Cyclopropanations metallacyclobutanes

Complex formation of cyclopropane with hexachloroplatinate initiated extensive investigations on transition-metal coordination chemistry of cyclopropanes. From normal cyclopropanes, metallacyclobutanes are usually obtained, the formation and chemistry of which have been thoroughly discussed and compiled in several reviews. ... 

Metallacycles have been suggested as intermediates in many transition-metal catalyzed reactions of olefins, acetylenes, and cyclopropanes. Metallacyclobutane complexes are invoked in olefin and cyclopropane isomerization schemes (Scheme as well as in olefin metathesis schemes. Metallacyclopentane, -pentene, and -pentadiene complexes can all be invoked in olefin and acetylene dimerization and polymerization (Scheme Many of these involve early transition metals and do not include phosphine ligands. 

Attempts to exploit the reaction of the dianion with alkyl halides to produce a c/.v-dialkyl complex by using 1,2- or 1,3-dihaloalkanes did not indeed give this result. The reaction of Ru(Por) " with 1,2-dibromoethane was sucessful, but the resulting metallacyclopropane product is better formulated as a /r-complex of ethene, and will be discussed below in the section on alkenc and alkyne complexes. The corresponding reaction of the diiinion with 1,3-dichloropropane gave no evidence for a metallacyclobutane. but instead free cyclopropane was detected by GC analysis and the porphyrin product was Ru(TTP)(THF)2. ... 

Fig. 30. Mechanism for C-C activation of propene. Decay of the allyl hydride complex may proceed via migration of the metal-bound H atom to the /3-carbon atom in the allyl moiety (i.e. reverse /3-H migration), leading to formation of the same metallacyclobutane complex implicated in the Y + cyclopropane reaction. The dynamically most favorable decay pathway is to YCH2 + C2H4.

Evans suggests that the catalyst resting state in this reaction is a 55c Cu alkene complex 58, Scheme 4 (35). Variable temperature NMR studies indicate that the catalyst complexes one equivalent of styrene which, in the presence of excess alkene, undergoes ready alkene exchange at ambient temperature but forms only a mono alkene-copper complex at -53°C. Addition of diazoester fails to provide an observable complex. These workers invoke the metallacyclobutane intermediate 60 via a formal [2 + 2] cycloaddition from copper carbenoid alkene complex 59. Formation of 60 is the stereochemistry-determining event in this reaction. The square-planar S Cu(III) intermediate 60 then undergoes a reductive elimination forming the cyclopropane product and Complex 55c-Cu, which binds another alkene molecule. 

The stereoselectivities in this reaction are governed by steric interactions in the formation of metallacyclobutane 60 (35). Of two possible intermediates (Fig. 5), 61 suffers from steric interactions between the ligand and the ester functionality. Avoidance of these interactions and minimization of 1,2-interaction in the metallacyclobutane leads to the formation of the observed major enantiomer and dias-tereomer (trans). The model suggests that increased diastereoselectivity should be observed with increasing steric bulk of the diazoester, a relationship that has already been established as discussed (cf. Eqs. 24 and 26). It is interesting to note that this model loosely corresponds to the stereochemical model proposed by Aratani for the Sumitomo cyclopropanation with one important difference the Aratani model is based on a tetrahedral metal while the Evans-Woerpel model is predicated on square-planar copper. Applying the Aratani model to the Evans ligand would predict formation of the opposite enantiomer as the major product (35). 

Calculations [28] on the formation of cyclopropanes from electrophilic Fischer-type carbene complexes and alkenes suggest that this reaction does not generally proceed via metallacyclobutane intermediates. The least-energy pathway for this process starts with electrophilic addition of the carbene carbon atom to the alkene (Figure 1.9). Ring closure occurs by electrophilic attack of the second carbon atom... 

The most general route to metallacyclobutanes involves insertion of a metal-ligand residue into a C—C bond of cyclopropane or its derivatives, a process first discovered by Tipper... 

As illustrated in Scheme 93, a metallacyclobutane formed from a Ti-carbene and an olefin oxidatively decomposes into cyclopropanes 224). 

Various cyclic compounds are prepared by the reaction of these carbene complexes with various unsaturated compounds [78-80]. The metallacyclobutane 246 is generated by [2+2] cycloaddition with electron-rich alkenes, and its reductive elimination affords the cyclopropanes 247. 

