Halogens, carbene complexes

Addition of halogens and pseudohalogens to the cyclopropylthiocarbene chromium complexes 122 affords the 1,4-dihalo-1-phenylthio-l-alkenes 123 stereoselectively [65]. Electrophilic halogen is likely to activate the carbene complexes, followed by the homo-Michael addition of halide anion. (Scheme 44)... 

The second example shows that such a reaction need not always lead to an uncharged system. If, instead of thiocarbene complexes, amino-carbene complexes are treated with hydrogen halides, products of saltlike character are isolable (66). One finds the halogen at the metal and the hydrogen at the removed carbene ligand, and one obtains iminium halo-genopentacarbonylmetalates ... 

Of subsequent interest to us was the question of whether a third kind of ligand in the starting carbene complex could influence the orientation of the halogen in the eventual carbyne complex. Therefore, we first treated cis-tetracarbonyl[methoxy(methyl) carbene trimethylphosphine-, -arsine-,... 

Note The polymeric nature of these silver(I) bis-carbene complexes limits their solubility in most organic solvents including the standard CH Cf. Strong donor solvents like DMSO overcome this problem, probably by breaking the silver-halogen bridges. 

Figure 3.166 shows the reactivity and potential of these early transition metal pincer carbene complexes taking vanadium as an example. The broad range of compounds becomes possible owing to the rich redox chemistry of vanadium that makes different oxidation states easily accessible. Here, examples for vanadium(ll), vanadium(III) and vanadium(IV) are shown. Abstraction of halogen is facile making the introduction of different TT-donor ligands possible, even weak ones like acetonitrile. 

Carbene complexes contain metal-carbon double bonds 7 they have the general structure shown below (X, Y = alkyl, aryl, H, or highly electronegative atoms such as O, N, S, or halogens). First synthesized in 1964 by Fischer and Maasbol,8 carbene complexes are now known for the majority of transition metals and for a wide range of ligands, including the prototype carbene CH2. 

Synthetically useful precursors of oxygen-substituted carbenes (see Houben-Weyl Vol. E19b. pp 1628-1682) are diazirines (photolysis or thermolysis), a-halogen ethers (base treatment), a-dihalogen ethers (treatment with alkyllithium compounds), and stable carbene complexes of the Fischer type (thermolysis). Only the mechanism-based stereoselectivity and the simple diastcreoselectivity of their reactions with alkenes have been studied to date. 

Carbene complexes of the type 28 with X being a halogen spontaneously rearrange to the dialkylaminocarbyne complex 29 under elimination of... 

The links between formation of an iron-alkyl complex and irreversible destruction of the heme moiety have not been forged, but model studies with diaryl- and carbethoxy-substituted carbene complexes suggest that the halogenated carbenes may shift to form a bond with a nitrogen of the porphyrin. The resulting A -haloaIkyl adduct are likely to undergo water-dependent hydrolysis and might therefore not be detected by the methods used to isolate other A -alkyl porphyrins. However, the formation of alternative reactive species that attack the protein or the heme cannot be ruled out. 

Most commonly, photolytic, thermal, or transition metal catalyzed decomposition of diazoalkanes is used to create carbene molecules. A variation on catalyzed decomposition of diazoalkanes is the Bamford-Stevens reaction, which gives carbenes in aprotic solvents and carbenium ions in protic solvents. Another method is induced elimination of halogen from gem-dihalides or HX from a CHXj moiety, employing organoHthium reagents (or another strong base). It is not certain that in these reactions actual free carbenes are formed. In some cases there is evidence that completely free carbene is never present instead, it is likely that a metal-carbene complex forms. Nevertheless, these metallocarbenes (or carbenoids) give the expected products. 

The heptanuclear iron carbonyl cluster [Fe3(CO)u(/u-H)]2-Fe(DMF)4 (178) acted as an efficient catalyst in the reduction of carboxamides by l,2-bis(dimethylsilyl)benzene in toluene to the corresponding amines in high yields. Several tertiary and secondary amides including a sterically crowded amide were also reduced smoothly A review of the development of optically active cobalt complex catalysts for enan-tioselective synthetic reactions has addressed the applications of ketoiminatocobalt(II) complexes such as (5)-MPAC (179) and (5)-AMAC (180), transition-state models for borohydride reduction, halogen-free reduction by cobalt-carbene complexes. 

Catalytic carbon-halogen bond activation with nickel carbene complexes... 

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