Hydride abstraction reactions from metal hydrides

An organometallic radical may undergo several different types of reactions Scheme 3 illustrates some different reactions of CpM(CO)3 radicals (21) including (i) dimerization (ii) halide abstraction from an alkyl hahde or metal halide (iii) hydrogen atom abstraction from metal hydrides (iv) electron-transfer reduction (v) electron-transfer oxidation and ligand addition (vi) electron-transfer induced disproportionation (see Electron Transfer in Coordination Compounds). 

Hayes and Cooper have de.scribed abstraction reactions from a metal alkyl by an electrophilic reagent that goes by an SET route. Instead of the normal p abstraction of hydride from an ethyl group, which occurs in the usual electrtqihilic abstraction, he finds a preference for a abstraction from a methyl group. Since H atom abstraction usually takes place at the weakest C—H bond, the metal substituent presumably weakens the a- more than the jS-C—H bonds of the alkyl. 

It is also worth emphasizing that the initiation and termination steps are not included in the central chain process. For instance, in metal hydride-promoted domino reactions the initial halogen abstraction (or SePh displacement, etc.) and the final hydrogen abstraction from R MH are not classified as part of the domino sequence. More precisely, only the propagation steps within the mechanism of this process will be considered as a strict integral part of the domino reaction. 

A related dienyl species may be obtained by reaction of the diene complex with trityl ion, when hydride ion abstraction occurs from the diene to yield a dienyl group coordinated to one metal center, [(C6H7)Os3(CO)10]+ (153). 

The latest addition to the theories of cationic polymerisation is the self-initiation theory of Kennedy [12]. According to this theory, initiation can take place in certain systems by a reaction between the metal halide and the olefin in which a hydride ion is abstracted by the metal halide from an allylic position in the monomer ... 

The photoacoustic calorimetry technique employs photolysis by laser pulses of a mixture containing di-im-butyl peroxide, an appropriate metal hydride, and solvent. Photolysis of the peroxide gives i-BuO radicals that abstract a hydrogen atom from the hydride, and the measured photoacoustic signal is proportional to the overall reaction enthalpy. After calibration,... 

Scheme 1 illustrates the design of an experiment that could be used to determine the rate constant for H-atom abstraction from a group 14 hydride. Radical A- reacts with the hydride to give product A-H. In competition with this reaction, radical A- gives radical B- in a unimolecular or bimolecular reaction with a known rate constant, and product radical B- also reacts with the hydride, giving B-H. The rate constant for reaction of A- with the metal hydride can be determined from the product distribution, the known rate constant for conversion of A- to B-, and the concentrations... 

However, with substrates prone to form carbocations, complete hydride abstraction from the alkane, followed by electrophilic attack of the carbocation on the metal-bound, newly formed alkyl ligand might be a more realistic picture of this process (Figure 3.38). The regioselectivity of C-H insertion reactions of electrophilic transition metal carbene complexes also supports the idea of a carbocation-like transition state or intermediate. 

Atkah metal hydrides too abstract protons from boranes. While water is produced with basic hydroxides, hydrogen is liberated with hydrides. Except diborane, all other boron hydrides undergo similar reactions, liberating hydrogen ... 

In type 2, the homogeneous redox reaction of the electrogenerated and regenerated redox catalyst consists of a chemical reaction. For oxidations, these reactions may be hydride ion or hydrogen atom abstraction, oxygen transfer, or an intermediate complex or bond formation. For reductions, hydride or car-banion transfer from a metal complex is often observed. In all these cases, very large potential differences between the standard potential of the substrate and the redox catalyst may be overcome. The selectivity can be very high and may... 

Other methods for obtaining complexes of ethylene and other alkenes include ligand substitution reactions, reduction of a higher valent metal in the presence of an alkene, and synthesis from alkyl and related species [reductive elimination, of an allyl or hydride, for example hydride abstraction from alkyls protonation of sigma-allyls from epoxides (indirectly)] [74a],... 

We have already seen in Section 2.2.2 that metal-alkyl compounds are prone to undergo /3-hydride elimination or, in short, /3-elimination reactions (see Fig. 2.5). In fact, hydride abstraction can occur from carbon atoms in other positions also, but elimination from the /8-carbon is more common. As seen earlier, insertion of an alkene into a metal-hydrogen bond and a /8-elimination reaction have a reversible relationship. This is obvious in Reaction 2.8. For certain metal complexes it has been possible to study this reversible equilibrium by NMR spectroscopy. A hydrido-ethylene complex of rhodium, as shown in Fig. 2.8, is an example. In metal-catalyzed alkene polymerization, termination of the polymer chain growth often follows the /8-hydride elimination pathway. This also is schematically shown in Fig. 2.8. 

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