Enyne metathesis Mechanism

While diene metathesis or diyne metathesis are driven by the loss of a (volatile) alkene or alkyne by-product, enyne metathesis (Fig. 2) cannot benefit from this contributing feature to the AS term of the reaction, since the event is entirely atom economic. Instead, the reaction is driven by the formation of conjugated dienes, which ensures that once these dienes have been formed, the process is no longer a reversible one. Enyne metathesis can also be considered as an alkylidene migration reaction, because the alkylidene unit migrates from the alkene part to one of the alkyne carbons. The mechanism of enyne metathesis is not well described, as two possible complexation sites (alkene or alkyne) exist for the ruthenium carbene, leading to different reaction pathways, and the situation is further complicated when the reaction is conducted under an atmosphere of ethylene. Despite its enormous potential to form mul-... 

Complexes of Pd, Pt and Ru catalyse enyne metathesis, giving similar products to those obtained by the Ru-carbene complex 22 as described in this chapter. These enyne metatheses are discussed in Section 7.2.6. Other mechanisms, without involving carbene complexes as intermediates, have been proposed. 

Until recently, intermolecular enyne metathesis received scant attention. Competing CM homodimerisation of the alkene, alkyne metathesis and polymerisation were issues of concern which hampered the development of the enyne CM reaction. The first report of a selective ruthenium-catalysed enyne CM reaction came from our laboratories [106]. Reaction of various terminal alkynes 61 with terminal olefins 62 gave 1,3-substituted diene products 63 in good-to-excellent yields (Scheme 18). It is interesting that in these and all enyne CM reactions subsequently reported, terminal alkynes are more reactive than internal analogues, and 1,2-substituted diene products are never formed thus, in terms of reactivity and selectivity enyne CM is the antithesis of enyne RCM. The mechanism of enyne CM is not well understood. It would appear that initial attack is at the alkyne however, one report has demonstrated initial attack at the alkene (substrate-dependent) is also possible, see Ref. [107]. 

Randl, S., Lucas, N., Connon, S. J., Biechert, S. A mechanism switch in enyne metathesis reactions involving rearrangement influence of heteroatoms in the propargylic position. Adv. Syn. Catal. 2002, 344, 631-633. 

Shortly after the discovery of enyne metathesis, Trost began developing cycloisomerization reactions of enynes using Pd(ll) and Pt(ll) metallacyclic catalysts (429-433), which are mechanistically divergent from the metal-carbene reactions. The first of these metal catalyzed cycloisomerization reactions of 1,6-enynes appeared in 1985 (434). The reaction mechanism is proposed to involve initial enyne n complexation of the metal catalyst, which in this case is a cyclometalated Pd(II) cyclopentadiene, followed by oxidative cyclometala-tion of the enyne to form a tetradentate, putative Pd(IV) intermediate [Scheme 42(a)]. Subsequent reductive elimination of the cyclometalated catalyst releases a cyclobutene that rings opens to the 1,3-diene product. Although this scheme represents the fundamental mechanism for enyne metathesis and is useful in the synthesis of complex 1,3-cyclic dienes [Scheme 42(fe)], variations in the reaction pathway due to selective n complexation or alternative cyclobutene reactivity (e.g., isomerization, p-hydride elimination, path 2, Scheme 40) leads to variability in the reaction products. Strong evidence for intermediacy of cyclobutene species derives from the stereospecificity of the reaction. Alkene... 

Scheme 47. Postulated mechanism for Lewis acid (e.g., PtClj) catalyzed enyne metathesis via a carbocation intermediate.

Scheme 51. (a) Enyne metathesis to form five-membered products using Pd(0). (b) Mechanism illustrating the formation of an unusual alkenylpalladium intermediate via a n-allylpalladium species. 

Iridium-catalyzed intramolecular l,n-enyne metathesis has been studied as a unique tool for the synthesis of various types of cyclic compounds. Reactions of this type depend on both the structure of substrates and the nature of catalyst systems used (411). Recently, the cycloisomerization of various 1,6-enynes have been shown to be catalyzed by [Ir(cod)Cl]2/dppf (494). These reactions are highly stereoselective, and generate the (Z)-isomer preferentially over the ( )-isomer (Scheme 63). The proposed mechanism (Scheme 64) involves oxidative cyclization of the enyne at Ir(I) to give the trivalent iridacyclopentene. The intermediate undergoes (3-hydride elimination to give the irida-1,3-diene, which experiences steric repulsion between the metal fragment and the cis substituent on the... 

Scheme 67. Proposed mechanism for the Ga(III)-catalyzed 1,6-enyne metathesis...

Treatment of an alkyne/alkene mixture with ruthenium carbene complexes results in the formation of diene derivatives without the evolution of byproducts this process is known as enyne cross-metathesis (Scheme 22). An intramolecular version of this reaction has also been demonstrated, sometimes referred to as enyne RCM. The yield of this reaction is frequently higher when ethylene is added to the reaction mixture. The preferred regiochemistry is opposite for enyne cross-metathesis and enyne RCM. The complex mechanistic pathways of Scheme 22 have been employed to account for the observed products of the enyne RCM reaction. Several experiments have shown that initial reaction is at the alkene and not the alkyne. The regiochemistry of enyne RCM can be attributed to the inability to form highly strained intermediate B from intermediate carbene complex A in the alkene-first mechanism. Enyne metathesis is a thermodynamically favorable process, and thus is not a subject to the equilibrium constraints facing alkene cross-metathesis and RCM. In a simple bond energy analysis, the 7r-bond of an alkyne is... 

Totally intramolecular enyne metathesis Diels-Alder sequences have been demonstrated (e.g., the conversion of 244 into 246). Enyne RCM of substrate 247 affords stereochemically pure 248 due to kinetic resolution during metathesis.A process equivalent to enyne metathesis that proceeds through a non-carbene mechanism has been demonstrated using platinum chloride as a catalyst. In addition to routine observations, some other interesting side-reactions have been noted (Scheme 29). Competitive cross-metathesis with ethylene and intramolecular enyne metathesis were observed in the treatment of substrate 249 with catalyst 16 and ethylene.Cyclopropane ring opening was observed in the attempted enyne metathesis of substrate 253, resulting in alkylidenecyclopentene 254. 

Scheme 7.8 Acetylene insertion into the Ru-methylidene bond in intermolecular enyne metathesis via a dissociative mechanism. Gibbs free energies (in kcal/mol) were computed...

Scheme 7.9 (a-c) Possible mechanisms for enyne metathesis of 1-allyloxy-2-propyne. Adapted from Ref [54]. 

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