Metallacyclobutane, intermediate

The ADMET cycle involves the formation of two metallacyclobutane intermediates [D, F], whereas the ROMP mechanism contains only one. 

Further improvements in activity of the imidazol-2-ylidene Ru complexes might be attained by the incorporation of a better a-donor substituents with larger steric requirements. The ligands that most efficiently promote catalytic activity are those that stabilize the high-oxidation state (14 e") of the ruthenium metallacyclobutane intermediate [7]. Both ligand-to-metal a-donation and bulkiness of the NHC force the active orientation of the carbene moiety and thus contribute to the rapid transformation into metallacyclobutane species [7b]. Both can be realized by incorporation of alkyl groups in 3,4-position of imidazol-2-ylidene moiety, lyie Me. Me... 

Although unusual, a nucleophile has occasionally been observed to add to the central carbon of a metal 7r-allyl species to generate a metallacyclobutane intermediate, which can then undergo further transformations. In the reaction between 2,3-dibromopropene and sodium phenoxide under Pd catalysis (Equation (56)), the central carbon of the initially formed 7r-allyl intermediate is attacked by phenoxide to furnish a palladacyclobutane. Displacement of the... 

Crowe proposed that benzylidene 6 would be stabilised, relative to alkylidene 8, by conjugation of the a-aryl substituent with the electron-rich metal-carbon bond. Formation of metallacyclobutane 10, rather than 9, should then be favoured by the smaller size and greater nucleophilicity of an incoming alkyl-substituted alkene. Electron-deficient alkyl-substituents would stabilise the competing alkylidene 8, leading to increased production of the self-metathesis product. The high trans selectivity observed was attributed to the greater stability of a fra s- ,p-disubstituted metallacyclobutane intermediate. 

For a cis alkene to be formed the reaction would have to proceed through a czs-a,p-disubstituted metallacyclobutane intermediate (cis isomer of 10). Although it was unclear why there was a preference for forming a cis metallacycle, which leads to the thermodynamically less stable product, it was probably related to the small size or the electron-withdrawing properties of the nitrile group. 

In accord with previous proposals, Pfaltz and co-workers (30) suggested that this reaction proceeds by initial formation of copper carbenoid 47 (Scheme 3). Pfaltz does not invoke a metallacyclobutane intermediate but rather suggests that nucleophilic attack of the alkene on 47 with concomitant pyramidalization at the reacting centers forms two possible transition states with stereoselectivities deter-... 

Evans suggests that the catalyst resting state in this reaction is a 55c Cu alkene complex 58, Scheme 4 (35). Variable temperature NMR studies indicate that the catalyst complexes one equivalent of styrene which, in the presence of excess alkene, undergoes ready alkene exchange at ambient temperature but forms only a mono alkene-copper complex at -53°C. Addition of diazoester fails to provide an observable complex. These workers invoke the metallacyclobutane intermediate 60 via a formal [2 + 2] cycloaddition from copper carbenoid alkene complex 59. Formation of 60 is the stereochemistry-determining event in this reaction. The square-planar S Cu(III) intermediate 60 then undergoes a reductive elimination forming the cyclopropane product and Complex 55c-Cu, which binds another alkene molecule. 

The final stereochemistry of a metathesis reaction is controlled by the thermodynamics, as the reaction will continue as long as the catalyst is active and eventually equilibrium will be reached. For 1,2-substituted alkenes this means that there is a preference for the trans isomer the thermodynamic equilibrium at room temperature for cis and trans 2-butene leads to a ratio 1 3. For an RCM reaction in which small rings are made, clearly the result will be a cis product, but for cross metathesis, RCM for large rings, ROMP and ADMET both cis and trans double bonds can be made. The stereochemistry of the initially formed product is determined by the permanent ligands on the metal catalyst and the interactions between the substituents at the three carbon atoms in the metallacyclic intermediate. Cis reactants tend to produce more cis products and trans reactants tend to give relatively more trans products this is especially pronounced when one bulky substituent is present as in cis and trans 4-methyl-2-pentene [35], Since the transition states will resemble the metallacyclobutane intermediates we can use the interactions in the latter to explain these results. 

Calculations [28] on the formation of cyclopropanes from electrophilic Fischer-type carbene complexes and alkenes suggest that this reaction does not generally proceed via metallacyclobutane intermediates. The least-energy pathway for this process starts with electrophilic addition of the carbene carbon atom to the alkene (Figure 1.9). Ring closure occurs by electrophilic attack of the second carbon atom... 

In one interpretation a perpendicular olefin to carbene approach and a highly puckered metallacyclobutane intermediate were assumed. The favored pathway leads to conformations with the fewest 1,2 and 1,3 metal/ligand-substituent interactions ... 

The results presented in this paper show that the molybdenum oxycarbide catalysts are significantly different from the platinum catalysts and this is ascribed to differences in mechanisms operating over these catalysts. The bond shift mechanism involving a metallacyclobutane intermediate accounts for the results obtained over molybdenum oxycarbide and a scheme for this mechanism is shown for the isomerization of n-heptane in Figure 20.11. 

Olefin metathesis provides the principal synthetic context for metallacyclobutane reactivity this catalytic reaction proceeds by the transient, and reversible, formation of a metallacyclobutane intermediate from a metal alkylidene and an alkene. The olefin metathesis reaction has been exhaustively reviewed and is not directly discussed here... 

The accepted mechanism for olefin metathesis proceeds through formation of a metallacyclobutane after olefin coordination to the 14e species. Piers et al. have collected the first evidence for the metallacyclobutane intermediate 19 in the condensed phase [52], The proposed C2V symmetry of this key structure has been predicted by calculations [53] (for related theoretical investigations on olefin metathesis, see [54-57]). Metallacyclobutane formation is likely to determine the regio- and stereochemical outcome of the metathesis reaction, and insight into its geometry is therefore critical in the development of new, selective catalysts. Cycloreversion and olefin dissociation complete the catalytic cycle to re-form the catalytically active species ([Ru] = CH2) which can bind phosphine to re-form the precatalyst or olefin for a subsequent metathesis transformation. 

Returning to the key metallacyclobutane intermediate above, we must now consider an alternative decomposition mechanism which may... 

Metathesis, which is reversible and can be catalyzed by a variety of organometallic complexes, has been the subject of considerable investigation, and many reviews on this topic have been published.In 1970, Herisson and Chauvin proposed that these reactions are catalyzed by carbene (alkylidene) complexes that react with alkenes via the formation of metallacyclobutane intermediates, as shown in Figure 14-20. This mechanism, now known as the Chauvin mechanism, has received considerable support and is believed to be the pathway of the majority of transition metal-catalyzed olefin metathesis reactions. 

In this mechanism, a metal carbene complex first reacts with an alkene to form a metallacyclobutane Intermediate. This intermediate can either revert to reactants or form new products because all steps in the process are equilibria, an equilibrium mixture of alkenes results. 

In any chain reaction, apart from initiation steps, the termination steps are also important. In metathesis there are many possibilities for termination reactions. Besides the reverse of the initiation step, the reaction between two carbene species is also a possibility (eq. (17)). The observation that, when using the Me4SnAVCl6 system, as well as methane traces of ethylene are also observed [26] is in agreement with this reaction. Further reactions which lead to loss of catalytic activity are (1) the destruction of the metallacyclobutane intermediate resulting in the formation of cyclopropanes or alkenes, and (2) the reaction of the metallacycle or metal carbene with impurities in the system or with the functional group in the case of a functionally substituted alkene (e. g., Wittig-type reactions of the metal carbene with carbonyl groups). 

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