Metal carbene complex reactivity

Casey CP (1981) Metal-carbene complexes. In Jones M Jr, Moss RA (eds) Reactive intermediates. Wiley, New York, p 135... 

Abstract The photoinduced reactions of metal carbene complexes, particularly Group 6 Fischer carbenes, are comprehensively presented in this chapter with a complete listing of published examples. A majority of these processes involve CO insertion to produce species that have ketene-like reactivity. Cyclo addition reactions presented include reaction with imines to form /1-lactams, with alkenes to form cyclobutanones, with aldehydes to form /1-lactones, and with azoarenes to form diazetidinones. Photoinduced benzannulation processes are included. Reactions involving nucleophilic attack to form esters, amino acids, peptides, allenes, acylated arenes, and aza-Cope rearrangement products are detailed. A number of photoinduced reactions of carbenes do not involve CO insertion. These include reactions with sulfur ylides and sulfilimines, cyclopropanation, 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, and acyl migrations. 

Thus the reactivity of transition metal-carbene complexes, that is, whether they behave as electrophiles or nucleophiles, is well explained on the basis of the frontier orbital theory. Studies of carbene complexes of ruthenium and osmium, by providing examples with the metal in either of two oxidation states [Ru(II), Os(II) Ru(0), Os(O)], help clarify this picture, and further illustrations of this will be found in the following sections. 

As will be discussed more thoroughly in Section 3.2.5, transition metal carbene complexes can mediate olefin metathesis. Because heteroatom-substituted carbene complexes are usually less reactive towards olefins than the corresponding nonheteroatom-substituted complexes, it is, e.g., possible to use enol ethers to terminate living polymerization or other types of metathesis reaction catalyzed by a non-heteroatom-substituted carbene complex. Olefin metathesis can also be used to prepare new heteroatom-substituted carbene complexes (Figure 2.15, Table 2.11). 

Ethers, sulfides, amines, carbonyl compounds, and imines are among the frequently encountered Lewis bases in the ylide formation from such metal carbene complex. The metal carbene in the ylide formation can be divided into stable Fisher carbene complex and unstable reactive metal carbene intermediates. The reaction of the former is thus stoichiometric and the latter is usually a transition metal complex-catalyzed reaction of a-diazocarbonyl compounds. The decomposition of a-diazocarbonyl compounds with catalytic transition metal complex has been the most widely used approach to generate reactive metal carbenes. For compressive reviews, see Refs 1,1a. 

The oxygen as heteroatom in ethers or carbonyl compounds is weak to moderate Lewis base. Nevertheless, a highly reactive metal carbene complex can interact with the oxygen to generate oxygen ylide. The interaction between ether and metal carbene functional groups is believed to be rather weak as demonstrated by the facts that other metal carbene reactions, such as G-H insertion and cyclopropanation, can proceed in ethereal solvents." These experiments demonstrate that the formation of the metal ylide is much less favored in the equilibrium shown in Equation (1). ... 

Carbenes and carbenoids have long been recognized as a highly reactive species and are frequently used as intermediates in organic synthesis. From a synthetic perspective, however, most of the carbenes are relatively short-lived and are too reactive to be controlled. Recently, metal-carbene complexes (or metaUocarbenes) were found to be easier to control and are nowadays widely used in organic synthesis . 

Further restrictions to the scope of the present article concern certain molecules which can in one or more of their canonical forms be represented as carbenes, e.g. carbon monoxide such stable molecules, which do not normally show carbenoid reactivity, will not be considered. Nor will there be any discussion of so-called transition metal-carbene complexes (see, for example, Fischer and Maasbol, 1964 Mills and Redhouse, 1968 Fischer and Riedel, 1968). Carbenes in these complexes appear to be analogous to carbon monoxide in transition-metal carbonyls. Carbenoid reactivity has been observed only in the case of certain iridium (Mango and Dvoretzky, 1966) and iron complexes (Jolly and Pettit, 1966), but detailed examination of the nature of the actual reactive intermediate, that is to say, whether the complexes react as such or first decompose to give free carbenes, has not yet been reported. A chromium-carbene complex has been suggested as a transient intermediate in the reduction of gfem-dihalides by chromium(II) sulphate because of structural effects on the reaction rate and because of the structure of the reaction products, particularly in the presence of unsaturated compounds (Castro and Kray, 1966). The subject of carbene-metal complexes reappears in Section IIIB. 

Ionic Liquid as Reactive Catalyst Phase Forming in-situ Transition Metal Carbene Complexes -Exemplified for the Pd-catalysed Heck Reaction in Ionic Liquids... 

Although this view is oversimplified and borderline metal carbene complexes have been isolated, this approach is convenient for discussing the activity of metal carbene species in the ring-opening metathesis polymerisation of cycloolefins. Calculations have predicted [81,82] and recent results have shown [83] that, in some systems, metal alkylidene reactivity is competitive with metal carbene reactivity, i.e. olefin metathesis is competitive with olefin cyclopropanation. 

