Carbene Schrock carbenes

Osborn carbene Schrock carbene Schrock carbene... 

Many transition metals can form carbene complexes, often generated indirectly due to the instability of the corresponding carbene. While some of these complexes are reactive and unstable intermediates, many are stable and some are even commercially available. Carbene complexes are divided into two types Fischer and Schrock carbenes. Fischer carbenes, such as chromium complex 8.6 (Figure 8.1), contain metals from groups VI to VII, have rr-acceptor ligands, especially carbon monoxide, and are electrophilic. A donor atom on the carbene carbon stabilizes the carbene. Schrock carbenes, such as tantalum complex 8.7, involve early transition metals, do not have rr-acceptor ligands and are nucleophilic. 

The surprising stability of N-heterocyclic carbenes was of interest to organometallic chemists who started to explore the metal complexes of these new ligands. The first examples of this class had been synthesized as early as 1968 by Wanzlick [9] and Ofele [10], only 4 years after the first Fischer-type carbene complex was synthesized [2,3] and 6 years before the first report of a Schrock-type carbene complex [11]. Once the N-heterocyclic ligands are attached to a metal they show a completely different reaction pattern compared to the electrophilic Fischer- and nucleophilic Schrock-type carbene complexes. 

Scheme 4 Schrock-type and Fischer-type carbene complexes...

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). 

Scheme 7 Synthesis of the first Schrock-type carbene complex...

Fig. 1 A,B Dominant orbital interactions in Fischer-type carbene complexes (A) and Schrock-type carbene complexes (B)...

A decade after Fischer s synthesis of [(CO)5W=C(CH3)(OCH3)] the first example of another class of transition metal carbene complexes was introduced by Schrock, which subsequently have been named after him. His synthesis of [((CH3)3CCH2)3Ta=CHC(CH3)3] [11] was described above and unlike the Fischer-type carbenes it did not have a stabilizing substituent at the carbene ligand, which leads to a completely different behaviour of these complexes compared to the Fischer-type complexes. While the reactions of Fischer-type carbenes can be described as electrophilic, Schrock-type carbene complexes (or transition metal alkylidenes) show nucleophilicity. Also the oxidation state of the metal is generally different, as Schrock-type carbene complexes usually consist of a transition metal in a high oxidation state. 

AT-heterocyclic carbenes show a pure donor nature. Comparing them to other monodentate ligands such as phosphines and amines on several metal-carbonyl complexes showed the significantly increased donor capacity relative to phosphines, even to trialkylphosphines, while the 7r-acceptor capability of the NHCs is in the order of those of nitriles and pyridine [29]. This was used to synthesize the metathesis catalysts discussed in the next section. Experimental evidence comes from the fact that it has been shown for several metals that an exchange of phosphines versus NHCs proceeds rapidly and without the need of an excess quantity of the NHC. X-ray structures of the NHC complexes show exceptionally long metal-carbon bonds indicating a different type of bond compared to the Schrock-type carbene double bond. As a result, the reactivity of these NHC complexes is also unique. They are relatively resistant towards an attack by nucleophiles and electrophiles at the divalent carbon atom. 

Phosphinidenes differ from carbenes because of the additional lone pair. This lone pair enables interactions with, e.g., a transition metal group for increased stability, while maintaining carbene-hke behavior. These terminal /] -complexed phosphinidenes differ from the p2-> fi3-> and p4-complexes, which are not part of this survey. Phosphinidenes that are stabilized by a transition metal group also relate to carbene complexes. A distinction in Fischer and Schrock-type complexes has been advanced to distinguish phosphinidene complexes with nucleophilic properties from those that are electrophiHc [ 13 ]. In this survey we address this topic in more detail. 

Electrophilic and nucleophilic phosphinidene complexes have been related to the corresponding carbene complexes of which the Fischer-type is usually considered as a singlet-singlet combination and the Schrock-type as a triplet-triplet combination. However, both the strongly preferred triplet state of R-P and the M=P bond analysis suggest this schematic interpretation to be less appropriate for transition metal complexed phosphinidenes. 

Ziegler-Natta catalyst for polymerization of alkenes. Considerable attention has been directed to double-bonded Fischer carbenes of Cr and W, the Schrock carbenes of Ta and Ti, and cyclic polyene ligands of Fe, Co, Cr, and U. Carbonyls of transition metals from groups 6 to 10 of the periodic table include both the monomeric compounds such as Cr(CO)g, Fe(CO)5, Ni(CO)4 and those with two metal groups such as Mn2(CO)io and Co2(CO)s, which is used industrially for hydroformylation. Although their source has not been identified, it has been shown that volatile compounds from landfills contain carbonyls of Mo and W (Feldmann and Cullen 1997). 

Development of the chemistry of metal carbenes commenced with the characterization of complexes such as (CO)sW=C(OMe)Ph by Fischer and his co-workers (e.g., Ref. 14 and references therein). The series of hydrocarbon-substituted carbene compounds discovered later by the Schrock group (e.g., Ref. 15 and references therein) appeared to be so different from the other known carbene complexes that they were placed in a different class altogether. Overemphasis of this distinction has persisted in the literature of carbene complexes, even to the present day. 

More recently, Schrock has reported the formation of coordinatively unsaturated Ta and W carbyne complexes (124). Like unsaturated carbene complexes, these carbyne compounds are now established as being active intermediates in a number of catalytic reactions. The discovery of acetylene metathesis reactions catalyzed by carbyne complexes (3), for example, has generated considerable interest in this class of compound. 

An alternative mode of reaction for a carbene intermediate is suggested by Schrock s work (97, 99). He has demonstrated that the carbene ligands in 30 and in the related species 34, in which R = CH2C(CH3)3, behave as nucleophiles. Thus 34, where R = CH2C(CH3)3, readily reacts with ketones, giving alkenes of type 35 in high yield (99) ... 

The fact that Schrock s proposed metallocyclobutanes decomposed to propylene derivatives rather than cyclopropanes was fortunate in that further information resulted regarding the stereochemistry of the olefin reaction with the carbene carbon, as now the /3-carbon from the metal-locycle precursor retained its identity. The reaction course was consistent with nucleophilic attack of the carbene carbon on the complexed olefin, despite potential steric hindrance from the bulky carbene. Decomposition via pathways f-h in Eq. (26) was clearly confirmed in studies utilizing deuterated olefins (67). 

In marked contrast to the results of Gassman and Schrock, major differences were noted by Casey and co-workers in a series of studies utilizing phenylcarbene-substituted W(0) complexes in reactions with olefins. The H NMR spectra of new phenylcarbene tungsten and iron (69) complexes indicate a substantial positive charge residing on the carbene carbon, and as expected, these complexes readily form ylides on reaction with phosphines ... 

Feldman J, DePue RT, Schaverien CJ, Davis WM, Schrock RR (1989) In Schubert U (ed) Advances in metal carbene chemistry. Kluwer, Boston... 

Initial reports of cross-metathesis reactions using well-defined catalysts were limited to simple isolated examples the metathesis of ethyl or methyl oleate with dec-5-ene catalysed by tungsten alkylidenes [13,14] and the cross-metathesis of unsaturated ethers catalysed by a chromium carbene complex [15]. With the discovery of the well-defined molybdenum and ruthenium alkylidene catalysts 3 and 4,by Schrock [16] and Grubbs [17],respectively, the development of alkene metathesis as a tool for organic synthesis began in earnest. 

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