Iridium complexes carbon monoxide reactions

After extensive screening of various aldehydes to optimize the reaction conditions, it was found that aromatic aldehydes were able to serve as a carbon monoxide source, in which the electronic nature of the aldehydes is responsible for their ability to transfer CO efficiently [24]. Consequently, aldehydes bearing electron-withdrawing substituents are more effective than those bearing electron-donating substituents, with pentafluoro-benzaldehyde providing optimal reactivity. Interestingly, for all substrates tested the reaction is void of any complications from hydroacylation of either the alkene or alkyne of the enyne. Iridium and ruthenium complexes, which are known to decarboxylate aldehydes and catalyze the PK reaction, demonstrated inferior efficiency as compared to... 

Reaction (78) regenerates Mel from methanol and HI. Using a high-pressure IR cell at 0.6 MPa, complex (95) was found to be the main species present under catalytic conditions, and the oxidative addition of Mel was therefore assumed to be the rate determining step. The water-gas shift reaction (equation 70) also occurs during the process, causing a limited loss of carbon monoxide. A review of the cobalt-, rhodium- and iridium-catalyzed carbonylation of methanol to acetic acid is available.415... 

Further restrictions to the scope of the present article concern certain molecules which can in one or more of their canonical forms be represented as carbenes, e.g. carbon monoxide such stable molecules, which do not normally show carbenoid reactivity, will not be considered. Nor will there be any discussion of so-called transition metal-carbene complexes (see, for example, Fischer and Maasbol, 1964 Mills and Redhouse, 1968 Fischer and Riedel, 1968). Carbenes in these complexes appear to be analogous to carbon monoxide in transition-metal carbonyls. Carbenoid reactivity has been observed only in the case of certain iridium (Mango and Dvoretzky, 1966) and iron complexes (Jolly and Pettit, 1966), but detailed examination of the nature of the actual reactive intermediate, that is to say, whether the complexes react as such or first decompose to give free carbenes, has not yet been reported. A chromium-carbene complex has been suggested as a transient intermediate in the reduction of gfem-dihalides by chromium(II) sulphate because of structural effects on the reaction rate and because of the structure of the reaction products, particularly in the presence of unsaturated compounds (Castro and Kray, 1966). The subject of carbene-metal complexes reappears in Section IIIB. 

The major drawback in the development of efficient catalytic PK protocols is the use of carbon monoxide. Many groups probably refuse to use this reaction in their synthetic plans in order to avoid the manipulation of such a highly toxic gas. Carbonylation reactions without the use of carbon monoxide would make them more desirable and would lead to further advances in those areas. Once the use of rhodium complexes was introduced in catalytic PKR, two independent groups realized these species were known for effecting decarbonylation reactions in aldehydes, which is a way to synthesize metal carbonyls. Thus, aldehydes could be used as a source of CO for the PKR. This elegant approach begins with decarbonylation of an aldehyde and transfer of the CO to the enyne catalyzed by rhodium, ruthenium or iridium complexes under argon atmosphere (Scheme 36). 

Chloro- and other halo- containing carbonyl compounds of iridium may also be synthesized under mild conditions. Unlike [Rh(CO)2Cl]2, [Ir(CO)2Cl] is not obtainable by the direct reaction of an iridium chloride solution with CO. Instead, [Ir(CO)2Cl2]n (48) is obtained in low yields by reaction between IrCl3-H20 and carbon monoxide. The predominant mononuclear compound obtained upon carbonylation of iridium chloride salts is the tricarbonyl [Ir(CO)3Cl] (49), which appears in the sohd state to be a polymeric array consisting of stacking square-planar Ir(CO)3Cl units with short fr-Ir bonds. Even though [Ir(CO)3Cl] is polymeric, it is sublimable and is stiU a convenient source of iridium(I) containing carbon monoxide. (49) will react with a number of nucleophiles to form mononuclear iridium carbonyl complexes. 

Unlike the hydrogenation catalysts, most iridium catalysts studied for hydroformylation chemistry are not particularly active and are usually much less active than their rhodium counterparts see Carbonylation Processes by Homogeneous Catalysis). However, this lower activity was useful in utihzing iridium complexes to study separate steps in the hydroformylation mechanism. Using iridium complexes, several steps important in the hydroformylation cycle such as alkyl migration to carbon monoxide were studied. Another carbonylation reaction in which iridum catalysis appears to be conunercially viable is in the carbonylation of methanol. ... 

Isocyanates can be prepared from azides by reaction with carbon monoxide. The reaction has been at first reported to proceed only with catalysis of rhodium or iridium carbonyl complexes . Later work has however shown that aryl azides and carbon monoxide interact without catalysis at temperatures of 160-180° and pressures of 200-300 atm, yielding aryl isocyanates (86) in good yields. Ethyl azidoformate yielded under these conditions ethoxyisocyanate . 

Similar addition reactions of molecular hydrogen have been shown for the iridium hydride complex, IrHCO(PPh3)2 (210a), and a detailed study of the reactions of this complex with acids and carbon monoxide allows a comparison between the halide- and hydride-carbonyl complexes (see Fig. 7b). 

Carbon monoxide is readily oxidized in the coordination sphere of a number of transition metal complexes. In many cases the product of reaction is a carbonate complex which is formed irreversibly, thus precluding the possibility of a catalytic transformation. In Section 5 the reaction between CO and platinum dioxygen complexes was shown to give carbonate complexes. The reaction between iridium, ruthenium and osmium carbonyl complexes and dioxygen to give coordinated carbonate was discussed in Section 6. 

The mechanism of the cobalt- (BASF), rhodium- (Monsanto), and iridium- (Cativa) catalyzed reaction is similar but the rate-determining steps differ and different intermediate catalyst complexes are involved. In all three processes two catalytic cycles occur. One cycle involves the metal carbonyl catalyst (II) and the other the iodide promoter (i). For a better overview only the catalytic cycle of the rhodium-catalyzed Monsanto process is presented in detail (Figure 6.15.4). Initially the rhodium iodide complex is activated with carbon monoxide by forming the catalytic active [Rhi2(CO)2] complex 4. Further the four-coordinated 16-electron complex 4 reacts in the rate-determining step with methyl iodide by oxidative addition to form the six-coordinated 18-electron transition methyl rhodium (I II)... 

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