Metallacyclopentenes reactions with alkenes

Particularly interesting is the reaction of enynes with catalytic amounts of carbene complexes (Figure 3.50). If the chain-length between olefin and alkyne enables the formation of a five-membered or larger ring, then RCM can lead to the formation of vinyl-substituted cycloalkenes [866] or heterocycles. Examples of such reactions are given in Tables 3.18-3.20. It should, though, be taken into account that this reaction can also proceed by non-carbene-mediated pathways. Also Fischer-type carbene complexes and other complexes [867] can catalyze enyne cyclizations [267]. Trost [868] proposed that palladium-catalyzed enyne cyclizations proceed via metallacyclopentenes, which upon reductive elimination yield an intermediate cyclobutene. Also a Lewis acid-catalyzed, intramolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition of, e.g., acceptor-substituted alkynes to an alkene to yield a cyclobutene can be considered as a possible mechanism of enyne cyclization. 

Other complexes of great interest are the / -conjugated diene metallocenes. They are conveniently prepared by the one-pot reaction of the photochemically induced metallocene with the diene at low temperature. Alternative routes include the treatment of the metallocene dichloride with a conjugated diene dianion equivalent or the coupling of alkenyl ligands in the coordination sphere of the metal. The resulting systems show unusual behavior. For example, buta-1,3-diene directly leads to the s-trans complex (8), which can be thermally equilibrated into the s-cis isomer (9). This form exhibits a substantial metallacyclopentene character and is best described as a d metal (cr, 7r)-type complex (10), as shown by X-ray crystal analysis. On the other hand, the s-trans isomer should be formally regarded as a real d metal -alkene 7T-complex. 

Metallacycles have been claimed to play pivotal roles in many transition metal-mediated multi-component coupling reactions [1]. For example, [2 -i- 2 -i- 2] alkyne cyclo-trimerization leading to benzenes - the Reppe reaction - has been considered to proceed via metallacyclopentadiene and elusive metallacycloheptatriene intermediates ("common mechanism ), while metallacyclopentenes have been proposed as intermediates for the [2 -i- 2 -i- 1] cyclo-coupling reactions of an alkyne, an alkene, and CO leading to a cyclopentenone (the Pauson-Khand reaction). A metallacyclic compound - which is defined here as a carbocyclic system with one atom replaced by a transition metal element - can be generally formed by oxidative cyclization of two unsaturated molecules with a low-valent transition metal fragment [2-4]. Alter-... 

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