Carbene reduction

Reactions with Radicals and Carbenes Reduction and Electrochemistry... 

The reaction is analogous to part of the pathway proposed in Scheme 1, although evidence was also provided that the site of protonation of the cluster by methanol is the acyl oxygen atom, rather than the imido nitrogen, and that a nitrene-carbene reductive elimination then occurs, followed by tautomerization of the organic product to the final carbamate. 

Figure 1 Orbital interactions during (a) alkyl migration to CO, and (b) alkyl-carbene reductive elimination.

It has been observed that reductive elimination can also occur for aryl-Pd-carbene complexes. Such complexes were investigated in mechanistic studies on Heck coupling and catalyst decomposition routes. Reductive elimination products with direct imidazolium-aryl coupling were observed and in one case fully characterized. Such products provide direct evidence of the Heck coupling mechanism and of intermediates in the catalytic cycle. Important mechanistic studies on the oxidative addition of aryl chlorides to a 14-electron Pd(0)(carbene)2 complex have demonstrated that oxidative addition occurs via a dissociative process and this step is probably the rate-determining step in the amination of aryl chlorides. Aryl-carbene reductive coupling was observed in this study of the amination reaction, and directly coupled aryl-imidazolium compounds were isolated. A further study on an (aryl)Pd(carbene) complex has also demonstrated that such complexes undergo facile reductive elimination to form aryl-imidazolium salt. ... 

Mills DP, Cooper OJ, Tuna F, Mclnnes EJL, Davies ES, McMaster J, Moro F, Lewis W, Blake AJ, Liddle ST (2012) Synthesis of a uranium(Vt)-carbene reductive formation of... 

The majority of preparative methods which have been used for obtaining cyclopropane derivatives involve carbene addition to an olefmic bond, if acetylenes are used in the reaction, cyclopropenes are obtained. Heteroatom-substituted or vinyl cydopropanes come from alkenyl bromides or enol acetates (A. de Meijere, 1979 E. J. Corey, 1975 B E. Wenkert, 1970 A). The carbenes needed for cyclopropane syntheses can be obtained in situ by a-elimination of hydrogen halides with strong bases (R. Kdstcr, 1971 E.J. Corey, 1975 B), by copper catalyzed decomposition of diazo compounds (E. Wenkert, 1970 A S.D. Burke, 1979 N.J. Turro, 1966), or by reductive elimination of iodine from gem-diiodides (J. Nishimura, 1969 D. Wen-disch, 1971 J.M. Denis, 1972 H.E. Simmons, 1973 C. Girard, 1974),... 

The porphyrin ligand can support oxidation states of iron other than II and III. [Fe(I)Por] complexes are obtained by electrochemical or chemical reduction of iron(II) or iron(III) porphyrins. The anionic complexes react with alkyl hahdes to afford alkyl—iron (III) porphyrin complexes. Iron(IV) porphyrins are formally present in the carbene, RR C—Fe(IV)Por p.-carbido, PorFe(IV)—Fe(IV)Por nitrene, RN—Fe(IV)Por and p.-nittido, PorFe(IV)... 

Contents Introduction and Principles. - The Reaction of Dichlorocarbene With Olefins. - Reactions of Dichlorocarbene With Non-Olefinic Substrates. -Dibromocarbene and Other Carbenes. - Synthesis of Ethers. - Synthesis of Esters. - Reactions of Cyanide Ion. - Reactions of Superoxide Ions. - Reactions of Other Nucleophiles. - Alkylation Reactions. - Oxidation Reactions. - Reduction Techniques. - Preparation and Reactions of Sulfur Containing Substrates. -Ylids. - Altered Reactivity. - Addendum Recent Developments in Phase Transfer Catalysis. 

The triazole 76, which is more accurately portrayed as the nucleophilic carbene structure 76a, acts as a formyl anion equivalent by reaction with alkyl halides and subsequent reductive cleavage to give aldehydes as shown (75TL1889). The benzoin reaction may be considered as resulting in the net addition of a benzoyl anion to a benzaldehyde, and the chiral triazolium salt 77 has been reported to be an efficient asymmetric catalyst for this, giving the products (/ )-ArCH(OH)COAr, in up to 86% e.e. (96HCA1217). In the closely related intramolecular Stetter reaction e.e.s of up to 74% were obtained (96HCA1899). 

Another means of in situ metal-carbene complex formation in an ionic liquid is the direct oxidative addition of the imidazolium cation to a metal center in a low oxidation state (see Scheme 5.2-2, route b)). Cavell and co-workers have observed oxidative addition on heating 1,3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate with Pt(PPli3)4 in refluxing THF [32]. The Pt-carbene complex formed can decompose by reductive elimination. Winterton et al. have also described the formation of a Pt-car-bene complex by oxidative addition of the [EMIM] cation to PtCl2 in a basic [EMIM]C1/A1C13 system (free CP ions present) under ethylene pressure [33]. The formation of a Pt-carbene complex by oxidative addition of the imidazolium cation is displayed in Scheme 5.2-4. 

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). 

The [3S+1C] cycloaddition reaction with Fischer carbene complexes is a very unusual reaction pathway. In fact, only one example has been reported. This process involves the insertion of alkyl-derived chromium carbene complexes into the carbon-carbon a-bond of diphenylcyclopropenone to generate cyclobutenone derivatives [41] (Scheme 13). The mechanism of this transformation involves a CO dissociation followed by oxidative addition into the cyclopropenone carbon-carbon a-bond, affording a metalacyclopentenone derivative which undergoes reductive elimination to produce the final cyclobutenone derivatives. 

Sect. 2.1.1) and [3C+2S] cyclopentene derivatives. The product distribution can be controlled by choosing the appropriate reaction conditions [72]. Moreover, the cyclopentene derivatives are the exclusive products from the coupling of fi-pyrrolyl-substituted carbene complexes [72b,c] (Scheme 25). The crucial intermediate chromacyclobutane is formed in an initial step by a [2+2] cycloaddition. This chromacyclobutane rearranges to give the rf-complex when non-coordinating solvents are used. Finally, a reductive elimination leads to the formal [3C+2S] cyclopentene derivatives. 

The reaction of methyl acrylate and acrylonitrile with pentacarbonyl[(iV,iV -di-methylamino)methylene] chromium generates trisubstituted cyclopentanes through a formal [2S+2S+1C] cycloaddition reaction, where two molecules of the olefin and one molecule of the carbene complex have been incorporated into the structure of the cyclopentane [17b] (Scheme 73). The mechanism of this reaction implies a double insertion of two molecules of the olefin into the carbene complex followed by a reductive elimination. 

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