Lewis acid, induced alkyl migration

D.F. Shriver et al. - Activation of Coordinated CO Toward Alkyl Migratory Insertion by Molecular Lewis Acids, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 102,5093,1980 Surface Induced Alkyl Migration in Metal Carbonyls, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 102,5112,1980. 

Lewis acids such as AIX3 are known to induce rapid alkyl migration in metal carbonyls. Equation (36) shows the product formed in the absence of nucleophile. Subatmospheric CO converts 23 to [Mn(CO)5COMe AlX3]. Comparison of the rate of reaction (36) to the... 

Schriver s group has shown that even in the absence of free carbon monoxide, the Lewis acids such as AlBr3 induce an alkyl migration in various complexes such as [MnMe(CO)s], [Mn(CH2Ph)(CO)5], [CpFeMe(CO)2l, and [CpMoMe(CO)3] to give products of the type in structure 2. 

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