Olefins metallacycles

In view of the extensive and fruitful results described above, redox reactions of small ring compounds provide a variety of versatile synthetic methods. In particular, transition metal-induced redox reactions play an important role in this area. Transition metal intermediates such as metallacycles, carbene complexes, 71-allyl complexes, transition metal enolates are involved, allowing further transformations, for example, insertion of olefins and carbon monoxide. Two-electron- and one-electron-mediated transformations are complementary to each other although the latter radical reactions have been less thoroughly investigated. 

The reaction of olefins with dihalogenomethanes to form homologs with one additional carbon atom has been included in the list (no. 37) of reactions in Table I because CH2X2 should form a carbenoid methylene-nickel bond able to give a metallacycle with the olefin, followed by hydrogen transfer. 

The reaction is thought to proceed via an iridium hydride, with the olefin group acting as a directing group. Metallacycle intermediates have also been implicated in this reaction (Scheme 22).96... 

The olefin binding site is presumed to be cis to the carbene and trans to one of the chlorides. Subsequent dissociation of a phosphine paves the way for the formation of a 14-electron metallacycle G which upon cycloreversion generates a pro ductive intermediate [ 11 ]. The metallacycle formation is the rate determining step. The observed reactivity pattern of the pre-catalyst outlined above and the kinetic data presently available support this mechanistic picture. The fact that the catalytic activity of ruthenium carbene complexes 1 maybe significantly enhanced on addition of CuCl to the reaction mixture is also very well in line with this dissociative mechanism [11] Cu(I) is known to trap phosphines and its presence may therefore lead to a higher concentration of the catalytically active monophosphine metal fragments F and G in solution. 

A rhodium-catalyzed allenic Alder ene reaction effectively provides cross-conjugated trienes in very good yields (Scheme 16.70) [77]. The reaction most likely involves ft -hydride elimination of an intermediate rhodium metallacycle to afford an appending olefin and ensuing reductive elimination of a metallohydride species to give the exocyclic olefin. 

An important finding is that all peroxo compounds with d° configuration of the TM center exhibit essentially the same epoxidation mechanism [51, 61, 67-72] which is also valid for organic peroxo compounds such as dioxiranes and peracids [73-79], The calculations revealed that direct nucleophilic attack of the olefin at an electrophilic peroxo oxygen center (via a TS of spiro structure) is preferred because of significantly lower activation barriers compared to the multi-step insertion mechanism [51, 61-67]. A recent computational study of epoxidation by Mo peroxo complexes showed that the metallacycle intermediate of the insertion mechanism leads to an aldehyde instead of an epoxide product [62],... 

The direct attack of the front-oxygen peroxo center yields the lowest activation barrier for all species considered. Due to repulsion of ethene from the complexes we failed [61] to localize intermediates with the olefin precoordinated to the metal center, proposed as a necessary first step of the epoxidation reaction via the insertion mechanism. Recently, Deubel et al. were able to find a local minimum corresponding to ethene coordinated to the complex MoO(02)2 OPH3 however, the formation of such an intermediate from isolated reagents was calculated to be endothermic [63, 64], The activation barriers for ethene insertion into an M-0 bond leading to the five-membered metallacycle intermediate are at least 5 kcal/mol higher than those of a direct front-side attack [61]. Moreover, the metallacycle intermediate leads to an aldehyde instead of an epoxide [63]. Based on these calculated data, the insertion mechanism of ethene epoxidation by d° TM peroxides can be ruled out. 

Density functional calculations reveal that epoxidation of olefins by peroxo complexes with TM d° electronic configuration preferentially proceeds as direct attack of the nucleophilic olefin on an electrophilic peroxo oxygen center via a TS of spiro structure (Sharpless mechanism). For the insertion mechanism much higher activation barriers have been calculated. Moreover, decomposition of the five-membered metallacycle intermediate occurring in the insertion mechanism leads rather to an aldehyde than to an epoxide [63]. 

