Carbene from metallates

As already mentioned for rhodium carbene complexes, proof of the existence of electrophilic metal carbenoids relies on indirect evidence, and insight into the nature of intermediates is obtained mostly through reactivity-selectivity relationships and/or comparison with stable Fischer-type metal carbene complexes. A particularly puzzling point is the relevance of metallacyclobutanes as intermediates in cyclopropane formation. The subject is still a matter of debate in the literature. Even if some metallacyclobutanes have been shown to yield cyclopropanes by reductive elimination [15], the intermediacy of metallacyclobutanes in carbene transfer reactions is in most cases borne out neither by direct observation nor by clear-cut mechanistic studies and such a reaction pathway is probably not a general one. Formation of a metallacyclobu-tane requires coordination both of the olefin and of the carbene to the metal center. In many cases, all available evidence points to direct reaction of the metal carbenes with alkenes without prior olefin coordination. Further, it has been proposed that, at least in the context of rhodium carbenoid insertions into C-H bonds, partial release of free carbenes from metal carbene complexes occurs [16]. Of course this does not exclude the possibility that metallacyclobutanes play a pivotal role in some catalyst systems, especially in copper-and palladium-catalyzed reactions. 

It is assumed that compound (37) is produced by an analogous mechanism to that postulated for the synthesis of Fischer carbenes from metal-carbonyl or metal-isonitrile complexes according to Scheme 2.20. 

The diazo function in compound 4 can be regarded as a latent carbene. Transition metal catalyzed decomposition of a diazo keto ester, such as 4, could conceivably lead to the formation of an electron-deficient carbene (see intermediate 3) which could then insert into the proximal N-H bond. If successful, this attractive transition metal induced ring closure would accomplish the formation of the targeted carbapenem bicyclic nucleus. Support for this idea came from a model study12 in which the Merck group found that rhodi-um(n) acetate is particularly well suited as a catalyst for the carbe-noid-mediated cyclization of a diazo azetidinone closely related to 4. Indeed, when a solution of intermediate 4 in either benzene or toluene is heated to 80 °C in the presence of a catalytic amount of rhodium(n) acetate (substrate catalyst, ca. 1000 1), the processes... 

Section D illustrates formation of carbenes from halides by a-elimination. The carbene precursors are formed either by deprotonation (Entries 14 and 17) or halogen-metal exchange (Entries 15 and 16). The carbene additions can take place at low temperature. Entry 17 is an example of generation of dichlorocarbene from chloroform under phase transfer conditions. 

Diazomethane is also decomposed by N O)40 -43 and Pd(0) complexes43 . Electron-poor alkenes such as methyl acrylate are cyclopropanated efficiently with Ni(0) catalysts, whereas with Pd(0) yields were much lower (Scheme 1)43). Cyclopropanes derived from styrene, cyclohexene or 1-hexene were formed only in trace yields. In the uncatalyzed reaction between diazomethane and methyl acrylate, methyl 2-pyrazoline-3-carboxylate and methyl crotonate are formed competitively, but the yield of the latter can be largely reduced by adding an appropriate amount of catalyst. It has been verified that cyclopropane formation does not result from metal-catalyzed ring contraction of the 2-pyrazoline, Instead, a nickel(0)-carbene complex is assumed to be involved in the direct cyclopropanation of the olefin. The preference of such an intermediate for an electron-poor alkene is in agreement with the view that nickel carbenoids are nucleophilic 44). 

Because of n-electron donation by the heteroatom, these carbene complexes are generally less electrophilic at C than the corresponding non-heteroatom-substituted complexes (Chapter 3). This effect is even more pronounced in bis-heteroatom-substituted carbenes, which are very weak Tt-acceptors and towards low-valent transition metals show binding properties similar to those of phosphines or pyridine. Alkoxycarbenes, on the other hand, have electronic properties similar to those of carbon monoxide, and stable heteroatom-monosubstituted carbene complexes are also usually formed from metals which form stable carbonyl complexes. 

Formation of Oxygen Ylide from Metal Carbene Complexes and Subsequent Reactions 152... 

Formation of Nitrogen Ylide from Metal Carbene Complex and Subsequent Reactions 168... 

Although not as common as the ylide derived from metal carbenes, the ylide-like species generated from metal nitrene or free nitrene has been attracting increasing attention in recent years. The overall transformation is parallel to that of metal carbene reactions. Progress in this direction is also covered in this chapter. 

Figure 3 Generation of carbonyl ylide from metal carbene.

The carbonyl ylide generated from metal carbene can also add to C=0 or C=N bonds. The [2 + 3]-cycloaddition of carbonyl ylide with G=0 bond has been used by Hodgson and co-workers in their study toward the synthesis of zaragozic acid as shown in Scheme n 27a,27d Recently, a three-component reaction approach to syn-a-hydroxy-f3-amino ester based on the trapping of the carbonyl ylide by imine has been reported.The reaction of carbonyl ylide with aldehyde or ketone generally gives l,3-dioxolanes. Hu and co-workers have reported a remarkable chemoselective Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed reaction of phenyl diazoacetate with a mixture of electron-rich and electron-deficient aryl aldehydes. The Rh(ii) carbene intermediate reacts selectively with electron-rich aldehyde 95 to give a carbonyl ylide, which was chemospecifically trapped by the electron-deficient aldehyde 96 to afford 1,3-dioxolane in a one-pot reaction (Equation (12)). 

In the past 10 years, studies on the reaction of ylides generated from metal carbene complexes have witnessed tremendous progress. In particular, synthetic applications of the three most common reactions of ylides, namely [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement, [l,2]-shift, and 1,3-dipole cycloaddition, have gained considerable success to demonstrate... 

If compound 8 is irradiated (X > 300 nm) in the presence of diazoalkanes, the product pattern shifts dramatically for the diazoacetates and -malonates which have oxygen-containing substituents capable of coordination. At temperatures of about -40 to -20°C (tetrahydrofuran), photolysis predominantly yields mononuclear metallacycles 12 which are not yet accessible by any other means (135, 136). An X-ray diffraction study revealed the strict planarity of the cyclic system (136). The bidentate ligands that wind around the metal arise from metal-mediated carbonyla-tion of the respective carbenes (Scheme 6). 

Several other carbene complexes have been isolated from similar reactions, or from metal halides and 1-alkynes in the presence of alcohols and strong acids (HC104, HBF4, HPF6) ... 

It is over eight years since the last comprehensive review appeared on metal isocyanide chemistry. In the interim, reviews have appeared on specific aspects of isocyanide chemistry. Lippard reviewed seven and eight coordination in molybdenum isocyanide compounds (7), Yamamoto reviewed metal(O)- isocyanide complexes (2), and in related reviews on car-bene complexes by Cotton and Lukehart (5), Lappert et al. (4), and Casey (5), mention was made of carbenes synthesized from metal isocyanides. 

These reactions correspond to mode 5 in Fig. 2, and fall into two categories. The first involves the formation of carbene precursors, while the second concerns the migration of silicon from metal to oxygen. 

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