Carbon atom coordinatively unsaturated

In the following study, Ae formation of a carbon-carbon bond between a vinylic and a methylic carbon will be addressed and two different pathways will be considered. One of them requires the presence of an unsaturated carbon atom coordinated to the metal. 

With an atomic number of 28 nickel has the electron conflguration [Ar]4s 3c (ten valence electrons) The 18 electron rule is satisfied by adding to these ten the eight elec Irons from four carbon monoxide ligands A useful point to remember about the 18 electron rule when we discuss some reactions of transition metal complexes is that if the number is less than 18 the metal is considered coordinatively unsaturated and can accept additional ligands... 

Unsaturated organic molecules, such as ethylene, can be chemisorbed on transition metal surfaces in two ways, namely in -coordination or di-o coordination. As shown in Fig. 2.24, the n type of bonding of ethylene involves donation of electron density from the doubly occupied n orbital (which is o-symmetric with respect to the normal to the surface) to the metal ds-hybrid orbitals. Electron density is also backdonated from the px and dM metal orbitals into the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the ethylene molecule, which is the empty asymmetric 71 orbital. The corresponding overall interaction is relatively weak, thus the sp2 hybridization of the carbon atoms involved in the ethylene double bond is retained. 

Terminal alkynes readily react with coordinatively unsaturated transition metal complexes to yield vinylidene complexes. If the vinylidene complex is sufficiently electrophilic, nucleophiles such as amides, alcohols or water can add to the a-carbon atom to yield heteroatom-substituted carbene complexes (Figure 2.10) [129 -135]. If the nucleophile is bound to the alkyne, intramolecular addition to the intermediate vinylidene will lead to the formation of heterocyclic carbene complexes [136-141]. Vinylidene complexes can further undergo [2 -i- 2] cycloadditions with imines, forming azetidin-2-ylidene complexes [142,143]. Cycloaddition to azines leads to the formation of pyrazolidin-3-ylidene complexes [143] (Table 2.7). 

After the discovery by Fischer and Maasbol of the first stable carbene complexes in 1964, i.e., [(CO)5W =C(OMe)R ] [21], generation of related metaUacumulene derivatives [M]=C(=C) =CR2 (n > 0) was obviously envisaged. Thus, it is presently well-established that stabilization of these neutral unsaturated carbenes by coordination to a transition metal center is possible by the use of the lone pair of electrons on the carbenic carbon atom, via formation of a metal-carbon a-bond (electron back-donation from the metal fragment to the carbon ligand may strengthen this bond). This has allowed the development of a rich chemistry of current intense interest due to the potential applications of the resulting metallacumulenic species in organic synthesis, as well as in the construction of molecular wires and other nanoelectronic devices [22]. 

Fig. 6-11 Reaction coordination diagram for the reaction of a polymer radical wth a monomer. The dependence of the potential energy of the system (radical + monomer) on the separation between the radical and the unsaturated carbon atom of the monomer is shown. The subscript. indicates the presence of a substituent that is capable of resonance stabilization. Activation energies are represented by the solid-line arrows heats of reaction, by the broken-line arrows. After Walling [1957] (by permission of Wiley, New York).

The classic Hieber-base reaction 16 is that of a hydroxide with metal carbonyls, which proceeds by nucleophilic attack of the hydroxide at a carbon atom of a carbonyl ligand to give a carboxy group or consequently carbon dioxide and a metal hydride.17 Metal carbonyls are catalysts for the water-gas shift reaction.18 Pentacarbonyl(tetrafluoroborato)rhenium reacts with alkali hydroxide in a similar way however, due to the coordinatively unsaturated nature of the [Re(CO)5]+ group polynuclear compounds are formed.15... 

In the case of cationic complexes with unsaturated macrocycles two molecules of nucleophile, such as ammonia, amines and alkoxides, add to carbon atoms of two inline groups. For example, the reaction of [Ni(Bzo[16]octaeneN4)](C104)2 (Table 106) with sodium methoxide or ethoxide yields the compounds (395),2860 while with secondary amines and diamines complexes of type (396) are obtained.28 1 The reaction of (396) with acetone at room temperature yields complex (397) where the enolate anion of acetone, MeC(0)CH2, replaces the diethylamide group (Scheme 58). 2862 The addition of molecules such as bis(2-hydroxyethyl)methylamine and bis(2-hydroxyethyl) sulfide, HOCH2CH2YCH2CH2OH (Y = NMe, S) results in the formation of derivatives which possess one more coordination site just above the plane of the macrocyclic donors (398).2863... 

Numerous complexes with n-delocalized coordination bonds are formed from pen-tadienyl, benzyl, and organic biradicals [224a], Thus, a considerable number of complexes have been synthesized where a transition metal is bound to a chain formed by five unsaturated carbon atoms, united by the name pentadienyr 138 ... 

As already mentioned, nearly all experiments and theories agree that polymerization occurs by addition of an olefin to a catalyst center, followed by insertion of the (stereoregulated, sometimes stereospecific) complexed olefin into a metal-carbon bond at the catalyst center. Figure 9 shows how such an active center can be situated at the edge of a crystal-lattice. It will be seen that the environment of the coordinatively unsaturated, but alkylated, Ti atom demands the stereospecific coordination of the propylene (81). 

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