A proposed mechanism of this reaction was reported by Magnus and Principle [10], which is nowadays widely accepted (Scheme 1). Recently, negative-ion electrospray collision experiments have confirmed this mechanism in detail [11]. Starting with the formation of the alkyne-Co2(CO)6 complex 2, olefin 3 coordination and subsequent insertion takes place at the less hindered end of the alkyne. The in situ formed metallacycle 4 reacts rapidly under insertion of a CO ligand 5 and reductive elimination of 6 proceeds to liberate the desired cyclopentenone 7. It is important to note that all the bond-forming steps occur on only one cobalt atom. The other cobalt atom of the complex is presumed to act as an anchor which has additional electronic influences on the bond-forming metal atom via the existing metal-metal bond [12]. 

Metallacyclobutanes or other four-membered metallacycles can serve as precursors of certain types of carbene complex. [2 + 2] Cycloreversion can be induced thermally, chemically, or photochemically [49,591-595]. The most important application of this process is carbene-complex-catalyzed olefin metathesis. This reaction consists in reversible [2 + 2] cycloadditions of an alkene or an alkyne to a carbene complex, forming an intermediate metallacyclobutane. This process is discussed more thoroughly in Section 3.2.5. 

This catalyst system was the first to utilize both terminal alkynes and olefins in the intramolecular reaction. Although a mechanistic rationale for the observed stereoselectivity was not offered, the formation of the single stereoisomer 26 may be rationalized through the diastereotopic binding of the rhodium complex to the diene moiety (Scheme 12.3). This facial selective binding of the initial ene-diene would then lead to the formation the metallacycle III, which ultimately isomerizes and reductively eliminates to afford the product [14]. 

An example is provided by the structures of Group IV metallacycles, LL MCl2, where ligands L and L are cyclopentadienyl based and M is Ti or Zr. As a class, these compounds act as catalyst precursors in homogenous (Ziegler-Natta) polymerization of olefins, e.g. 

The alkyne-cobalt carbonyl complex 3 formed from the alkyne 1 and dicobalt octacarbonyl 2 should lose at least one of the GOs on the metal to provide the vacancy for the incoming olefins. Subsequently, an olefin-bound complex 5 rearranged oxidatively to yield a metallacyclic intermediate 6. Migratory insertion of GO of 6 would provide the homologated ring intermediate 7, and the following two successive reductive eliminations afford the cyclopentenone... 

Titanium-catalyzed cyclization/hydrosilylation of 6-hepten-2-one was proposed to occur via / -migratory insertion of the G=G bond into the titanium-carbon bond of the 77 -ketone olefin complex c/iatr-lj to form titanacycle cis-ll] (Scheme 16). cr-Bond metathesis of the Ti-O bond of cis- iij with the Si-H bond of the silane followed by G-H reductive elimination would release the silylated cyclopentanol and regenerate the Ti(0) catalyst. Under stoichiometric conditions, each of the steps that converts the enone to the titanacycle is reversible, leading to selective formation of the more stable m-fused metallacycle." For this reason, the diastereoselective cyclization of 6-hepten-2-one under catalytic conditions was proposed to occur via non-selective, reversible formation of 77 -ketotitanium olefin complexes chair-1) and boat-1), followed by preferential cyclization of chair-1) to form cis-11) (Scheme 16). 

Heterochalcogenides, with chromium, 5, 312 Heterocoupling reactions in olefin cross-metathesis, 11, 181 Pd-catalyzed, alkynes, 8, 274—275 Heterocubanes, reactions, 3, 8 Heterocumulenes in insertion reactions, 1, 107 nickel metallacycle reactions, 8, 103-104 Heterocyclic compounds... 

The key step is the cycloaddition of 0s04 to the olefin. There has been some speculation regarding the actual addition step, for which experimental data suggest the possible involvement of two separate steps. Thus, the question arises during these discussions of whether the key step takes place via an initial (3+2)-addition (1,3-dipolar cycloaddition), or by a (2+2)-addition followed by expansion of the metallacycle. 

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