Carbon monoxide nucleophilic attack

The reported preparations of enantiomerically pure chiral iron-acyl complexes have relied upon resolutions of diastereomers. One route1415 (see also Houben-Weyl, Vol. 13/9 a, p 421) employs a resolution of the diastereomeric acylmenlhyloxy complexes (Fe/ )-3 and (FeS )-3 prepared via nucleophilic attack of the chiral menlhyloxide ion of 2 at a carbon monoxide of the iron cation of 1. Subsequent nucleophilic displacement of menthyloxide occurs with inversion at iron to generate the enantiomerically pure iron-acyl complexes (i>)-4 and (f )-4. 

Formally, at least, there is some mechanistic similarity between the water gas-shift and the Fischer-Tropsch reactions in that both can be considered in terms of an initial nucleophilic attack at the carbon atom of a coordinated carbon monoxide, OH- or H20 being the nucleophile in the gas-shift reaction and H that in the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. 

The attack on coordinated carbon monoxide by nucleophiles was first extensively developed in synthetic organometallic chemistry by E. 0. Fischer and his students (6) as discussed by others in this volume, this reaction provides one route to the reduction of coordinated CO and to catalysis of the water gas shift reaction. Those carbonyl groups which are susceptible to attack by nucleophiles are electron deficient, as judged by their high CO stretcing frequencies (7). 

The experimental evidence shows that the carbon of terminal carbonyl groups is positively polarized (or polarizable) and, contrary to the behaviour of free carbon monoxide, is easily attacked by strong nucleophiles (OH-, OR-) a behaviour which is general in the chemistry of metal carbonyls. Moreover, the negative polarisation (or polarizability) of oxygen atoms of carbonyl groups, particularly bridging carbonyls, is illustrated by the facile formation of adducts with Lewis acids as shown inEq. (16) 7. ... 

On the other hand, when the oxidative carbonylation of a ,a -disubstituted propynylamines was carried out in the presence of an excess of CO2, the intermediate carbamate species could undergo cyclization with incorporation of CO2 into the five-membered cycle, either by direct nucleophilic attack of the carbamate oxygen to the triple bond coordinated to Pd(II) (Scheme 33, path a) or through the intermediate formation of a palladium carbamate complex followed by triple bond insertion (Scheme 33, path b). Carbon monoxide insertion into the Pd - C bond of the resulting stereoisomeric vinylpalladium intermediates then led to the final oxazolidi-none derivatives. 

In contrast, spectroscopic and crystal structure analysis indicates that nucleophilic attack of hydride on 72 occurs on the face of the ligand which is coordinated to the metal (Scheme 17). No intermediate species could be detected for this latter reaction. Monitoring of the reduction of the rhenium analog 74 with sodium borohydride indicated the intermediacy of a rhenium formyl complex 75, presumably formed by attack on a coordinated carbon monoxide. Signals for 75 eventually disappear and are replaced by those of the (diene)rhenium product 76 (Scheme 18)95. 

Zerovalent transition metal carbonyl moieties may act as electron acceptors, and thus activate coordinated polyene ligands toward nucleophilic attack. Reaction of (C.411<5 )-Fe(CO)3 with KBHEt3 (—80 °C) proceeds via attack at a coordinated carbon monoxide to generate the anionic iron-formyl species 185 (Scheme 47)184. Upon warming to... 

Co-ordinated carbon monoxide is activated towards nucleophilic attack. Through o-donation and Tt-back donation into the antibonding CO K orbitals the carbon atom has obtained a positive character. This makes the carbon atom not only more susceptible towards a migrating anion at the metal centre, but also for a nucleophile attacking from outside the co-ordination sphere. In this instance it is more difficult to differentiate between the two pathways. There are examples showing that the electrophilicity of the carbon atom can be further increased by the action of Lewis acids complexing to the oxygen atom of the co-ordinated CO. 

Figure 2.26. Nucleophilic attack at co-ordinated carbon monoxide...

We have already reviewed the activation of alkenes, alkynes, and carbon monoxide towards nucleophilic attack. The heterolytic splitting of dihydrogen is also an example of this activation it will be discussed in Section 2.10. The reaction of nucleophiles with silanes co-ordinated to an electrophilic metal can be regarded as an example of activation towards nucleophilic attack (Figure 2.28). Complexes of Ir(III) and Pd(II) give t.o.f. for this reaction as high as 300,000 mol.mol. fh"1. 

