reactions involving nucleophilic attack to form esters, amino acids, peptides, allenes, acylated arenes, and aza-Cope rearrangement products are detailed. A number of photoinduced reactions of carbenes do not involve CO insertion. These include reactions with sulfur ylides and sulfilimines, cyclopropanation, 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, and acyl migrations. 

In contrast to alkoxycarbene complexes, most aminocarbene complexes appear too electron-rich to undergo photodriven reaction with olefins. By replacing aliphatic amino groups with the substantially less basic aryl amino groups, modest yields of cyclobutanones were achieved (Table 10) [63], (Table 11) [64]. Both reacted with dihydropyran to give modest yields of cyclobutanone. Thio-carbene complexes appeared to enjoy reactivity similar to that of alkoxycar-benes (Eq. 15) [59]. 

Ketenes react with tertiary allylic amines in the presence of Lewis acids to give zwitterionic intermediates which undergo [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement [119]. Photolysis of chromium carbene complexes in the presence of tertiary amines results in similar chemistry [120]. Cyclic (Table 21) and strained allylic amines (Eq. 34) work best, while acylic amines are less reactive (Eq. 35). 

The most significant and widely studied reactivity of the ruthenium and osmium porphyrin carbene complexes is their role in catalyzing both the decomposition of diazoesters to produce alkenes and the cyclopropanation of alkenes by diazoesters. Ethyl diazoacetate is used to prepare the carbene complex 0s(TTP)(=CHC02Et)... 

Both rhodium and osmium porphyrins are active for the cyclopropanation of alkenes. The higher activity of the rhodium porphyrin catalysts can possibly be attributed to a more reactive, cationic carbene intermediate, which so far has defied isolation. The neutral osmium carbene complexes are less active as catalysts but the mono- and bis-carbene complexes can be isolated as a result. 

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