Reductive elimination of metallacyclobutanes results in the formation of cyclopropanes recent examples are compiled in Table 8. Cyclopropane formation is observed throughout the transition series, typically induced by thermolysis or oxidation, depending on the metal. 

Table 8 Reductive formation of cyclopropanes from metallacyclobutane complexes...

Cyclopropane oxidative addition to low-valent transition metals has been intensively investigated in the decades since the first metallacyclobutane complex was prepared by this methodology <1996CHEC-II(lb)887>. Comprehensive reviews on this topic are available <1980CGR149, 1994CRV2241>. 

In the case of polymerisation in the presence of heterogeneous catalysts with the transition metal in a low oxidation state, metallacyclobutane species can also be formed by the intentional addition of cyclopropane to the system [117] ... 

Metallacyclobutanes, fomed upon addition of olefin to the metal carbene, were proposed as intermediates or transition states for olefin metathesis. Metal-acyclobutanes are also known to undergo reductive and p-hydride elimination [27] to produce cyclopropanes, Eq. (8 a), and olefins, Eq. (8 b), respectively. These reactions are termination reactions for olefin metathesis. 

Whereas Fischer-type chromium carbenes react with alkenes, dienes, and alkynes to afford cyclopropanes, vinylcyclopropanes, and aromatic compounds, the iron Fischer-type carbene (47, e.g. R = Ph) reacts with alkenes and dienes to afford primarily coupled products (58) and (59) (Scheme 21). The mechanism proposed involves a [2 -F 2] cycloaddition of the alkene the carbene to form a metallacyclobutane see Metallacycle) (60). This intermediate undergoes jS-hydride elimination followed by reductive elimination to generate the coupled products. Carbenes (47) also react with alkynes under CO pressure (ca. 3.7 atm) to afford 6-ethoxy-o -pyrone complexes (61). The unstable metallacyclobutene (62) is produced by the reaction of (47) with 2-butyne in the absence of CO. Complex (62) decomposes to the pyrone complex (61). It has been suggested that the intermediate (62) is transformed into the vinylketene complex... 

The interactions of bare metal ions, M (M = Co, Fe) performed in an ion beam experiment, with cyclopropanes have also been studied in great detail. It has been demonstrated that reaction of Co or Fe" with c-CaH or c-CaHsMe results initially in the formation of metallacyclobutanes (236). The latter rearrange to olefin/carbene complexes (237) (Scheme 34). 

In any chain reaction, apart from initiation steps, the termination steps are also important. In metathesis there are many possibilities for termination reactions. Besides the reverse of the initiation step, the reaction between two carbene species is also a possibility (eq. (17)). The observation that, when using the Me4SnAVCl6 system, as well as methane traces of ethylene are also observed [26] is in agreement with this reaction. Further reactions which lead to loss of catalytic activity are (1) the destruction of the metallacyclobutane intermediate resulting in the formation of cyclopropanes or alkenes, and (2) the reaction of the metallacycle or metal carbene with impurities in the system or with the functional group in the case of a functionally substituted alkene (e. g., Wittig-type reactions of the metal carbene with carbonyl groups). 

As already mentioned for rhodium carbene complexes, proof of the existence of electrophilic metal carbenoids relies on indirect evidence, and insight into the nature of intermediates is obtained mostly through reactivity-selectivity relationships and/or comparison with stable Fischer-type metal carbene complexes. A particularly puzzling point is the relevance of metallacyclobutanes as intermediates in cyclopropane formation. The subject is still a matter of debate in the literature. Even if some metallacyclobutanes have been shown to yield cyclopropanes by reductive elimination [15], the intermediacy of metallacyclobutanes in carbene transfer reactions is in most cases borne out neither by direct observation nor by clear-cut mechanistic studies and such a reaction pathway is probably not a general one. Formation of a metallacyclobu-tane requires coordination both of the olefin and of the carbene to the metal center. In many cases, all available evidence points to direct reaction of the metal carbenes with alkenes without prior olefin coordination. Further, it has been proposed that, at least in the context of rhodium carbenoid insertions into C-H bonds, partial release of free carbenes from metal carbene complexes occurs [16]. Of course this does not exclude the possibility that metallacyclobutanes play a pivotal role in some catalyst systems, especially in copper-and palladium-catalyzed reactions. 

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