Electron-deficient conjugated olefins

The reactivity of Qo comparable to that of electron deficient conjugated olefins is nicely reflected by reactions with transition metal complexes. A variety of single crystal structures and spectroscopic studies show that the complexation of transition metals to the fullerene core proceeds in a dihapto manner or as hydrometalation reactions rather than in rf- or ] -binding mode. This was elegantly demonstrated by the reaction of Cgg with ruthenium complexes (Scheme 8) [144]. A variety of iridium complexes ( ] -Cgo)Ir(CO)Cl(PR R R )2 were synthesized by allowing Cgg to react with different Vaska-type complexes Ir(CO)Cl(PR R R )2 [145]. ] -Complex formation was also observed upon reaction of Cgo with other Ir [146] as well as Rh [147] complexes. Hydro-metallation was obtained with Cp2Zr(H)Cl [140]. 

Olefin cross metathesis starts to compete with traditional C=C bondforming reactions such as the Wittig reaction and its modifications, as illustrated by the increasing use of electron-deficient conjugated alkenes for the ( )-selective construction of enals and enoates. 

Other interesting electron-deficient olefin substrates for the asymmetric conjugate addition include cr-acet-amidoacrylic ester SI,101 dimethyl itaconate S2,114 ct,/3-unsaturated sulfones S3,115 and alkenylphosphonate S4116 (Figure 8). 

The addition of selenenyl derivatives to olefins has been shown to be of mechanistic interest and synthetic utility because of the versatility of the selenium functionalities28,133. The possibility of modifying double bonds with seleno derivatives has been applied also to conjugated systems in order to obtain arylseleno dienes, or electron-deficient dienes, both being useful synthetic intermediates or building blocks. 

Rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition has enjoyed uninterrupted prosperity since the first report by Hayashi and Miyaura [6]. Its high enantioselectivity and wide applicability are truly remarkable. However, some problems still remain, since the carbon atoms that can be successfully introduced by this rhodium-catalyzed reaction have been limited to sp carbons and the substrates employed have been limited mostly to the electron-deficient olefins free from sterically bulky substituents at a- and / -positions. These issues will be the subject of increasing attention in the future. 

Hosokawa, Murahashi, and coworkers demonstrated the ability of Pd" to catalyze the oxidative conjugate addition of amide and carbamate nucleophiles to electron-deficient alkenes (Eq. 42) [177]. Approximately 10 years later, Stahl and coworkers discovered that Pd-catalyzed oxidative amination of styrene proceeds with either Markovnikov or anti-Markovnikov regioselectivity. The preferred isomer is dictated by the presence or absence of a Bronsted base (e.g., triethylamine or acetate), respectively (Scheme 12) [178,179]. Both of these reaction classes employ O2 as the stoichiometric oxidant, but optimal conditions include a copper cocatalyst. More recently, Stahl and coworkers found that the oxidative amination of unactivated alkyl olefins proceeds most effectively in the absence of a copper cocatalyst (Eq. 43) [180]. In the presence of 5mol% CUCI2, significant alkene amination is observed, but the product consists of a complicated isomeric mixture arising from migration of the double bond into thermodynamically more stable internal positions. 

Conjugate addition of organometallic reagents to electron-deficient olefins constitutes one of the versatile methodologies for forming carbon-carbon bonds. Although... 

Cycloadditions of betaines are not restricted to electron-deficient alkenes. Pyridinium-3-olates also react with conjugated olefins (e.g., styrenes) and with electron-rich olefins (e.g., ethyl vinyl ether). In the latter case, the betaine LUMO/alkene HOMO interaction becomes dominant and reaction is only observed with pyridinium-3-olates having a low-energy LUMO... 

Stabilisation is conferred on a carbocation whenever the electron deficient centre is conjugated with aryl or olefinic groups, or with atoms possessing unshared electron pairs such as oxygen, nitrogen or sulphur. The most useful examples are the triphenylmethyl 1, cycloheptrienyl 2 (20), xanthylium 3 (74), pyrylium +... 

The general reaction mechanism of the Michael reaction is given below (Scheme 4). First, deprotonation of the Michael donor occurs to form a reactive nucleophile (A, C). This adds enantioselectively to the electron-deficient olefin under the action of the chiral catalyst. In the final step, proton transfer to the developed enolate (B, D) occurs from either a Michael donor or the conjugate acid of a catalyst or a base, affording the desired Michael adduct. It is noteworthy that the large difference of stability between the two enolate anions (A/B, C/D) is the driving force for the completion of the catalytic cycle. 

Although complexes with C—H—metal three-center, two-electron bonds were first observed several years ago (40-42), they have received increasing attention recently as model systems for C—H activation by transition metal complexes (43). A general route to such compounds involves the protonation of diene (35,44-51) or olefin complexes (52-56). The resulting 16-electron species are stabilized by the formation of C—H—metal bridges. Irradiation of the complexes [Cr(CO)s L] [L = CO, P(CH3)3, P(OCH 3)3 jin presence of conjugated dienes having certain substituents provides a photochemical route to electron-deficient >/4 CH-diene complexes. 

Photohydroalkylations are in most cases carbon-centered radical conjugate additions onto electron-deficient olefins [7]. Scheme 3.3 summarizes in detail the pathways for the photogeneration of radicals from R-H(Y) 1. In path a, a photocatalyst P (when excited) cleaves homolytically a suitable C—H bond, and the resultant radical adds to the olefin 2 to form the adduct radical 3. a,(3-Unsaturated nitriles, ketones, and esters... 

Ruthenium(O) complexes such as Ru(COD)(COT) catalyze the dehydrohalo-genative coupling of vinyl halides with olefins to give substituted conjugated dienes in a Heck-type reaction [11]. Thus, alkenyl halides readily react with activated olefins to produce dienes 16 (Eq. 7). Oxidative addition of vinyl halide, followed by regioselective insertion of an electron-deficient olefin and by -hydrogen elimination leads to the diene. 

Recently, the transition-metal-catalyzed addition of active methylene C-H bonds to electron-deficient olefins having a carbonyl, a nitrile, or a sulfonyl group has been extensively studied by several research groups. In particular, the asymmetric version of this type of catalytic reaction provides a new route to the enantioselective construction of quaternary carbon centers [88]. Another topic of recent interest is the catalytic addition of active methylene C-H bonds to acetylenes, allenes, conjugate ene-ynes, and nitrile C-N triple bonds. In this section, the ruthenium-catalyzed addition of C-H bonds in active methylene compounds to carbonyl groups and C-C multiple bonds is described. 

Taking advantage of the slow hydrogenation of carbon-carbon double bonds at room temperature in the presence of platinum dioxide, it was possible to perform the ruthenium-catalyzed cross coupling reaction of electron-deficient olefins such as conjugated enones and acrylic derivatives with allyl silanes in the presence of Pt(>2 under hydrogen (Scheme 46) [99]. Prolonged... 

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