Lutetium-isobutyl complex

Watson et al. reported a leading example of (3-carbon elimination observed with a well-defined metal complex [67]. Thermal decomposition of a lutetium-isobutyl complex having a vacant coordination site leads to the formation of a lutetium-methyl complex and propene by way of (3-methyl elimination, the microscopic reverse of olefin insertion. A concerted four-center transition state is proposed. This study demonstrated that (3-carbon elimination is an energetically accessible process, and provided a model for the chain transfer that occurs during propene oligomerization. 

Several examples of mild carbon-carbon bond cleavage by p-alkyl elimination from (P metal complexes have been observed directly. Watson reported one of the first sets of products resulting from 5-alkyl elimination from an isolated alkyl complex. In this case, the lutetium-isobutyl complex in Scheme 10.4 converted to a series of lutetium complexes and organic products that were rationalized by a combination of parallel p-hydrogen elimination and p-alkyl elimination. 

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