H Bond Activation

Bond activation is the result of insertion of a metal fragment into a C—H bond, giving rise to oxidative addition as shown in Eq. (1). This process, if it can be commercially exploited, could be of use in the homologation of inert alkane feedstocks. The general topic of C-—H bond activation is extensively treated in Hill s book. Of special interest are the chapters by Crabtree, Jones, and Rothwell. Tanaka s summaries of his work in photocarbonylation using the [RhCl(CO)-(PMe3)2] catalyst are also important contributions. 

This topic continues to attract considerable attention as a result of the potential commercial benefits of alkane homologation. It may be conveniently addressed by subdividing into activation of unactivated (alkane), activated (such as aryl) and intramolecular C—H bonds. The review article by Crabtree and Hamilton contains a good overall treatment of this topic through early 1987. 

The concept of chemistry beyond functional group transformation concerns mainly reaction participants, and this chapter is aimed at providing a summary of some recent development in that respect. The contents of this chapter include (1) sp3 C—H and sp2 C—H bond activation, (2) C—C bond activation, (3) C—O bond activation, (4) C—F bond activation, (5) C—N bond activation, and (6) small molecule activation (H2, 02, and CH4). More detailed information can be found in the cited references. 

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All lation. Maleic anhydride reacts with alkene and aromatic substrates having a C—H bond activated by a,P-unsaturation or an adjacent aromatic resonance (31,32) to produce the following succinic anhydride derivatives. 

Metallocycles as intermediates in synthesis of heterocycles by transition metal-catalyzed coupling reactions under C—H bond activation 99AG(E)1698. 

Benzonitrile with [(i -Cp )P W(CO)5 2] gives 82, the result of migration of the phosphorus atom, insertion of the nitrile moiety into the P-C bond and further C-H bond activation (01AGE3413). 

However, recently, a theoretical paper has been published, which provides interesting arguments for a conventional silylmetal hydride rather than for a 3c2e M(H)Si bond [132,133]. For the great implications of these compounds for Si —H bond activation reactions consult, e.g., on the work of Crabtree [129]. 

In classical mechanisms for C—H bond activation either C—H rr-bond donation or cyclic. 4-centered transition states are important, but these are precluded in the porphyrin systems and the mechanism proposed for activation of CH4, toluene, and Hy by the Rh porphyrin radicals is a new mechanistic possibility. 

Note that the main difference between zirconium hydride and tantalum hydride is that tantalum hydride is formally a d 8-electron Ta complex. On the one hand, a direct oxidative addition of the carbon-carbon bond of ethane or other alkanes could explain the products such a type of elementary step is rare and is usually a high energy process. On the other hand, formation of tantalum alkyl intermediates via C - H bond activation, a process already ob-... 

From these data, some key information can be drawn in both cases, the couple methane/pentane as well as the couple ethane/butane have similar selectivities. This implies that each couple of products (ethane/butane and methane/pentane) is probably formed via a common intermediate, which is probably related to the hexyl surface intermediate D, which is formed as follows cyclohexane reacts first with the surface via C - H activation to produce a cyclohexyl intermediate A, which then undergoes a second C - H bond activation at the /-position to give the key 1,3-dimetallacyclopentane intermediate B. Concerted electron transfer (a 2+2 retrocychzation) leads to a non-cychc -alkenylidene metal surface complex, C, which under H2 can evolve towards a surface hexyl intermediate D. Then, the surface hexyl species D can lead to all the observed products via the following elementary steps (1) hydrogenolysis into hexane (2) /1-hydride elimination to form 1-hexene, followed by re-insertion to form various hexyl complexes (E and F) or (3) a second carbon-carbon bond cleavage, through a y-C - H bond activation to the metallacyclic intermediate G or H (Scheme 40). Under H2, intermediate G can lead either to pentane/methane or ethane/butane mixtures, while intermediate H would form ethane/butane or propane. 

