Insertion, migratory involving isonitriles

Migratory Insertion Reactions Involving CO, CO2 or Isonitriles. DF calculations on the reaction of CO with Cp2ZrMc2 show that CO binds laterally and... 

Loss of PhH by reductive elimination, binding of substrate via the iso-nitrile C, cyclometallation of the ArCH3 group, migratory insertion involving the isonitrile, isomerization and reductive elimination of the product. 

Migratory insertion and its microscopic reversal, that is, migratory deinsertion, are two of the 20 or so fundamental processes discussed in Sect. 1.2 in which Pd participates. In principle, they should be observed with a wide variety of substrates. In reality, however, the current scope of these processes observable with organopalladiums is almost totally limited to those that involve CO and related compounds, such as isonitriles. Conse-qnently, the migratory insertion-deinsertion chemistry of organopalladium compounds at present is essentially synonymous with their carbonylation-decarbonylation reactions. 

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