The synthesis of metal complexes of type 213 can be performed by reacting metal-carbene complexes with selenium sources such as alkyneselenolates 203.430 Also the stability of unstable selenocarbonyl compounds such as selenoaldehydes can be enhanced by coordination to metal carbonyls and the reactivity of such complexes has been studied. Complex 216 can react with methylthiohexyne and the product is a different complex 217 with the selenium atom still coordinating to the metal carbonyl fragment (Scheme 66).431... 

There are essentially three different types of transition metal carbene complexes featuring three different types of carbene ligands. They have all been named after their first discoverers Fischer carbenes [27-29], Schrock carbenes [30,31] and WanzUck-Arduengo carbenes (see Figure 1.1). The latter, also known as N-heterocycUc carbenes (NHC), should actually be named after three people Ofele [2] and Wanzlick [3], who independently synthesised their first transition metal complexes in 1968, and Arduengo [1] who reported the first free and stable NHC in 1991. Fischer carbene complexes have an electrophilic carbene carbon atom [32] that can be attacked by a Lewis base. The Schrock carbene complex has a reversed reactivity. The Schrock carbene complex is usually employed in olefin metathesis (Grubbs catalyst) or as an alternative to phosphorus ylides in the Wittig reaction [33]. 

Note Although only valine was used as the amino acid component and no transition metal carbene complexes were reported by the original authors, this method can be seen as general, at least for amino acids without reactive functional groups in the sidechain. 

More recent developments in the mechanistic aspects of the alkene metathesis reaction include the observation that the alkene coordinates to the metal carbene complex prior to the formation of the metallacyclobutane complex. Thns a 2 - - 2 addition reaction of the alkene to the carbene is very unlikely, and a vacant coordination site appears to be necessary for catalytic activity. It has also been shown that the metal carbene complex can exist in different rotameric forms (equation 11) and that the two rotamers can have different reactivities toward alkenes. " The latter observation may explain why similar ROMP catalysts can produce polymers that have very different stereochemistries. Finally, the synthesis of a well-defined Ru carbene complex (equation 12) that is a good initiator for ROMP reactions suggests that carbenes are probably the active species in catalysts derived from the later transition elements. ... 

The reaction occurs well below the temperature at which most of the parent metal carbonyls exchange with free CO and so is a direct nucleophilic attack on coordinated CO, although it may alternatively proceed via a prior electron path. The resulting acyl anions can be isolated as their [R4N] " or [ (C6H5)3P 2N] salts but are reactive and are used directly in subsequent alkylations with organic halides, acetylenes, a-/i-unsaturated carbonyls and alkyloxonium salts to form organic condensation products or metal-carbene complexes. 

One of the synthetic procedures of metal complexes of type 53 is the reaction of metal-carbene complexes with selenium sources such as alkyneselenolates [109]. The stability of selenobenzaldehyde is enhanced by coordinating to metal carbonyls, and the reactivity of the complexes has been studied [110]. For example, the selenobenzaldehyde complexes reacts with methylthiohexyne even at - 30 °C to afford another type of complex where the selenium atom of the selenocarbonyl group is still coordinated to the metal (Eq. 29) [llOd]. 

Of the three classes of divalent carbon species—free carbenes, reactive transition-metal carbene complexes (carbenoids), and stable metal carbenes—we restrict our consideration to the first two. Taking into account the fact that a fine reaction mechanism in planning the synthesis of specific molecules is of secondary importance, we discuss carbene and carbenoid reactions together. We concentrate solely on reactions and reaction sequences that result in a formation of a new heterocycle. Within subsections, the material is organized on the basis of reaction type. 

As already mentioned for rhodium carbene complexes, proof of the existence of electrophilic metal carbenoids relies on indirect evidence, and insight into the nature of intermediates is obtained mostly through reactivity-selectivity relationships and/or comparison with stable Fischer-type metal carbene complexes. A particularly puzzling point is the relevance of metallacyclobutanes as intermediates in cyclopropane formation. The subject is still a matter of debate in the literature. Even if some metallacyclobutanes have been shown to yield cyclopropanes by reductive elimination [15], the intermediacy of metallacyclobutanes in carbene transfer reactions is in most cases borne out neither by direct observation nor by clear-cut mechanistic studies and such a reaction pathway is probably not a general one. Formation of a metallacyclobu-tane requires coordination both of the olefin and of the carbene to the metal center. In many cases, all available evidence points to direct reaction of the metal carbenes with alkenes without prior olefin coordination. Further, it has been proposed that, at least in the context of rhodium carbenoid insertions into C-H bonds, partial release of free carbenes from metal carbene complexes occurs [16]. Of course this does not exclude the possibility that metallacyclobutanes play a pivotal role in some catalyst systems, especially in copper-and palladium-catalyzed reactions. 

Casey, C. P. Metal-carbene complexes [as reactive intermediates]. Reactive Intermediates (Wiley) 1981, 2, 135-174. 

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