Kinetics from iridium complexes

The iridium complex [Ir(cod)(//2-,PrPCH2CH2OMe)]+BF4 (22) in dichloro-methane at 25 °C at 1 bar H2 is a particularly active catalyst for the hydrogenation of phenyl acetylene to styrene [29]. In a typical experiment, an average TOF of 50 mol mol-1 h-1 was obtained (calculated from a turnover number, TON, of 125) with a selectivity close to 100%. The mechanism of this reaction has been elucidated by a combination of kinetic, chemical and spectroscopic data (Scheme 14.10). 

Carreira et al. reported the kinetic resolution of branched allylic carbonates catalyzed by an iridium complex derived from a chiral [2.2.2]-bicyclooctadiene [48]. Reactions of allylic carbonates with phenol were run to 50% conversion of the carbonate, leaving unreacted allylic carbonate in high enantiomeric excess (Scheme 32). The phenyl ether products were also isolated in mid-to-high enantiomeric excess. 

As already mentioned, complexes of chromium(iii), cobalt(iii), rhodium(iii) and iridium(iii) are particularly inert, with substitution reactions often taking many hours or days under relatively forcing conditions. The majority of kinetic studies on the reactions of transition-metal complexes have been performed on complexes of these metal ions. This is for two reasons. Firstly, the rates of reactions are comparable to those in organic chemistry, and the techniques which have been developed for the investigation of such reactions are readily available and appropriate. The time scales of minutes to days are compatible with relatively slow spectroscopic techniques. The second reason is associated with the kinetic inertness of the products. If the products are non-labile, valuable stereochemical information about the course of the substitution reaction may be obtained. Much is known about the stereochemistry of ligand substitution reactions of cobalt(iii) complexes, from which certain inferences about the nature of the intermediates or transition states involved may be drawn. This is also the case for substitution reactions of square-planar complexes of platinum(ii), where study has led to the development of rules to predict the stereochemical course of reactions at this centre. 

Extensive studies of kinetics and isotope effects by Hartwig and coworkers support the mechanism shown in Scheme 5 for the lr(I)/dtbpy catalyzed borylation [81]. In particular, these studies indicate that the iridium(III) trisboryl bipyridine complex (10) is the species that activates the arene C-H bond this is in agreement with DFT calculations by Sakaki et al. predicting the key intermediacy of the trisboryl complex and the seven-coordinated Ir(V) species resulting from C-H addition [82]. C-H addition to Ir(III) was also proposed in the (Ind)Ir(COD)/ phosphine-catalyzed borylation by Smith et al. [76]. 

Additional mechanistic insights were gained when Hartwig and coworkers isolated and characterized the first 7t-allyl complexes that are chemically and kinetically competent to be intermediates in iridium-catalyzed allylic substitution [46]. These complexes were prepared independently from allylic electrophiles that are more reactive than allylic carbonates. The isolation and structural characterization of these species provided a detailed view into the origins of enantioselectivity. 

Iridium can be removed from Cu(III)—peptide solutions by passing them through anion exchange columns. The resulting Cuin(H 3G4) is much slower to decompose in acid than is the Cun(H 3G4)2" complex. In neutral solutions at 25° the half-life of Cum(H 3G4) is about 1 hr. The decomposition rate increases in base as well as in acid. The substitution kinetics of the Cu(III) (ds) complexes are clearly much slower than the corresponding Cu(II) complexes. This fact was used in choosing Chelex ion exchange resin to remove Cu(II) from Cu(III) in order to determine the molar absorptivity of Cum(H 3G4). This value of 7200 d= 300 M"1 cm"1 at 365 nm was checked by several other methods (9). 

---