Figure 15.8 a simple example is presented of a subsequent insertion of CO and methanolysis of the palladium acyl intermediate [14], This is not a very common reaction, because both the ligand requirements and the redox conditions for Wacker and carbonylation chemistry are not compatible. For insertion reactions one would use cis coordinating diphosphines or diimines, which makes the palladium centre more electron-rich and thus the nucleophilic attack in the Wacker part of the scheme will be slowed down. In addition, the oxidants present may lead to catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide. 

Smaller-ring ketones, especially cydobutanones and more rigid cyclopentanones or cyclohexanones, give biradicals that follow the fourth of the pathways in which carbon monoxide is not tost. In this process a new oxygen-carbon bond is formed by attack of the oxygen of the acyl radical on the alkyl radical centre this generates a carbene which can subsequently react with a nucleophilic solvent such as methanol (4.28). 

Organometallic complexes frequently are susceptible to nucleophilic attack by an external reagent. In some instances the attack takes place on the metal center (see substitution reactions, page 686). while in others it occurs on a bound ligand. Already in this chapter we have seen many instances in which coordinated carbon monoxide undergoes nucleophilic attack. Examples include reactions with H to produce a formyl complex (Eq. 15.19). with R to form an acyl complex (Eq. 15.49). and with OH to give a hydroxycarbonyl complex (Eq. 15.21). 

Commercially, the water-gas shift reaction is usually carried out over Fe304.173 However, current interest centers on homogeneous catalysts. Metal carbonyl complexes such as (HFe(C04)-. (RhtCO KJ-. and (Ru(bpy)2(CO)Cl] are effective and although all the mechanisms have not been worked out completely, the reactions may be viewed in general terms as beginning with a nucleophilic attack on coordinated carbon monoxide ... 

The reduction of metal ions in higher oxidation states by CO and H20 has been known for many years. Work on the reduction of Hg2+, Ag+, Ni2+, Cu2 +, and Pd2+ has been summarized recently (4). The reduction of these metal ions does not proceed via a stable intermediate carbonyl. Since a metal carbonyl must be an intermediate in this reaction, however, the coordinated carbonyl must be very susceptible to attack by water, reacting as soon as it is formed. The ability of a metal in a higher oxidation state to activate a coordinated carbonyl to attack by as weak a nucleophile as water was noted previously in the description of the work by James et al., on the reduction of rhodium(III) by carbon monoxide and water (62). Here a stable rhodium(III) carbonyl, Rh(CO)Cl2-, can be observed as the initial product of reaction of RhCl3 3HzO with CO. The Rh(III) is then efficiently reduced to the rhodium(I) anion [RhCl2(CO)2], even in nonaqueous solvents such as dimethylacetamide, where the only water available for reaction is the water of hydration of the starting rhodium chloride. 

The key intermediate in the reduction of metal ions by carbon monoxide and water is the hydroxycarbonyl (18). Initially (18) was proposed to form by a migratory insertion of CO into a M—OH bond, but more recent studies have favored a direct attack of water or hydroxide on a coordinated carbonyl (4,62). This latter view is in accord with the expected reactivity of coordinated CO toward nucleophiles. Intermediate (18) may then decarboxylate to give C02 and either a reduced metal ion or a metal hydride, as in (29) and (30), respectively. 

As stated above, aliphatic amines are potent ligands for electrophilic transition metals and are efficient catalyst poisons in attempted alkene animation reactions. However, tosylation of the basic amino group greatly reduces its complexing ability, yet does not compromise its ability to nucleophilically attack complexed alkenes. Thus, a variety of alkenic tosamides efficiently cyclized under palladium(II) catalysis producing N-tosylenamines in excellent yield (equations 17 and 18).32 Again, this alkene amination proceeded through an unstable a-alkylpalladium(II) species, which could be intercepted by carbon monoxide, to result in an overall aminocarbonylation of alkenes. With ureas of 3-hydroxy-4-pentenyl-amines (Scheme 7), this palladium-catalyzed process was quite efficient but it was somewhat less so with... 

Terminal monoalkenes were alkylated by stabilized carbanions (p a 10-18) in the presence of 1 equiv. of palladium chloride and 2 equiv. of triethylamine, at low temperatures (Scheme l).1 The resulting unstable hydride eliminate to give the alkene (path b), or treated with carbon monoxide and methanol to produce the ester (path c).2 As was the case with heteroatom nucleophiles, attack at the more substituted alkene position predominated, and internal alkenes underwent alkylation in much lower (=30%) yield. In the absence of triethylamine, the yields were very low (1-2%) and reduction of the metal by the carbanion became the major process. Presumably, the tertiary amine ligand prevented attack of the carbanion at the metal, directing it instead to the coordinated alkene. The regiochemistry (predominant attack at the more sub-... 

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