Chromium ketenes

Merlic et al. were the first to predict that exposing a dienylcarbene complex 126 to photolysis would lead to an ort/zo-substituted phenolic product 129 [74a]. This photochemical benzannulation reaction, which provides products complementary to the classical para-substituted phenol as benzannulation product, can be applied to (alkoxy- and aminocarbene)pentacarbonyl complexes [74]. A mechanism proposed for this photochemical reaction is shown in Scheme 54. Photo activation promotes CO insertion resulting in the chromium ketene in-... 

Fig. 2.21. Photolytic generation and. synthetic applications of chromium ketene complexes.

Nowadays, it is an accepted mechanistic model [5, 6] that the photolysis step (which proceeds under thermo-reversible CO insertion) leads to species best described as chromium ketene complexes of type 7 (Scheme 2). Indeed, these intermediates exhibit a ketene-like reactivity they undergo [2 + 2] cycloaddition reactions with olefins, imines and enol ethers, whereas reaction with nucleophiles leads to carboxylic acid derivatives. 

By photolysis of achiral heteroatom-stabilized chromium carbene complexes chromium-ketene species are generated that undergo [2+2] cycloaddition with chiral alkenes diastereoselectively. ... 

A few heterocyclic imines reacted poorly if at all with chromium alkoxycarbene complexes. Oxazines required the use of the more reactive (and less stable) molybdenum alkoxycarbenes, producing oxacephams in -40% yield. Oxazo-lines gave low yields (-12%) of the oxapenam system, along with similar amounts of oxazinone, resulting from incorporation of two equivalents of ketene (Eq. 3) [20]. 

Although the photodriven reactions of chromium carbene complexes with imines superficially resemble those of free ketenes, there are major differences. The optically active oxazolidine carbene (Table 5) gave excellent yields and high ee values when allowed to react with imidates, oxazines, thiazines, and... 

Photodriven reactions of Fischer carbenes with alcohols produces esters, the expected product from nucleophilic addition to ketenes. Hydroxycarbene complexes, generated in situ by protonation of the corresponding ate complex, produced a-hydroxyesters in modest yield (Table 15) [103]. Ketals,presumably formed by thermal decomposition of the carbenes, were major by-products. The discovery that amides were readily converted to aminocarbene complexes [104] resulted in an efficient approach to a-amino acids by photodriven reaction of these aminocarbenes with alcohols (Table 16) [105,106]. a-Alkylation of the (methyl)(dibenzylamino)carbene complex followed by photolysis produced a range of racemic alanine derivatives (Eq. 26). With chiral oxazolidine carbene complexes optically active amino acid derivatives were available (Eq. 27). Since both enantiomers of the optically active chromium aminocarbene are equally available, both the natural S and unnatural R amino acid derivatives are equally... 

Ketenes react with tertiary allylic amines in the presence of Lewis acids to give zwitterionic intermediates which undergo [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement [119]. Photolysis of chromium carbene complexes in the presence of tertiary amines results in similar chemistry [120]. Cyclic (Table 21) and strained allylic amines (Eq. 34) work best, while acylic amines are less reactive (Eq. 35). 

Merlic demonstrated the direct, non-photochemical insertion of carbon monoxide from acylamino chromium carbene complexes 14 to afford a presumed chromium-complexed ketene 15 <00JA7398>. This presumed metal-complexed ketene leads to a munchnone 16 or munchnone complex which undergo dipolar cycloaddition with alkynes to yield the pyrroles 17 upon loss of carbon dioxide. 

The [6 + 3]-cycloaddition between (cycloheptatriene)chromium(O) tricarbonyl 135 and isocyanate or ketene occurs under photo-irradiation conditions, for example, bicyclo[4.2.1]nonane-type adduct 136 was obtained in moderate yield (Equation (22)).237 238... 

The 774-vinylketene complex (85) could be oxidatively decomplexed with Ce(IV) to afford the lactone (87). Although no reaction was observed with methanol (unlike a postulated chromium analogue16,18 26), treatment with sodium methoxide produced the expected /3, y-unsaturated ester (88). Thermolysis of complex 85 afforded no trace of the naphthol that one would expect33 from a proposed chromium vinylketene complex with the same syn relationship between the phenyl group and the ketene moiety. Instead, only the furan (89.a) was seen. Indeed, upon exhaustive reaction of tricarbon-ylcobalt carbenes (84 and 90) with different alkynes, the furans (89.a-d) were isolated as the exclusive products in moderate to excellent yields. 

Many of the syntheses we have seen within this review depend on the carbonylation of a vinylcarbene complex for the generation of the vinylketene species. The ease of this carbonylation process is controlled, to some degree, by the identity of the metal. The electronic characteristics of the metal will clearly have a great effect on the strength of the metal-carbon double bond, and as such this could be a regulating factor in the carbene-ketene transformation. It is interesting to note the comparative reactivity of a (vinylcarbene)chromium species with its iron analogue The former is a fairly stable species, whereas the latter has been shown to carbonylate readily to form the appropriate (vinylketene)iron complex. 

A remarkable reaction, discovered by McGuire and Hegedus in 1982 [292], is the photochemical conversion of heteroatom-substituted chromium and molybdenum carbene complexes into intermediates with ketene-like character (Figure 2.21). This reaction has been reviewed by Hegedus [203]. 

