Initiation efficiency metal carbene complexes

As shown in Figure 4.1, the initial step of the conversion of an ylide into a carbene complex is an electrophilic attack at the ylide. Reactions of this type will, therefore, occur more readily with increasing nucleophilicity of the ylide and increasing electrophilicity of the metal complex L M. Complexes which efficiently catalyze the decomposition of even weakly nucleophilic ylides can easily react with other nucleophiles also, such as amines or thiols. This has to be taken into account if reactions with substrates containing such strongly nucleophilic functional groups are to be performed. 

Rh -mediated hetero-H insertion may proceed by initial coordination of the intermediate metal-car-bene complex with the nonbonding electrons of the heteroatom. Proton transfer would then give the observed product. This can be an efficient process both for forming C—N bonds, as in the cyclization of (152 equation 62), and for C—O bonds, as illustrated by the construction of ether (155 equation 63). ° Si—H insertion of (156) was shown to proceed with retention of absolute configuration, as would be expected for a concerted transition metal carbene mediated process (equation 64). ... 

The initial observation of a metal carbene that reacted with an alkene to give a metallacyclobutane complex was reported by Osborn and coworkers for the reaction shown in equation (10). This reaction was observed by NMR spectroscopy at low temperature (—70°C). When this reaction mixture was allowed to warm to higher temperature, polynorbornene was produced in high yield. Shortly after this discovery, the titanocene complex (4) was shown to be an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of monodisperse polynorbornenes. These discoveries, along with the synthesis of a new family of tungsten (5a), molybdenum (5b), and rhenium (6) catalysts,shown in Figure 1, have opened a new era of ROMP chemistry in which the polymer synthesis is guided by the selection of a catalyst... 

Iwasawa has reported the gold(III)-catalyzed reaction of N-(o-ethynylphenyl)imi-nes with electron-rich alkenes to form polycyclic indole derivatives [26]. As an example, reaction of N-[l-(l-pentynyl)phenyl]imine 28 and tert-butyl vinyl ether with a catalytic amount of AuBrs in toluene at room temperature led to isolation of the polycyclic indole 29 in 80% yield as a mixture of diastereomers (Scheme 11.3). Conversion of 28 to 29 presumably occurs via initial intramolecular hydroamination to form the gold carbene containing azomethine ylide 30 that undergoes intermo-lecular [3 + 2] cydoaddition with tert-butyl vinyl ether to form the carbene complex 31. 1,2-Migration of the 7t-propyl group to the metal-bound carbon atom coupled with deauration then forms 29. This transformation is also catalyzed efficiently by PtCl2 [26]. 

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