Isocyanides metal complexes

The subjects of structure and bonding in metal isocyanide complexes have been discussed before 90, 156) and will not be treated extensively here. A brief discussion of this subject is presented in Section II of course, special emphasis is given to the more recent information which has appeared. Several areas of current study in the field of transition metal-isocyanide complexes have become particularly important and are discussed in this review in Section III. These include the additions of protonic compounds to coordinated isocyanides, probably the subject most actively being studied at this time insertion reactions into metal-carbon bonded species nucleophilic reactions with metal isocyanide complexes and the metal-catalyzed a-addition reactions. Concurrent with these new developments, there has been a general expansion of descriptive chemistry of isocyanide-metal complexes, and further study of the physical properties of selected species. These developments are summarized in Section IV. 

One additional point should be discussed here, concerning the substantial emphasis that has been placed on the differences between alkyl and aryl isocyanides. It has been suggested, primarily on the basis of infrared evidence, that aryl isocyanides are better 7r-acceptors than alkyl isocyanides (90). Qualitatively this difference is easily rationalized. One can see that delocalization of charge into 7r -orbitals on an aryl ring in aryl isocyanide-metal complexes should be possible, whereas no such possibility exists for alkyl isQcyanide-metal complexes this means that aryl isocyanides should be better ir-acceptors. Of course, the simple qualitative model gives one no measure of the relative importance of this effect. 

The reactions of nucleophilic reagents with cationic and uncharged metal carbonyl complexes have received much attention in the past, and it is not surprising that these studies have now been extended to isocyanide metal complexes. Different products in these reactions can arise by three general routes these include ligand substitution, reactions involving attack at a ligand, and reduction of the metal complex. All have been observed in reactions with metal isocyanide complexes. 

This reaction may involve an isocyanide metal complex as an intermediate species. 

Coco, S., Espinet, E., Espinet, P. and Palape, I. (2007) Functional isocyanide metal complexes as building blocks for supramolecular materials hydrogen-bonded liquid crystals. Dalton Transactions, (30), 3267-3272. 

Zerovalent transition metal complexes of organic isocyanides. Y. Yamamoto, Coord. Chem. Rev., 1980,32,193-233 (172). 

The field of transition metal complexes of isocyanides developed slowly over more than a century to a respectable subarea in coordination chemistry, and in the process seems to have attracted very little attention. Even the remarkable resurgence of transition metal organometallic chemistry in the last 20 years, and the realization that isocyanides and carbon monoxide should be quite similar as ligand groups in organometallic complexes, did not initiate an extensive development of this area of chemistry. Only in the last several years has this potentially important subject begun to receive the attention it would seem to deserve. 

While on the subject of reviews, attention should also be directed to a very recent collection of articles on isocyanide chemistry edited by Ugi 156). This volume is oriented somewhat toward the organic chemistry of isocyanides, but not with the complete exclusion of metal complexes of these species one is directed in particular to the chapters by Vogler (Chapter 10) on coordinated isocyanides and by Saegusa and Ito (Chapter 4) on a-additions to isocyanides. These latter reactions are often catalyzed by copper(I) compounds and occasionally by other metal complexes as well, and it is believed that this catalysis is accomplished by intermediate formation of metal isocyanide complexes. 

The valence-bond pictures for an isocyanide and carbon monoxide, and for metal complexes of these ligands, emphasize the similarities of both the ligands and their complexes. 

This simple picture of bonding is convenient to use, and often completely acceptable. However, it does lack sophistication and may not be used to explain some of the subtleties of these systems. One obvious point in this regard concerns infrared spectral data. Coordination of carbon monoxide to a metal invariably leads to a lower carbonyl stretching frequency (vco). implying a lower CO bond order as predicted. However, the values for vcn may be considerably higher for metal complexes of an isocyanide than are the values for the ligand itself. The valence-bond picture cannot rationalize... 

Incidentally, isocyanides are polar (for CNC H, the dipole moment is 3.44 D) and they are good bases (vs. BRj, H+), whereas CO is a poor base hence isocyanides can function as ligands in metal complexes where carbon monoxide does not. The scarcity of low-valent isocyanide complexes is less easily explained, however. Arguments involving 77-acceptor capacity are quite inappropriate. More data on low-valent species, and evaluations of stabilities, modes of decomposition, and reactions are desirable. 

More important than this, however, is the fact that until recently there have been no substantial differences observed in the chemistry of metal complexes of alkyl and aryl isocyanides. In general, the choice of which isocyanide to use seems to be made largely at random, dictated perhaps by convenience as much as any other factor. Lacking any substantial chemical differences between the two groups of complexes, one might wish to minimize, rather than emphasize, this comparison. However, several observations have recently been made which seem to substantiate the earlier conclusion. 

The susceptibility of a metal complex to nucleophilic attack is enhanced by a positive charge on the complex. This fact, and the fact that most metal isocyanide complexes are cationic, probably explains why no nucleophilic reactions of uncharged isocyanide complexes have yet been reported. It is... 

