Metal-activated nucleophilic attack

At first sight these reactions are simple examples of metal-activated nucleophilic attack upon the nitrile carbon atom. However, the geometry of the co-ordinated chelating ligand is such that the nitrile nitrogen atom is not co-ordinated to the metal ion (4.3 and 4.4) It was initially thought that this provided evidence for a mechanism involving intramolecular attack by co-ordinated water or hydroxide (Fig. 4-10). However, detailed mechanistic studies of the pH dependence of the reaction have demonstrated that the attack is by external non-co-ordinated water (or hydroxide) (Fig. 4-11). 

In earlier chapters we noted that metal ions could either activate or deactivate an imine with respect to addition of a nucleophile. We will now see an example of metal-ion activation in action. In fact, the complexes that are formed from 6.39 arise as a result of metal-initiated nucleophilic attack at the imine groups. The reaction of the free ligand 6.39 with methanolic cobalt(n) acetate results in the attack of methanol upon one of the imine bonds of the initially formed complex (Fig. 6-39). 

Carbon-based compounds such as carbon dioxide or aliphatic hydrocarbons pose challenges of reactivity to metalloenzymes insofar as they are generally reluctant to bind to metal active sites a general rule is that such substrates would usually be attacked by metal-activated nucleophiles. However, in selected cases, even binding to metal may be feasible, as detailed below. 

Recently, metal-containing carbonyl ylides have attracted much attention as a class of powerful dipoles for 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions to assemble heterocyclic compounds, which was first reported by Iwasawa et al. in 2001 [20]. The in situ generation of metal-containing carbonyl ylides involves the electrophilic activation of an alkyne by a transition metal toward nucleophilic attack of the carbonyl group. One representative example for the synthesis of naphthalene derivatives is shown in... 

We have disclosed that the ligands 4c, 10, and 77, when complexed with a metal ion such as Zn2 +, Ni2+, or Co2+, become highly active toward the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl picolinate (7). The catalysis is most likely to occur through formation of a ternary complex in the transition state or in reactive intermediates. The metal ion in such a complex serves to activate the ligand hydroxyl group for nucleophilic attack and to orient the substrate into a favorable position to undergo the reaction. 

Cleavage of a peptide bond is an example of a nucleophilic attack. The nucleophile in the reaction is either an activated water molecule or part of the side-chain of an amino acid, and peptidases are described as having either a water nucleophile or a protein nucleophile. Peptidases with a water nucleophile either utilize one or two metal ions as ligands for the water molecule, in which case the peptidase generally acts... 

Similar reaction mechanisms, involving general base and metal ion catalysis, in conjunction with an OH nucleophilic attack, have been proposed for thermolysin (Ref. 12) and carboxypeptidase A (Refs. 12 and 13). Both these enzymes use Zn2+ as their catalytic metal and they also have additional positively charged active site residues (His 231 in thermolysin and... 

The reaction proceeds with isolated double bonds and electron-rich alkynes. Electron-withdrawing groups in the acetylene moiety decelerated the reaction. A plausible mechanism implies the activation of the olefin by coordination of the metal triflate followed by nucleophilic attack of the acetylene or acetylide (Scheme 31). 

In this section we deal with reactions in which in one step, formally an O-H bond activation, is involved. Although the precise reaction mechanisms have not been elucidated, some of these reactions are considered to proceed by nucleophilic attack of water, an alcohol, etc. to a substrate activated by a transition metal. We choose to emphasize examples coming from our own research activities in this field. 

Aziridines have been synthesized, albeit in low yield, by copper-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate in the presence of an inline 260). It seems that such a carbenoid cyclopropanation reaction has not been realized with other diazo compounds. The recently described preparation of 1,2,3-trisubstituted aziridines by reaction of phenyldiazomethane with N-alkyl aldimines or ketimines in the presence of zinc iodide 261 > most certainly does not proceed through carbenoid intermediates rather, the metal salt serves to activate the imine to nucleophilic attack from the diazo carbon. Replacement of Znl2 by one of the traditional copper catalysts resulted in formation of imidazoline derivatives via an intermediate azomethine ylide261). 

A Cu(OAc)2-catalyzed intramolecular diamination of alkenes using sulfamide substrates such as compound 214 provides a route to fused thiadiazolidines 215 (Equation 48) <2005JA11250>. In this reaction, the transition metal activates the alkene toward nucleophilic attack by the first nitrogen, then becomes displaced by the second nitrogen nucleophile (a net M +z to M reduction). 

Osborn and Green s elegant results are instructive, but their relevance to metathesis must be qualified. Until actual catalytic activity with the respective complexes is demonstrated, it remains uncertain whether this chemistry indeed relates to olefin metathesis. With this qualification in mind, their work in concert is pioneering as it provides the initial experimental backing for a basic reaction wherein an olefin and a metal exclusively may produce the initiating carbene-metal complex by a simple sequence of 7r-complexation followed by a hydride shift, thus forming a 77-allyl-metal hydride entity which then rearranges into a metallocyclobutane via a nucleophilic attack of the hydride on the central atom of the 7r-allyl species ... 

The logical basis for employing metal carbonyls as catalysts would be the CO activation through coordination which facilitates nucleophilic attack by water or OH" (6). The key step then may be the formation of a hydroxy-carbonyl species followed by 6-hydrogen elimination reaction (eq. 2,3). Another important elemental re-... 

In most palladium-catalyzed oxidations of unsaturated hydrocarbons the reaction begins with a coordination of the double bond to palladium(II). In such palladium(II) olefin complexes (1), which are square planar d8 complexes, the double bond is activated towards further reactions, in particular towards nucleophilic attack. A fairly strong interaction between a vacant orbital on palladium and the filled --orbital on the alkene, together with only a weak interaction between a filled metal d-orbital and the olefin ji -orbital (back donation), leads to an electrophilic activation of the alkene9. 

A phosphotriesterase isolated from the soil bacterium Pseudomonas diminuta is the best characterized enzyme of this type. There is evidence for the presence of two active site Zn2+ ions in vivo. A crystal structure of the dinuclear Cd2+ form is available in which the metal ions are bridged by a carbamylated Lys-amino group with a metal-metal distance of 3.8 A [ 18]. Substrate hydrolysis follows a SN2 type reaction and nucleophilic attack of M-OH is likely, but mechanistic details are not yet clear. 

There are three mechanistic possibilities for catalysis by two-metal ion sites (Fig. 10). The first of these is the classic two-metal ion catalysis in which one metal plays the dominant role in activating the substrate toward nucleophilic attack, while the other metal ion furnishes the bound hydroxide as the nucleophile (Fig. 10 a). Upon substrate binding, the previously bridged hydroxide shifts to coordinate predominately with one metal ion. Enzymes believed to function through such a mechanism include a purple acid phosphatase [79], DNA polymerase I [80], inositol monophosphatase [81],fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase [82], Bam HI [83], and ribozymes [63]. 

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