A free carbene B base-containing complex C transmetallation D oxidative addition E C=C activation F C-H bond activation... 

A kinetic study of the hydrodefluorination of C F H in the presence of EtjSiH indicated a first-order dependence on both [fluoroarene] and [ruthenium precursor] and a zero-order dependence on the concentration of alkylsilane, implying that the rate-limiting step in the catalytic cycle involves activation of the fluoroarene. The regioselectivity for hydrodefluorination of partially fluorinated substrates such as CgFjH has been accounted for by an initial C-H bond activation as shown in the... 

Figure2.2 Products arisingfromC-H bond activation of Au(N)Cl3 adducts (N = mono-ligated 6-substituted 2,2 -bipyridine).

Under comparable reaction conditions, no C—H bond activation is observed for adducts of 6-Phbipy and 6-Rbipy. Nevertheless, [Au(N,N,C)Cl] derivatives can be obtained with 6-Phbipy [18] and with 6-tBubipy (tBu = CMe3) [20]. The former is obtained by a transmetallation reaction of the arylmercury(II) derivative with [AuClJ, while activation of a C(sp )—H bond of the tert-butyl substituent is accomplished by reaction of the Au(N)Cl3 adduct 3 (N = 6-tBubipy) with AgBp4 in the presence of excess ligand (Scheme 2.2). 

Fuchita, Y., Utsunomiya, Y. and Yasutake, M. (2001) Synthesis and reactivity of arylgold(III) complexes from aromatic hydrocarbons via C—H bond activation. Journal of the Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions, (16), 2330. 

In this section we deal with reactions in which in one step, formally an O-H bond activation, is involved. Although the precise reaction mechanisms have not been elucidated, some of these reactions are considered to proceed by nucleophilic attack of water, an alcohol, etc. to a substrate activated by a transition metal. We choose to emphasize examples coming from our own research activities in this field. 

So far, progress on the late transition metal-catalyzed reactions utilizing S-H bond activation has been surveyed. Finally, the recent advancement of chiral Lewis... 

The elementary reaction energies and thermodynamics for methanol dehydrogenation have been shown to be significantly influenced by electrode potential. The oxidation pathways become much more favorable at higher potentials. The relative barriers of O—H to C—H bond activation decrease with increasing potential, which decreases the overall selectivity to CO and CO2 and increases the yield of formaldehyde. This is consistent with experimental studies. The oxidation of CO intermediates appears to occur via adsorbed hydroxyl intermediates. The hydroxyl intermediates are more weakly held to the surface than atomic oxygen, and thus have significantly lower barriers for the oxidation of CO. 

Holthausen, M. C., Koch, W., 1996b, Mechanistic Details of the Fe+-Mediated C-C and C-H Bond Activations in Propane A Theoretical Investigation , Helv. Chim. Act., 19, 1939. 

We have also observed competition between products resulting from C-C and C-H bond activation in reactions of Y with propene,138 propyne,143 2-butyric,143 four butene isomers,138 acetaldehyde,128 acetone,128 ketene,144 and two cyclohexadiene isomers,145 as well as for Zr, Nb, Mo, and Mo with 2-butyne.143 In this chapter, we use the term C-C activation to describe any reaction leading to C-C bond fission in which the hydrocarbon reactant is broken into two smaller hydrocarbon products, with one hydrocarbon bound to the metal. It is important to note, however, that C-C activation does not necessarily require true C-C insertion. As will be shown in this chapter, the reaction of Y, the simplest second-row transition metal atom, with propene leads to formation of YCH2 +C2H4. The mechanism involves addition to the C=C bond followed by H atom migration and C-C bond fission, rather than by true C-C insertion. 

Dinuclear complexes with bridging phosphido, hydrido, and diphosphine ligands were formed via some interesting transformations, such as P—C bond formation, P—H bond activation, and conversion of a chelate diphosphine to one bridging two metal centers.259... 

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