Photolysis or thermolysis of heteroatom-substituted chromium carbene complexes can lead to the formation of ketene-like intermediates (cf. Sections 2.2.3 and 2.2.5). The reaction of these intermediates with tertiary amines can yield ammonium ylides, which can undergo Stevens rearrangement [294,365,366] (see also Entry 6, Table 2.14 and Experimental Procedure 2.2.1). This reaction sequence has been used to prepare pyrrolidones and other nitrogen-containing heterocycles. Examples of such reactions are given in Figure 2.31 and Table 2.21. 

The metal-free eyclobutane-1,2-dioxime can be generated by oxidative displacement. It is interesting to note that, unlike ketene dimerization, head-to-head dimerization takes place here. The chromium ketenimine complex 20 is prepared by reaction of the Fischer-type chromium carbene complex with alkyl isocyanides.60 A cyclobutane-1,2,3,4-tetraimine 24 has been reported from the reaction of the ketenimine phosphonium ylide 22.61 Bisimine 23 has been proposed as the intermediate in this transformation. 

Upon irradiation with ultraviolet light Fischer chromium-carbene complexes 16 react as if they were ketenes, although evidence for the generation of free ketenes has not been observed (see Section 1.4.2.). Photocycloadditions of these complexes onto chiral enamines show significant asymmetric induction.22... 

Photolysis of pentacarbonylcarbenechromium complexes produce species that react as if they were ketenes. although no evidence for the generation of free ketenes has been observed. Indeed, photolysis of chromium (alkoxy) carbenes in the presence of a range of simple alkenes produced cyclobutanones 1 in good to very good yield.8,9... 

The advantage of using the photocycloaddition of pentacarbonylcarbenechromium complexes over the ketene cycloaddition method is the absence of ketene dimerization and the avoidance of use of excess alkene in the former method. Also, the mild reaction conditions associated with the use of chromium carbene complexes avoids epimerization and thermodynamic equilibration of 2-monosubstituted cyclobutanones. 

Treatment of chromium (III) acetylacetonate with acetic anhydride and boron trifluoride etherate yielded a complex mixture of acetylated chelates but very little starting material. Fractional crystallization and chromatographic purification of this mixture afforded the triacetylated chromium chelate (XVI), which was also prepared from pure triacetylmethane by a nonaqueous chelation reaction (8, 11). The enolic triacetylmethane was prepared by treating acetylacetone with ketene. The sharp contrast between the chemical properties of the coordinated and uncoordinated ligand is illustrated by the fact that chromium acetylacetonate does not react with ketene. 

The slow acetylation of the hydroxyl group is difficult to explain. One is inclined to suggest that this group is coordinated to the metal ion and consequently rendered inactive. Such a possibility requires either a coordination number of 7 for chromium (III) or displacement of carboxylate from the coordination sphere by hydroxyl. In the latter instance an uncoordinated functional group would still be present to react with ketene (COO or COOH) and anhydride should be detected in the crude reaction product. This is not the case. 

Another effect to be considered is an inductive effect although the total charge on the complex molecule, [Cr(HO-A)2] , is negative, it is possible that chromium (III) exerts its effect on the free OH group, increasing the acidity of the alcohol proton. Acidic alcohols, such as phenol, may be acetylated readily, so that this does not seem to be a plausible explanation for the very slow ketene reaction. 

The syntheses of many Co3(CO)9X compounds from dicobalt octacarbonyl and XCCI3 have been optimized 347), and further reactions starting from 0(60)4 and XCCI3 360), or RCF —Co(CO)4 46) have been investigated in order to determine the mechanism of formation of the clusters. Methinyltricobalt enneacarbonyls are also formed from Co2(CO)g and such apical carbon precursors as acetylenes 140), dimethyl ketene 408), or carbyne chromium complexes (7 73). In several cases (7 72,... 

Hegedus et al. discovered that irradiation of chromium-carbene complexes resulted in a photoinsertion of CO into the Cr-carbene bond to form Cr-ketene complexes [96, 97]. This opened novel routes to the preparation of valuable compounds via Cr-ketene chemistry. Among them, the reaction of metallated ketenes with imines was intensively explored [98-100]. Within this context, the reaction between several model Cr-ketenes (120) and imines was explored at the B3LYP/6-31G ECP level of theory [101, 102], The mechanisms thus obtained are reported in Scheme 31. 

Alkyl and aryl isocyanates (and ketenes) can be used in a [6 + 2] cycloaddition process, promoted by chromium(O) species under photolysis, to give useful bicyclo compounds (equation 169)607. In this process the yields are 20-45%, which is a great improvement over other attempts at metal-mediated [6 + 2] cycloaddition reaction608-610. 

Reaction of crowded chromium alkenyl Fischer carbene (50) with bulky ketene acetals provides an interesting entry to 3-substituted pent-l-ynoate (53)45 Formation of the alkyne can be rationalized by a 1,4-nucleophilic addition of the ketene on the unsaturated carbene complex (crowded complexes will not undergo potential 1,2-addition), following by oxonium (51) formation and fragmentation to a vinylidene carbene complex (52), which undergoes a 1,3-shift to the alkynylchromium complex leading the alkyne after reductive elimination. 

The photochemical generation of metal-bound ketenes from carbene-chromium complexes and the subsequent coupling with imines to give azetidin-2-ones is treated separately (Section 2.01.3.10.5). 

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