Electrophilic Alkene and Alkyne Complexes

The usefulness of these processes in organic synthesis depends upon what is made of the resulting T -complexes. In some cases, they proceed with typical organometallic reactions such as alkene insertion, thereby creating a tandem process, or (3-hydride elimination. In other cases, the C-M bond is cleaved by protonolysis, or reaction with another electrophile. 

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The platinum(0) complex [Pt(PhNO)(PPh3)2] reacts with C02 to afford the metallacyclic nitroso species [Pt 0N(Ph)C(0)0 (PPh3)2] (60), the first example of insertion of C02 into a Pt—N bond.186 Other unsaturated carbon compounds such as CS2 and electrophilic alkenes and alkynes react similarly. The diradical peril uoro-/V,/V -dimethylethane-l,2-bis(amino-oxyl) reacts readily by oxidative addition to the platinum(0) precursor Pt(PPh3)4 to afford the corresponding platinum(lI)-nitroso complex containing a seven-membered chelate ring (61). The resulting complex is stable in air for several days at room temperature.187... 

Amouri and coworkers also demonstrated that the nucleophilic reactivity of the exocyclic carbon of Cp Ir(T 4-QM) complex 24 could be utilized to form carbon -carbon bonds with electron-poor alkenes and alkynes serving as electrophiles or cycloaddition partners (Scheme 3.17).29 For example, when complex 24 was treated with the electron-poor methyl propynoate, a new o-quinone methide complex 28 was formed. The authors suggest that the reaction could be initiated by nucleophilic attack of the terminal carbon of the exocyclic methylene group on the terminal carbon of the alkyne, generating a zwitterionic oxo-dienyl intermediate, followed by proton transfer... 

Hydrostannation of alkenes and alkynes (Equation (14)) can involve nucleophilic (R3Sn H+), electrophilic (R3Sn+H ), or homolytic (R3Sm) tin, or the hydride as a metal complex (R3SnMH). 

A number of transition metal complexes react with alkenes, alkynes and dienes to afford insertion products (see Volume 4, Part 3). A general problem is that the newly formed carbon-metal bond is usually quite reactive and can undergo a variety of transformations, such as -hydride elimination or another insertion reaction, before being trapped by an electrophile.200 Usually, a better stability and lower reactivity is observed if the first carbometallation step leads to a metallacycle. It is worthy to note that the carbometallation of perfluorinated alkenes and alkynes constitutes a large fraction of the substrates investigated with transition metal complexes.20015... 

Metalametallations of alkenes and alkynes are useful methods for the construction of 1,2-dimetala-alkanes and 1,2-dimetala-l-alkenes, which react subsequently with suitable electrophiles to form substituted alkanes and alkenes. Metalametallation is carried out usually with bimetallic reagents of the type R Si-M R, or R Sn-M R in which M = B, Al, Mg, Cu, Zn, Si or Sn. Some metalametallations proceed without catalysts Cu, Ag and Pd compounds are good catalysts. The metalametallation with bimetallic compounds, such as Si-B, Si-Mg, Si-Al, Si-Zn, Si-Sn, Si-Si, Sn-Al or Sn—Sn bonds, catalysed by transition metal complexes, is explained by the oxidative addition of the bimetallic compounds to form 478, and insertion of alkene generates 479. Finally 1,2-dimetallic compounds 480 are formed by reductive elimination. Dimetallation of alkynes proceeds similarly to give 481. Dimetallation is syn addition. 

Acids and bases have figured prominently in all of the sections of this chapter. The concept of an alkene Linctioning as a base has also been explored. In this section, the ir bond of an alkene or an alkyne will be used a base, both with protonic acids, Lewis acids, and with other electrophilic centers. When an alkene donates. n electron pair (acts as a base) to a proton, the ir bond breaks and forms a new C—H bond to one carbon of nc old C=C unit. The other carbon of that unit becomes an electron deficient center (a carbocation), which. acts further, usually by substitution or elimination. When the alkene donates the electrons to a Lewis acid,, c resulting complex will react to give other products. In all cases, recognizing the Lewis basicity of alkenes and alkynes will help explain the addition reactions discussed in this section. 

Aryne complexes of late transition metals are very reactive towards both nucleophiles (amines, alcohols, water) and electrophiles (iodine). They also undergo insertion reactions with CO, alkenes and alkynes,but while the behaviour of ruthenium complexes is somewhat similar to that of titanium or zirconium complexes, the reactivity of nickel complexes is rather different [6,8]. Examples of these reactions that are particularly interesting for the purposes of this chapter are shown in Schemes 8 and 9. Ruthenium complex 33 undergoes insertion of a molecule of benzonitrile,benzaldehyde or di(p-tolyl)acetylene to yield met-allacycles 40,41 and 42, respectively (Scheme 8). Further insertion of a second unsaturated molecule into these metallacycles has not been observed [25,27]. 

Electrophilic additions of Brs" to alkenes and alkynes have been carried out [48-50] both in [BMIM][Br] and in other ionic liquids bearing non-nucleophilic anions (Scheme 5.1-16). The reaction is always completely anti-stereospecific, independent of alkene or alkyne structure. It follows a second-order rate law, suggesting a concerted mechanism of the type reported for Brs" addition in aprotic molecular solvents, involving a product- and rate-determining nucleophilic attack by bromide on the alkene or alkyne-Br2 jt-complex initially formed. 

There are two main classes of molecules (substrates) that can perform oxidative additions to metal centers non-electrophilic and electrophilic. Oxidative addition reactions with either class of substrates are favored by metal complexes that are more electron rich. Common non-electrophilic substrates are H2, Si-H bonds, P-H bonds, S-H bonds, B-H bonds, N-H bonds, S-S bonds, C-H bonds, alkenes, and alkynes. An important criterion for these non-electrophillic substrates is that they require a sterically accessible open coordination site on the metal (16e configuration or lower) onto which they need to pre-coordinate before initiating the oxidative addition to the metal center. For these substrates, both ligand atoms typically become cisoidally coordinated to the metal center after the oxidative addition as anionic (T-donors (subsequent ligand rearrangements, of course can occur). H2 is the most important and common for catalysis and a well-studied reaction is shown in Equation (5). 

Platinum catalysts of the preceding section activate only the nucleophile (a secondary phosphine), which then reacts with the electrophile (an activated alkene). There are, however, interesting examples of lanthanide complexes activating both the nucleophile and the electrophile towards intramolecular diastereoselective hydrophosphination/cyclisations. In 2000 Marks and co-workers found that certain lanthanide complexes catalyse the intramolecular hydrophosphination of alkenes and alkynes (Scheme 6.13). 

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