A number of studies have been reported concerning azide-isocyanide condensations to give tetrazoles. Early work by Beck and co-workers 18, 19) describes the addition of various isocyanides to metal azido species [Au(N3)4]", [Au(N3)2]", Au(PPh3)N3, and M(PPh3)2(N3)2, M = Pd, Pt, Hg. The products are carbon-bonded tetrazolato-metal complexes. It is not known whether metal isocyanide complexes are intermediates in these reactions. More recently inverse reactions with azide ion addition to metal isocyanide complexes were carried out, with similar results. From... 

Various a-addition reactions are observed to be metal- or acid-catalyzed, or to be uncatalyzed. In this review only the metal-catalyzed reactions will be discussed, since it is generally assumed that metal isocyanide complexes are involved in these systems. A number of metal-catalyzed a-addition reactions have been mentioned recently. Copper(I) oxide seems to be the most commonly used catalyst, although other metal complexes sometimes are satisfactory. Table III presents a partial survey of this work. 

Aumann and Fischer (7), as part of a larger project on carbene-metal complexes, have investigated the reaction of Cr(CO)5C(OCHj)CH3 and cyclohexyl isocyanide. They describe an initial 1 1 adduct of these reagents, to which they ascribe structure (XX) it is interesting to note that neither... 

Several papers have appeared recently comparing various properties of carbonyl metal complexes substituted by various phosphines or phosphite ligands or isocyanides. Angelici and Ingemanson (4) studied the equilibrium... 

The most interesting work on the isocyanide complexes of the elements in this subgroup has been done with rhodium and iridium. For the most part, the work is involved with the oxidative addition reactions of d square-planar metal complexes. 

The PMRs of several triscyclopentadienyl-lanthanide metal complexes of cyclohexyl isocyanide (C5H5)3MCNCgH, (M = Pr, Nd, Ho, Tm, Yb) are reported 159, 160). 

Ionic LCs are interesting systems because they combine the properties of LCs with those of ionic liquids. Although alkali metal soaps were among the first thermotropic LCs to be systematically studied, ionic liquid crystalline derivatives have been reported less frequently than those based on neutral molecular and macromolecular species [39]. When the halide of [AuX(CNR)] complexes is substituted by a second isocyanide, ionic complexes [Au(CNR)2][Y] [R = C6H40C H2 + i (27a),... 

A novel polysiloxane, containing the isocyanide group pendent to the backbone, has been synthesized. It is observed to react with the metal vapors of chromium, iron and nickel to afford binary metal complexes of the type M(CN-[P])n, where n = 6, 5, 4 respectively, in which the polymer-attached isocyanide group provides the stabilization for the metal center. The product obtained from the reaction with Fe was found to be photosensitive yielding the Fe2(CN-[P])q species and extensive cross-linking of the polymer. The Cr and Ni products were able to be oxidized on exposure of thin films to the air, or electrochemically in the presence of an electron relay. The availability of different oxidation states for the metals in these new materials gives hope that novel redox-active polymers may be accessible. 

We shall focus here on the synthesis of the isocyanide-containing polymer. Several reactions of the polymer with the metal vapors of Cr, Fe and Ni using a matrix-scale modeling technique, as well as synthetic-scale metal vapor methods, are then presented in order to demonstrate the reactivity of the isocyanide groups on the polymer. Finally, preliminary studies of the reactivity of the polymer-based metal complexes are described. 

Focusing on reactions using the Fluid Matrix Technique, we have studied the interaction of chromium vapor with 2 at 200 K (13). The resulting film was found to contain metal complexes encapsulated within the polymer in which the isocyanide group adopts a well-defined octahedral arrangement around the chromium center, i.e. a species of type Cr(CN-[P])g. Since characterization of this metal complex within the polymer is not trivial we shall develop the analysis in a little detail. 

The only doubly bonded tin compound for which the IR spectrum has been reported is the stannaketenimine [2,4,6-(CF3)3C6H2]2Sn= C=N[2,4,6-(CH3)3C6H2)]. The C—N stretching vibration (2166 cm-1) is shifted relative to that of mesityl isocyanide (2118 cm-1) this phenomenon is also observed for isocyanide-transition-metal complexes.87... 

Although monodentate isocyanide-tantalum complexes are available by alternative routes,204 the majority of studies are concerned with the resultant 2-imines. Conversely, similar reactions with nitriles give monodentate imine moieties, which can undergo reactions while remaining attached to the metal.195,203-209... 

The use of functionalized isocyanides containing both the isocyanide function and the nucleophile in the same molecule leads to complexes with heterocyclic carbene ligands via a 1,2-addition across the C=N triple bond. Complexes with functionalized isocyanide ligands can be generated in template reactions or a nucleophile functionalized isocyanide can be reacted directly with a suitable metal complex. 

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