Isocyanides transition metal

No doubt, the publication of an excellent monograph several years ago has caused some attention to be focused on this subject. Malatesta and Bonati (90) have carefully reviewed the subject of isocyanide-transition metal... 

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... 

Treatment of alkylating agents with metal cyanides should in principle be the method of choice for preparing isocyanides (equation 25). But as the cyanide ion again represents an ambident nucleophile, the well-known problems already discussed will arise (Section 1.8.2.1.i). It remains to be stated that simple alkylation of alkali metal cyanides with halogen compounds or dialkyl sulfates is not useful for the preparation of isonitriles. The formation of nitriles always prevails and isocyanides are at best obtained in yields of up to 25%. " The prospects are much tetter in the alkylation of heavy metal cyanides, if the reaction is done under conditions which initially give rise to isocyanide-transition metal complexes (equation 26). These will then be transformed into isonitriles by treatment with KCN. Under optimized conditions this technique yielded 55% of ethyl isocyanide. ... 

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. 

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. 

Transition metal isocyanide complexes can undergo reactions with nucleophiles to generate carbene complexes. Pt(II) and Pd(II) complexes have been most extensively investigated, and the range of nucleophilic reagents employed in these reactions has included alcohols, amines, and thiols (56) ... 

The aqua ion is not easily reduced nor oxidized. It is the slowest reacting of the bivalent transition metal ions with e " k = 7.7 X 10 M s ) and the product Mn+q is very reactive. However Mn(CNR)5 (R = a variety of alkyl and aryl groups) is stable and the selfexchange in the Mn(l,ll) hexakis(isocyanide) system has been studied by Mn and H nmr line broadening. The effects of solvent, temperature, pressure and ligand have been thoroughly explored. 

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