Polyene complexes with Lewis acid

Compounds with a narrow HOMO-LUMO gap (Figure 5.5d) are kinetically reactive and subject to dimerization (e.g., cyclopentadiene) or reaction with Lewis acids or bases. Polyenes are the dominant organic examples of this group. The difficulty in isolation of cyclobutadiene lies not with any intrinsic instability of the molecule but with the self-reactivity which arises from an extremely narrow HOMO-LUMO gap. A second class of compounds also falls in this category, coordinatively unsaturated transition metal complexes. In transition metals, the atomic n d orbital set may be partially occupied and/or nearly degenerate with the partially occupied n + 1 spn set. Such a configuration permits exceptional reactivity, even toward C—H and C—C bonds. These systems are treated separately in Chapter 13. 

Recent developments include asymmetric polyene cyclisations but also include new ways to initiate cyclisations. Iron tricarbonyl stabilises pentadienyl cations and its complexes with dienes are chiral. Addition of the achiral lithium derivative 268 to the chiral complex 269 gives the polyene precursor 270 that cyclises with Lewis acid to give a single diastereoisomer of the bicyclic compound43 271. 

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