Deprotonative metalation, heteroleptic

When a heteroleptic ate complex is employed in a metalation application, then, depending on the anions involved, there may exist more than one possibility for the identity of the reactive base component within it. Generally, the deprotonation reaction will follow a single-step mechanism whereby the substrate wiU simply take the place of the departing anion. This is particularly true when the departing anion (the Brpnsted base) is an alkyl group, since the alkane (RH) co-product generated... 

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