Metal-carbene complexes anions

Advantage Many transition metal carbene complexes can only be synthesised using the free carbene. The method is not limited by suitable anions or oxidation states associated with the transition metal compound used as starting material. 

Disadvantage The method leads to the formation of a salt, with a cationic metal carbene complex, unless the anion of the azolium salt can coordinate to the metal. 

Yang et al. used a similar protocol (an ether functionality supported on a primary alkyl halide carrier) to introduce an acetal on either side of the imidazole ring generating an ether functionalised ionic liquid (IL) imidazolium salt [183] (see Rguie 3.58). The anion could be varied without loss of the IL property (melting point below 1(X) °C) [184]. Synthesis of the transition metal carbene complexes (palladium) was done by carbene transfer ftom the corresponding silver(I) complexes or by reaction with the metal acetate (nickel) [162] (see Figure 3.64). 

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. 

Although a variety of new preparative routes has been developed in recent years (for reviews see refs 1 -10), the transformation of the metal-carbonyl carbon bond of a metal-carbonyl complex into a metal-carbene carbon bond is still the most useful and versatile method for preparing transition-metal carbene complexes. The addition of a carbanion to the carbon atom of a carbonyl ligand yields an anionic acyl complex that subsequently can be reacted with an electrophile to give a neutral carbene complex. Thus, the syntheses of anionic acyl and neutral carbene complexes are closely related, for almost all the carbene complexes considered in this section acyl complexes are precursors, although most have not been isolated and characterized. The syntheses of acyl complexes via CO insertion (for reviews see refs. 11, 12) or by reaction of metal carbonyl anions with acyl halides is outside the scope of this section. 

The metal carbene anions represent C-nucleophiles which can be applied to aldol-type reactions. The first aldol reactions were performed with stoichiometric amounts of carbene complex anions [6a] later it turned out that higher yields are obtained when the reaction is run under equilibrating conditions (Scheme 4). [9] Clean aldol reactions generally require non-enolizable aldehydes. Nevertheless, an aldol condensation involving an enolizable aldehyde has been reported using catalytic amounts of base. [10]... 

With respect to the ionic hquid s cation the situation is quite different, since catalytic reactions with anionic transition metal complexes are not yet very common in ionic liquids. However, the 1,3-dialkyhmidazolium cation can act as a hgand precursor for the dissolved transition metal. Its transformation under the reaction conditions into a ligand has been observed in three different ways (i) formation of metal carbene complexes by oxidative addition of the imidazolium cation (ii) formation of metal-carbene complexes by deprotonation followed by coordination of the imidazolylidene on the metal center (iii) dealkylation of the imidazolium cation and formation of a metal imidazole complex. These different ways are displayed in a general form in Scheme 5.3-2. 

However, the formation of the metal-carbene complex was not observed in pure, halide-free [BMIM][Bp4], indicating that the formation of carbene depends on the nucleophilicity of the ionic liquid s anion. To avoid the formation of metal-carbene complexes by deprotonation of the imidazolium cation under basic conditions the use of 2-methyl-substituted imidazolium is frequently suggested. However, it should be mentioned here that strong bases can also abstract a proton to form the vinyl imidazolidene species which may also act as a strong ligand to electrophilic metal centers. 

Fischer-type metal-carbene complexes reaction of a carbanion on a metal carbonyl the anions obtained can be protonated or alkylated on the oxygen atom. 

Metal-carbene complexes. Treatment of the carbonyls M(CO)6, where M = Cr, Mo or W, with methyl lithium or phenyl lithium gives the anions [M(C0)5—COR]- where R = Me or Ph. Aqueous acid solutions of these anions react with diazomethane affording carbene complexes, e.g. 

The ease of formation of the carbene depends on the nucleophilicity of the anion associated with the imidazolium. For example, when Pd(OAc)2 is heated in the presence of [BMIM][Br], the formation of a mixture of Pd imidazolylidene complexes occurs. Palladium complexes have been shown to be active and stable catalysts for Heck and other C-C coupling reactions [34]. The highest activity and stability of palladium is observed in the ionic liquid [BMIM][Brj. Carbene complexes can be formed not only by deprotonation of the imidazolium cation but also by direct oxidative addition to metal(O) (Scheme 5.3-3). These heterocyclic carbene ligands can be functionalized with polar groups in order to increase their affinity for ionic liquids. While their donor properties can be compared to those of donor phosphines, they have the advantage over phosphines of being stable toward oxidation. 

Ru, Os, and Ir carbene complexes have been prepared from reactions of anionic or low-valent metal complexes with some organic salts or neutral compounds with highly ionic bonds. Oxidative addition of halothiazole and -oxazole species to IrCl(CO)(PMe2Ph)2 affords Ir(III) complexes which on protonation yield cationic carbenes (69), e.g.,... 

The synthetic principles underlying the preparation of the 1 1 carbene complexes (above) are also applicable to products with a 2 1 ligand/metal ratio . The carbene components may be introduced as free carbenes or their dimers, or generated in situ from the onium salts. A second major pathway uses anionic hetero-... 

There are no mechanistic details known from intermediates of copper, like we have seen in the studies on metathesis, where both metal alkylidene complexes and metallacyclobutanes that are active catalysts have been isolated and characterised. The copper catalyst must fulfil two roles, first it must decompose the diazo compound in the carbene and dinitrogen and secondly it must transfer the carbene fragment to an alkene. Copper carbene species, if involved, must be rather unstable, but yet in view of the enantioselective effect of the ligands on copper, clearly the carbene fragment must be coordinated to copper. It is generally believed that the copper carbene complex is rather a copper carbenoid complex, as the highly reactive species has reactivities very similar to free carbenes. It has not the character of a metal-alkylidene complex that we have encountered on the left-hand-side of the periodic table in metathesis (Chapter 16). Carbene-copper species have been observed in situ (in a neutral copper species containing an iminophosphanamide as the anion), but they are still very rare [9],... 

Recently, the oxidative addition of C2-S bond to Pd has been described. Methyl levamisolium triflate reacts with [Pd(dba)2] to give the cationic palladium complex 35 bearing a chiral bidentate imidazolidin-2-ylidene ligand [120]. The oxidative addition of the levamisolium cation to triruthenium or triosmium carbonyl compounds proceeds also readily to yield the carbene complexes [121], The oxidative addition of imidazolium salts is not limited to or d transition metals but has also been observed in main group chemistry. The reaction of a 1,3-dimesitylimidazolium salt with an anionic gallium(I) heterocycle proceeds under formation of the gaUium(III) hydrido complex 36 (Fig. 12) [122]. 

---