Carbenes ligand

One method to transform imidazolium salts (00AGE3773) into carbene ligands, imidazol-2-ylidenes, is by deprotonation with sodium hydride or other suitable hydride in a mixture of THE and liquid ammonia (73JCS(D)514, 96CEJ1627, 98IC6412). 

As well as phosphorus ligands, heterocyclic carbenes ligands 10 have proven to be interesting donor ligands for stabilization of transition metal complexes (especially palladium) in ionic liquids. The imidazolium cation is usually presumed to be a simple inert component of the solvent system. However, the proton on the carbon atom at position 2 in the imidazolium is acidic and this carbon atom can be depro-tonated by, for example, basic ligands of the metal complex, to form carbenes (Scheme 5.3-2). 

The ease of formation of the carbene depends on the nucleophilicity of the anion associated with the imidazolium. For example, when Pd(OAc)2 is heated in the presence of [BMIM][Br], the formation of a mixture of Pd imidazolylidene complexes occurs. Palladium complexes have been shown to be active and stable catalysts for Heck and other C-C coupling reactions [34]. The highest activity and stability of palladium is observed in the ionic liquid [BMIM][Brj. Carbene complexes can be formed not only by deprotonation of the imidazolium cation but also by direct oxidative addition to metal(O) (Scheme 5.3-3). These heterocyclic carbene ligands can be functionalized with polar groups in order to increase their affinity for ionic liquids. While their donor properties can be compared to those of donor phosphines, they have the advantage over phosphines of being stable toward oxidation. 

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. 

The ability of Fischer carbene complexes to transfer their carbene ligand to an electron-deficient olefin was discovered by Fischer and Dotz in 1970 [5]. Further studies have demonstrated the generality of this thermal process, which occurs between (alkyl)-, (aryl)-, and (alkenyl)(alkoxy)carbene complexes and different electron-withdrawing substituted alkenes [6] (Scheme 1). For certain substrates, a common side reaction in these processes is the insertion of the carbene ligand into an olefinic C-H bond [6, 7]. In addition, it has been ob-... 

All around this chapter, we have seen that a,/J-unsaturated Fischer carbene complexes may act as efficient C3-synthons. As has been previously mentioned, these complexes contain two electrophilic positions, the carbene carbon and the /J-carbon (Fig. 3), so they can react via these two positions with molecules which include two nucleophilic positions in their structure. On the other hand, alkenyl- and alkynylcarbene complexes are capable of undergoing [1,2]-migration of the metalpentacarbonyl allowing an electrophilic-to-nucleophilic polarity change of the carbene ligand /J-carbon (Fig. 3). These two modes of reaction along with other processes initiated by [2+2] cycloaddition reactions have been applied to [3+3] cyclisation processes and will be briefly discussed in the next few sections. 

Another example of a [2s+2sh-1c+1co] cycloaddition reaction was observed by Barluenga et al. in the sequential coupling reaction of a Fischer carbene complex, a ketone enolate and allylmagnesium bromide [120]. This reaction produces cyclopentanol derivatives in a [2S+2SH-1C] cycloaddition process when -substituted lithium enolates are used (see Sect. 3.1). However, the analogous reaction with /J-unsubstituted lithium enolates leads to the diastereoselective synthesis of 1,3,3,5-tetrasubstituted cyclohexane- 1,4-diols. The ring skeleton of these compounds combines the carbene ligand, the enolate framework, two carbons of the allyl unit and a carbonyl ligand. Overall, the process can be considered as a for-... 

The formal [3+2+1]-cycloaddition involves an a,ft-unsaturated carbene ligand (C3-synthon),an alkyne (C2-synthon) and a carbonyl ligand (Cl-synthon) and takes place within the coordination sphere of the chromium(O), which acts as a metal template (Scheme 2). 

From Other Carbene Complexes by Exchange of the Carbene Ligand. . 234... 

Ruthenium Precatalysts with N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands.238... 

Table 2 Ru- carbene complexes by exchange of the carbene ligand in 9...

Ruthenium Precatalysts with JV-Heterocydic Carbene Ligands... 

Table 3 Ruthenium alkylidene complexes with JV-heterocyclic carbene ligands...

The resulting complexes comprise a novel amidinato-carbene ligand as well as a Ru-Si bond. ... 

The pre.sent account follows a Journey in this arena from solution calorimetric studies dealing with nucleophilic carbene ligands in an organometallic system to the use of these thermodynamic data in predicting the feasibility of exchange reactions to applications in homogeneous catalysis. 

The versatile starting material lCp RuCI 4 (1) reacts rapidly with sterically demanding phosphines (PCy and P Pr ) as well as with the nucleophilic carbene ligands (L) to give deep blue, coordinatively unsaturated Cp Ru(L)CI complexes 2-8 (L= l,.Tbis(2,4,6-lrimethylphenyl) (IMes. 2) 1,3-R2-imidazol-2-ylidene = cyclohcxyl (ICy, 3) 4-methylphenyl (ITol, 4) 4-chlorophenyl (IPCl, 5) adamanlyl (lAd, 6) 4..5-dichloro-1,3-bis(2.4,6-trimethylphenyl) (IMesCI, 7) and 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidenc (IPr. 8) in high yields according to Eq. (4). 

Ru—C(carbene) bond distances are shorter than Ru—P bond lengths, but this can simply be explained by the difference in covalent radii between P and The variation of Ru—C(carbene) bond distances among ruthenium carbene complexes illustrates that nucleophilic carbene ligands are better donors when alkyl, instead of aryl, groups are present, with the exception of 6. This anomaly can be explained on the basis of large steric demands of the adamantyl groups on the imidazole framework which hinder the carbene lone pair overlap with metal orbitals. Comparison of the Ru—C(carbene) bond distances among the aryl-substituted carbenes show... 

Fio. 9. Detenninatiun of two steric parameters (Ai and Ah) associated with carbene ligands in Cp Ru(L)Cl complexes. 

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