Diazo-transfer reactions carbene complexes

The metallocarbene intermediates are most often formed from thermal, photolytic, or metal-catalyzed deconposition of diazocarbonyl compounds, with concomitant loss of dinitrogen. Under transition metal catalysis, the initially formed species is a metallocarbene rather than a free carbene, and this is usually desirable due to the moderated reactivity (and, hence, fewer undesired side reactions) of the metal-complexed carbene. The two most common methods for introduction of the diazo group are acylation of diazoalkanes with suitably activated carboxylic acid derivatives and diazo transfer reactions in the case of more acidic active methylene substrates fScheme 16.12T... 

It has been widely accepted that the carbene-transfer reaction using a diazo compound and a transition metal complex proceeds via the corresponding metal carbenoid species. Nishiyama et al. characterized spectroscopically the structure of the carbenoid intermediate that underwent the desired cyclopropanation with high enantio- and diastereoselectivity, derived from (91).254,255 They also isolated a stable dicarbonylcarbene complex and demonstrated by X-ray analysis that the carbene moiety of the complex was almost parallel in the Cl—Ru—Cl plane and perpendicular to the pybox plane (vide infra).255 These results suggest that the rate-determining step of metal-catalyzed cyclopropanation is not carbenoid formation, but the carbene-transfer reaction.254... 

Transition-metal catalysis, especially by copper, rhodium, palladium and ruthenium compounds, is another approved method for the decomposition of diazo compounds. It is now generally accepted that short-lived metal-carbene intermediates are or may be involved in many of the associated transformations28. Nevertheless, these catalytic carbene transfer reactions will be fully covered in this chapter because of the close similarity in reaction modes of electrophilic carbenes and the presumed electrophilic metal-carbene complexes. 

A select number of transition metal compounds are effective as catalysts for carbenoid reactions of diazo compounds (1-3). Their catalytic activity depends on coordination unsaturation at their metal center which allows them to react as electrophiles with diazo compounds. Electrophilic addition to diazo compounds, which is the rate limiting step, causes the loss of dinitrogen and production of a metal stabilized carbene. Transfer of the electrophilic carbene to an electron rich substrate (S ) in a subsequent fast step completes the catalytic cycle (Scheme I). Lewis bases (B ) such as nitriles compete with the diazo compound for the coordinatively unsaturated metal center and are effective inhibitors of catalytic activity. Although carbene complexes with catalytically active transition metal compounds have not been observed as yet, sufficient indirect evidence from reactivity and selectivity correlations with stable metal carbenes (4,5) exist to justify their involvement in catalytic transformations. 

The chiral ruthenium(II) carbene complex 8, prepared from diazo(trimethylsilyl)methane, (p-cymene)2ruthenium(II) chloride, and 2,6-bis(4-isopropyloxazolinyl)pyridine, has been introduced as catalyst for the enantioselective cyclopropanation of alkenes with ethyl diazoacetate. The carbene complex 8 also serves as a transfer reagent for trimethylsilylcarbene and cyclopro-panates styrene in 34% yield. This reaction demonstrates the similarities between catalytic and stoichiometric cyclopropanations and between in situ generated and isolated transition metal carbenes. 

The catalytic transfer of carbenes to imines (Fig. 4) represents a method for the preparation of aziridines complementary to the imido transfer strategies summarized above. The synthetic accessibility of imines and diazocarbonyl compounds, combined with the relative cleanliness of diazo chemistry and the inherent convergence associated with the coupling of two potentially complex reaction partners offer considerable incentive for developing this approach. 

Cyclopropanation reactions employing an a-diazo carbonyl compound as precursor are almost exclusively performed in the presence of a metal catalyst, The intermediacy of highly reactive metal-carbene complexes is generally accepted, but the details of the carbene transfer are still under discussion7,s. Many examples prove that the configuration of the olefin is maintained during these cyclopropanations (see Vol. E19b, p 1099). This mechanism-bascd stereoselectivity is therefore not further discussed in this section. 

Remarkably, mononitrosyl iron(—II) complexes displayed great potential in the activation of diazo compormds and carbene-transfer reactions [102]. Generally, the activation of diazo compound can be realized by electrophilic transition metal complexes. However, according to the concept of Umpoirmg [103], the electron-rich, nucleophilic iron(—II) compound 31 is expected to react with diazo compounds of electron-poor carbenes, such as ethyl diazoacetate (Scheme 42). At first the iron center would add the C=N bond of the diazo compound followed by release of N2 and formation of the electrophilic iron carbene moiety. The nitrosyl group in such transformations is assumed to support as an ancillary ligand the N2 release by pulling electron density to the iron center. 

Holzwarth MS, Alt I, Plietker B (2012) Catalytic activation of diazo compounds using electron-rich, defined iron complexes for carbene-transfer reactions. Angew Cbem Int Ed 51 5351-5354... 

It is well established that the rhodium-carbene species generated upon activation of diazo compounds by rhodium complexes can undergo insertion into a X—H bond (X= C, Si, O, N) to form a new C—X bond under mild conditions (Scheme 3.58). This reaction involves formation of an onium yUde intermediate and subseqnent proton transfer [156]. The high reactivity of these onium ylide species, which can be trapped by an electrophile prior to the proton transfer leading to a second bond formation. 

Reactions of rhodium porphyrins with diazo esters - According to Callot et al., iodorhodium(III) porphyrins are efficient catalysts for the cyclopropanation of alkenes by diazo esters [320,321], The transfer of ethoxycarbonylcarbene to a variety of olefins was found to proceed with a large syn-selectivity as compared with other catalysts. In their study to further develop this reaction to a shape-selective and asymmetric process [322], Kodadek et al. [323] have delineated the reaction sequences (29, 30) and identified as the active catalyst the iodoalkyl-rhodium(III) complex resulting from attack of a metal carbene moiety Rh(CHCOOEt) by iodide. 

There are examples of all metals from groups 8 to 11 to catalyze the transfer of a carbene group from a diazo compound to organic substrates. One of the most studied transformation is the olefin cyclopropanation reaction, " for which the use of Tp ML catalysts has provided valuable improvement. Thus, the diastereoselectivity of this reaction, that usually leads to mixtures of both cis and trans isomers, was directed toward the d.y-cyclopropane with the complex Tp Cu(thf) (hydrotris [3-mesitylpyrazolyl]borate) as the catalyst, affording a 98 2 cisdrans mixture with styrene (Scheme 5) and ethyl diazoacetate (EDA) as the carbene source. Other olefins were also cyclopropanated with the preferential formation of the cis isomer. The catalysts can be prepared in situ by mixing a Cu(I) source and the MTp salt. Also, the Tp Cu(NCMe) complex has been employed as catalyst in a fluorous phase for the styrene cyclopropanation reaction. ... 

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