Metal-carbene interactions

Complexes of type (90) represent a new class of zirconium hydrocarbyl derivatives in which a strong metal carbene interaction in a pincer hgand structure is formed. The crystal structure of such complexes shows a short metal carbon link common to two fused four-membered rings which are almost coplanar. 

Doyle has put forward arguments against the intermediacy of such complexes in catalytic cyclopropanation . Firstly, metal coordination activates the alkene to nucleophilic attack. Hence, an electrophilic metal carbene would add only reluctantly or not at all. Secondly, the stable PdCl2 complexes of dienes 8 and 428 do not react with ethyl diazoacetate, even if Rh fOAc) or PdCljfPhCbOj is added. The diazoester is decomposed only when it is added to a mixture of the Pd complex and excess diene. These results exclude the metal-carbene-olefin intermediate, but they leave open the possibility of metal carbene interaction with an uncomplexed olefin molecule. The preferred formation of exo-cyclopropanes in the PdCyPhCN) -catalyzed reactions between 8 and N2CHCOOEt or N2CPh2, with exo. endo ratios virtually identical to those observed upon cyclopropanation of monoolefin 429, also rule out coordination of a palladium carbene to the exocyclic double bond of 8 prior to cyclopropanation of the endocyclic double bond. 

At the other extreme, metal carbenes that are electrophilic at carbon are called Fischer-type complexes, and they generally contain jt-donating heteroatom substituents [4], Fischer reported the first example in 1964 [5], In these cases, the metal-carbene interaction can be represented by three resonance structures, the first with a formal M=C double bond, the second with a M-C single bond and charge separation, and the third with additional multiple bond character between the carhon and the heteroatom substituent. 

The metal-carbene interactions. The metal. That there might be distinctive metal-carbene interactions has been recognized for a longtime, specific effects of the metals as well as of the ligands having been evidenced. 

The chemistry of sulfur ylids as diazocarbonyl equivalents has been covered from the viewpoint of their generation and use in metal-catalysed reactions." The contribution of molecular modelling on the understanding of alkene metathesis has been detailed from the perspective of the properties of transition metal complexes, the theoretical description of metal carbene interaction and the computations carried out on these species. ... 

As it could be expected singlet and triplet carbenes will interact differently with transition-metal centers. In literature, based on the nature of the metal-carbene interaction and other chemical properties, the existing metal carbenoids were divided into two classes (see Scheme 2.5) [17-21]... 

H-NMR studies of oligocarbene Ru(II) complexes indicate a substantial barrier to rotation about the metal-carbene carbon and nitrogen-R bonds. This restricted rotation is thought to arise as a consequence of intramolecular non-bonding cis interactions of the carbene nitrogen-R substituents, and not because of any significant double bond character in ruthenium-carbene carbon (76). 

The reason for the different behavior of dienes like 41 and monoenes 37 or 42 is not yet established. It is hard to believe that simple steric factors should make up for the different orientation of the olefin that approaches a metal carbene intermediate. More likely is stereochemical control by an ylide-type interaction between the halogen atom of the (sterically more flexible) monoenes 37 or 42 and the electrophilic metal carbene. 

Interaction of a carbonyl group with an electrophilic metal carbene would be expected to lead to a carbonyl ylide. In fact, such compounds have been isolated in recent years 14) the strategy comprises intramolecular generation of a carbonyl ylide whose substituent pattern guarantees efficient stabilization of the dipolar electronic structure. The highly reactive 1,3-dipolar species are usually characterized by [3 + 2] cycloaddition to alkynes and activated alkenes. Furthermore, cycloaddition to ketones and aldehydes has been reported for l-methoxy-2-benzopyrylium-4-olate 286, which was generated by Cu(acac)2-catalyzed decomposition of o-methoxycarbonyl-m-diazoacetophenone 285 2681... 

Interaction between a carbonyl oxygen and a metal carbene leading to a transient carbonyl ylide may also be considered to be involved in the production of a vinyl... 

