Metal insertion allylic substitution

In general, the catalytic cycle for the transition-metal catalyzed allylic substitution reactions involves initial attack of the metal at the double bond followed by oxidative insertion into the antiperiplanar C-0 bond to afford the Ti-allyl system. At this point, depending on whether soft or hard nucleophiles are used, however, the alkylation reaction proceeds through distinctly different pathways (Scheme 10). With soft nucleophiles, where Pd is often the metal center of choice. 

Multicomponent sequential transition-metal-catalyzed reactions were accomplished by the group of Muller. Their approach involves cycloisomerizations or combinations of a Heck reaction and an insertion or allylic substitution reaction, yielding an intermediate from which by P-H-elimination an aldehyde is generated, which reacts with an amine to give an imine, which in turn is reduced or otherwise modified. This conceptually challenging approach allows the experimentally remarkably facile generation of a variety of compounds of interest in medicinal chemistry. 

The applications of palladium in organic syntheses are numerous,this metal possibly being the most important one in the field. Numerous reactions are known oxidations of the Wacker type, C-C coupling by transmetallation and/or insertion of CO or olefin (see following section). A category of reactions that is also very common concerns the catalytic use of palladium to carry out the substitution of a nucleofuge (typically acetate) in allylic position by a carbanion or any other nucleophile. This is the Tsuji-Trost allylic substitution ... 

Bis(4-toluenesulphonyl)selenodiimide (TosN=Se=NTos), prepared from Chloramine T and metallic selenium, reacts with olefins by insertion at the more substituted allylic... 

The insertion of 1,3-dienes into a ir-allylpalladium complex is believed to proceed via an intermediate in which the metal is complexed to the less hindered double bond of an unsymmetrical diene, followed by an electrocyclic rearrangement which links the more substituted allyl terminus with the more substituted alkene (equation 77).246-251 Electron-withdrawing substituents on the ir-allyl fragment generally increase the rate of insertion,248 whereas substituents on the diene generally slow the rate.268... 

Another allyl compound which reacts stoichiometrically with carbon dioxide is (fj5-C5H5)2Ti(l-methylallyl) (120). The titanium acetate complex which is formed is interesting in that the carbon dioxide carbon atom is attached to the substituted end of the allyl. It seems unlikely, then, that the product is the result of C02 insertion into the -methylallyltitanium bond in view of the fact that methyl-substituted allyls tend to form fj -complexes in which the metal is bonded to the least substituted end of the allyl. One possible explanation offered by the authors is that the allyl is bonded to titanium at the methylene carbon, but that rearrangement occurs subsequent to adduct formation [Eq. (49)]. 

The linear dimers 89-91 are formed by Ni [32], Co [33], Fe [34] and Pd [35] catalysts. Linear dimers 90 and 91 are produced via the formation of metal M—H, accompanying migration of hydrogen. The formation of 89 is discussed later. The mechanism of the formation of 91 was studied by an experiment using butadiene 92 deuterated at the terminal carbons. In the formation of the branched dimer 91 from the deuterated butadiene 92, catalysed by Co or Fe complexes, insertion of the second butadiene occurs at the substituted side of the 7r-allyl complex 93 to give 94. Finally, the triene 96 is formed from 95 and Fe—H(D) is regenerated. 

Dirhodium(II) tetrakis(carboxamides), constructed with chiral 2-pyrroli-done-5-carboxylate esters so that the two nitrogen donor atoms on each rhodium are in a cis arrangement, represent a new class of chiral catalysts with broad applicability to enantioselective metal carbene transformations. Enantiomeric excesses greater than 90% have been achieved in intramolecular cyclopropanation reactions of allyl diazoacetates. In intermolecular cyclopropanation reactions with monosubsti-tuted olefins, the cis-disubstituted cyclopropane is formed with a higher enantiomeric excess than the trans isomer, and for cyclopropenation of 1-alkynes extraordinary selectivity has been achieved. Carbon-hydro-gen insertion reactions of diazoacetate esters that result in substituted y-butyrolactones occur in high yield and with enantiomeric excess as high as 90% with the use of these catalysts. Their design affords stabilization of the intermediate metal carbene and orientation of the carbene substituents for selectivity enhancement. 

Scheme 3. C-C bond formation between butadiene and the C(3)-substituted allyl anion in the coordination sphere of the metal to describe the 1,4- and the 1,2-polymerization, according to the ff- and the jr-allyl insertion mechanisms.

More recently, the same catalyst was used to produce cyclic amines with retention of stereochemistry from a simple linear aliphatic azide [53]. Treatment of a substituted aliphatic azide by complex 66 afforded the cyclized compound 75, by insertion of the nitrene moiety in allylic, benzylic, and even in the less reactive tertiary C—H bonds. The catalyst is inhibited by coordination of the product to the metal center. However, that can be avoided by using an in situ protecting agent (Boep is preferred over Fmoc-OSuc which leads to catalyst decomposition). 

The suitability of in situ trapping of intermediate transition-metal hydrides formed by C—H bond activation by a coordinated alkene to form a cr-alkyl has been demonstrated to be feasible with > -allyl hydridoiridium complexes. However, insertion was also shown to occur in an intramolecular sense to yield methyl-substituted iridacyclopentanes ... 

The diene insertion may take place into the o-allyl-metal bond or into rj -allyl-metal bond. In the latter case, after the first insertion of the diene into M-R bond to give a substituted r/ -allylic complex, there are two possible sites for the further insertion of butadiene, one into the substituted site to give the 1,2-insertion... 

Alkyl halides are usually considered to be less suitable for double carbonylation because of the possibility of the direct reaction of alkyl halides with nucleophiles and of instability of alkyl-transition metal complexes involved in the catalytic process. However, allylic halides were found amenable to double carbonylation promoted by zerovalent palladium complex. It is well known that allylic halides undergo ready oxidative addition with a Pd(0) species to produce Tj -allylpalladium halide complexes. Thus, it was reasoned that the double carbonylation process might be realized if CO insertion into the aUyl-palladium bond proceeds before attack of amine on the 17 -allylpaUadium halide takes place. On the basis of fundamental studies on the behavior of i7 -allylpalladium halide complexes with CO and secondary amines, double carbonylation processes of substituted aUyl halides to give a-keto amides in high yields have recently been achieved (Eqs. 15 and... 

---