Carbonic acid Carbonyl complexes

The phase-transfer catalysed reaction of nickel tetracarbonyl with sodium hydroxide under carbon monoxide produces the nickel carbonyl dianions, Ni,(CO) 2- and Ni6(CO)162, which convert allyl chloride into a mixture of but-3-enoic and but-2-enoic acids [18]. However, in view of the high toxicity of the volatile nickel tetracarbonyl, the use of the nickel cyanide as a precursor for the carbonyl complexes is preferred. Pretreatment of the cyanide with carbon monoxide under basic conditions is thought to produce the tricarbonylnickel cyanide anion [19], as the active metal catalyst. Reaction with allyl halides, in a manner analogous to that outlined for the preparation of the arylacetic acids, produces the butenoic acids (Table 8.7). 

Reactions 7 and 8 involve oxidation of rhodium(I) to rhodium(III). Reaction 8 can also be written as an oxidative addition of I2 (formed thermally from 2 HI) to the Rh(I) complex. Rhodium(III) iodide (for convenience written as an anionic carbonyl complex) may precipitate from the reaction medium. It has to be converted to rhodium(I) again. This is done in the acetic acid process by water and carbon monoxide. 

Carbonyl complexes also react with non-carbon nucleophiles. The resulting carbonic acid derivatives can serve as starting material for the preparation of bis-heteroatom-substituted carbene complexes [93]. Heterocyclic carbene complexes can be obtained from nucleophiles with a leaving group in -position (Table 2.2). 

Carbonylation of methanol to form acetic acid has been performed industrially using carbonyl complexes of cobalt ( ) or rhodium (2 ) and iodide promoter in the liquid phase. Recently, it has been claimed that nickel carbonyl or other nickel compounds are effective catalysts for the reaction at pressure as low as 30 atm (2/4), For the rhodium catalyst, the conditions are fairly mild (175 C and 28 atm) and the product selectivity is excellent (99% based on methanol). However, the process has the disadvantages that the proven reserves of rhodium are quite limited in both location and quantity and that the reaction medium is highly corrosive. It is highly desirable, therefore, to develop a vapor phase process, which is free from the corrosion problem, utilizing a base metal catalyst. The authors have already reported that nickel on activated carbon exhibits excellent catalytic activity for the carbonylation of... 

The filter cake and the distillate must be treated with nitric acid to decompose the contaminates of iron carbonyl complexes. This treatment should be done very carefully in a well-ventilated hood, because carbon monoxide is evolved vigorously. 

The acetylacetone carbanion undergoes addition to the imine carbon atom of complex (92) but subsequent cyclization and deacylation processes occur (Scheme 42).212 The apical ammonia group is the most acidic and consequently is favoured to cyclize on to the carbonyl group. In the bis-(1,2-diaminoethane) complex related to the imine chelate (92), the two apical nitrogen atoms are no longer geometrically equivalent. Thus two products are formed when hydrogen cyanide is added to the complex and subsequent cyclization takes place (Scheme 43).213 However, the cyclization reaction is stereoselective. 

The seminal synthesis of this type of complex, specifically TpPt(H)2Me (347), barely a decade ago, resulted from stirring TpPtMe(CO) (150) in 1 1 acetone/H20 for 24 h,117 a process that was subsequently patented.118 A modified, base-catalyzed, variation of this process was independently applied to the synthesis of Tp Pt(H)2Me (151) from Tp PtMe(CO) (348).66 The initial step of this conversion is believed to be analogous to the WGS reaction, viz. nucleophilic attack (H20 or OH) at the carbonyl inducing loss of CO a process supported by 13CO labeling studies that confirmed loss of 13C02.117 Resultant traces of carbonic acid then facilitate protonation of the intermediate [TpxPtMeH] anion. 

Somewhat later, Brewster (12) proposed that in an acidic medium a metal surface would interact with an a, /3-unsaturated carbonyl system to form intermediates such as compounds X and XI in which the metal was complexed either with the carbonyl carbon (X) or the /3-carbon (XI). Such complexation would most probably take place after protonation of the carbonyl oxygen. Hydride... 

Figure 1.12 suggests that for carbonyl complexes the HOMO is localized primarily on the metal centre, with only a modest contribution from oxygen orbitals. Thus by far the majority of reactions of metal carbonyls with electrophiles involve direct attack at the metal, with the carbonyl serving as a spectator ligand. If, however, the metal centre is (i) particularly electron rich and (ii) sterically shielded and the electrophile is hard (in the HSAB sense) and also sterically encumbered, then attack may occur at the oxygen. Thiocarbonyls (LM-CS) are stronger 71-acids than CO and the sulfur is both softer and more nucleophilic. Thus electrophilic attack at the sulfur of thiocarbonyls is more common if the metal centre is electron rich (vcs < 1200 cm-1). Similarly, coordinated isocyanides (CNR) are more prone to attack by electrophiles at nitrogen. This is noteworthy in the sense that free isocyanides are attacked by electrophiles at carbon (Figure 3.19). The resulting carbyne ligands will be discussed in Chapter 5.

As in all of these more complex syntheses, other routes to the target compound are possible. This route was chosen because the Grignard reaction introduces a double bond without removing functionality at carbon 3. Dehydration occurs in the desired direction to produce a double bond conjugated with the carboxylic acid carbonyl group. 

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