From the results with the isolable ylides 350, it can be concluded that the fate of less stable, non-isolated sulfonium ylides depends dramatically on their respective substituents 336,338). Thus, the outcome of these reactions is programmed at the ylide stage and not during interaction of a presumed metal carbene with the sulfur-containing substrate. 

The interaction between catalyst and diazo compound may be initialized by electrophilic attack of the catalyst metal at the diazo carbon, with simultaneous or subsequent loss of N2, whereupon a metal-carbene complex (415) or the product of carbene insertion into a metal/ligand bond (416) or its ionic equivalent (417) are formed. This is outlined in a simplified manner in Scheme 43, which does not speculate on the kinetics of such a sequence, nor on the possible interconversion of 415 and 416/417 or the primarily formed Lewis acid — Lewis base adducts. 

In scrutinizing the various proposed reaction sequences in Eq. (26), one may classify the behavior of carbene complexes toward olefins according to four intimately related considerations (a) relative reactivities of various types of olefins (b) the polar nature of the metal-carbene bond (c) the option of prior coordination of olefin to the transition metal, or direct interaction with the carbene carbon and (d) steric factors, including effects arising from ligands on the transition metal as well as substituents on the olefinic and carbene carbons. Information related to these various influences is by no means exhaustive at this point. Consequently, some apparent contradictions exist which seem to cast doubt on the relevance of various model compound studies to conventional catalysis of the metathesis reaction, a process which unfortunately involves species which elude direct structural determination. 

Formation of metal-carbene complexes via a-agostic interaction... 

The metal-carbene bond distances in this family of complexes (2.082 (2) A for Ag, 1.9124 (16) A for Cu, and 2.035 (12) A for Au) are within the range of reported values for typical group 11 metal NHC complexes (23). The metal carbene units are almost linear, with a C-M-C bond angle of 178.56 (13)°, 177.70 (9)°, and 177.7 (6)° for Ag, Cu, and Au, respectively. The imidazole units for 2 -Ag, 2 -Cu, 2Me Au exhibit structural parameters typically observed for coordinated NHC ligands. There are no inter- or intramolecular metal-metal interactions in these complexes. 

One of typical reactions of the Fisher-type metal carbene is interaction of the electron-deficient carbenic carbon with a pair of non-bonding electrons contributed by a Lewis base (B ) to generate a metal complex-associated ylide or a free ylide. The ylide intermediate thus generated is usually highly reactive and undergoes further reactions to give stable products (Figure 1). 

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). ... 

Similar to ethers and carbonyl compounds, sulfides or thiocarbonyl groups interact with metal carbene to generate the corresponding ylides. These ylides undergo similar subsequent reactions as their oxygen counterparts (Figure 4). 

Similar to those of oxygen and sulfur ylide, ammonium ylide or azomethine ylide can be generated by the interaction of metal carbene and amine or imine, respectively. As is the case of sulfur, nitrogen also has a strong coordinating ability to a metal complex. Consequently, metal complex-catalyzed diazo decomposition in the presence of an amine or imine usually requires high reaction temperatures (Figure 6). 

In view of the chemistry of a metal carbene complex, it is reasonable to expect that nitrene or metal-complexed nitrene will similarly interact with Lewis base to generate ylide-like species, which then proceeds to undergo further transformations (Figure 7). 

Metal carbene and carbyne complexes can act as donors analogous to alkenes and alkynes. When gold is the acceptor such interactions can lead to dimetallacyclopropanes or dimetaUacy-clopropenes, as illustrated by the reaction (81).748... 

The only direct evidence for the presence of metal-carbene-olefin intermediates in catalytic metathesis systems comes from a study of the interaction of the tungsten cyclopentylidene complex 27 with cycloalkenes such as cycloheptene 28 in CD2CI2. When these are mixed at —96 °C and the temperature raised to between —53 and —28 °C, no polymerization occurs but the 13C NMR spectrum contains additional resonances which may be assigned to the metal-carbene-olefin complex 29. The line intensities show that the equilibrium 7 moves to the right as the temperature is lowered120. 

---