Insertion reactions into metal-chlorine bonds

Treatment of Mo(II) , W(II) and Au(I) complexes with one equivalent of GeCl2 dioxane, in CH2CI2 at —78°C and subsequent wanning to room temperature, resulted in rapid and clean insertion of germylenes into the metal-hydrogen or metal-chlorine bond . This is a convenient route to synthesize functionalized transition-metal germanium compounds The reaction is exemphfied in equations 18 and 19. 

The following mechanism was proposed for the carbonylation of olefin-palladium chloride complex (10). The first step is coordination of carbon monoxide to the complex. Insertion of the coordinated olefin into the palladium-chlorine bond then forms a -chloroalkylpalladium complex (IV). This complex undergoes carbon monoxide insertion to form an acylpalladium complex (V), as has been assumed for many metal carbonyl-catalyzed carbonylation reactions. The final step is formation of a )8-chloroacyl chloride and zero-valent palladium by combination of the acyl group with the coordinated chlorine. 

In summary, the initial formation of an allylic radical anion on the metal surface is the most likely event, which would explain the success of indium, as its first ionization potential is particularly low E - 5.79 eV). In tin- and indium-mediated reactions the second step should be the insertion of the metal cation into the carbon-bromine (chlorine) bond to afford organometallic intermediates, which are stable enough to be produced, but also highly reactive toward carbonyl compounds in aqueous media. 

Chloromethane is an important industrial chemical. Olah et al. [56] have reported the selective catalytic monochlorination of methane to chloromethane over superacidic sulfated zirconia solid catalysts, for example 804 /Zr02, Pt/ S04 7Zr02, and Fe/Mn/S04 7Zr02- The reactions were conducted in a continuous-flow reactor under atmospheric pressure. At 200 °C with 30 % chlorine the selectivity to chloromethane was > 90 %.The selectivity could be enhanced by adding platinum. The only by-product was CH2CI2. The latter is formed by the subsequent chlorination of chloromethane. No chloroform or carbon tetrachloride was formed. The authors postulated that chlorination occurs by an electrophilic insertion of an electron-deficient, metal coordinated, chlorine molecule into the C-H bond of methane. One drawback of the process was that above 225 °C, part of the metal was removed as the metal chloride [56]. Formation and subsequent loss of volatile metal chlorides is a major pitfall that should be avoided during vapor-phase chlorination over solid catalysts. 

The 1,2-insertion of alkenes into transition metal-carbon o-bond leads to C-C bond formation under mild conditions, as described in Chapter 6. This reaction is considered to be a crucial step in the coordination polymerization and carbometalation of alkenes catalyzed by transition metal complexes. A common and important carbometalation is the Heck-type arylation or vinylation of alkene catalyzed by Pd complexes [118], The arylation of alkene, most typically, involves the formation of arylpalladium species and insertion of alkene into the Pd-aryl bond as shown in Scheme 5.20. The arylpalladium species is formed by the oxidative addition of aryl halides to Pd(0) complexes or the transmetalation of aryl compounds of main group metals with Pd(II) complexes. Insertion of alkene into the Pd-aryl bond produces 2-arylalkylpalladium species whose y6-hydrogen elimination leads to the arylalkene. Oxidative chlorination of the 2-arylalkylpalladium intermediate forms chloroalkanes as the product. 

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