Metalloporphyrins carbene reactions

Mansuy and coworkers [32] reported the first isolated metalloporphyrin-carbene complex in 1977 and it was an iron porphyrin carbene complex. It was suggested by the authors that iron carbene complexes could be involved in the metabohsm of xenobiotics. Thus, the five-coordinated (TPP)Fe(CCl2) was prepared as a purple red solid by treatment of (TPP)FeCl with CCI4 in the presence of an excess of iron powder (90% yield) [32]. It must be emphasized that the possible formation of carbene complexes after the reduction of iron deuteroporphyrin in CCI4 was initially proposed by Brault and coworkers [79]. An original method of reduction by aqueous sodium dithionite solution was described but, under these conditions, it was not possible to isolate any complex although the reaction leads to a compound of unusually good stability towards air. 

Iron porphyrin carbenes and vinylidenes are photoactive and possess a unique photochemistry since the mechanism of the photochemical reaction suggests the Hberation of free carbene species in solution [ 110,111 ]. These free carbenes can react with olefins to form cyclopropanes (Eq. 15). The photochemical generation of the free carbene fragment from a transition metal carbene complex has not been previously observed [112,113]. Although the photochemistry of both Fischer and Schrock-type carbene has been investigated, no examples of homolytic carbene dissociation have yet been foimd. In the case of the metalloporphyrin carbene complexes, the lack of other co-ordinatively labile species and the stability of the resulting fragment both contribute to the reactivity of the iron-carbon double bond. Thus, this photochemical behavior is quite different to that previously observed with other classes of carbene complexes [113,114]. 

Chlorins are also accessible by carbene additions to C-C double bonds on the periphery of metalloporphyrins. The most effective reaction on a preparative scale is the addition of ethyl diazoacetate in refluxing benzene to copper octaethylporphyrin (4) or meso-tetraphenylpor-phyrin in the presence of copper(I) iodide,100108b 110 which gives a diastereomcric mixture of chlorins, e.g. 5. 

The isolation of a diamagnetic bridging methylene complex [(OEP-N-yx-CH2) Ru(CH3)](BF4) from decomposition of [(OEP - N - CH3)Ru(CH3)](BE4) was also possible. This complex has been characterized by H NMR and partially by an X-ray structure [145]. Unfortunately, reduction of this complex did not result in formation of an axial methylene carbene complex as was postulated by James and Dolphin [146]. Although M = CH2 species have been prepared [147,148], similar metalloporphyrin complexes are not yet known. Ruthenium carbene complexes which are involved in catalytic reactions will be discussed below. 

There has also been a renewal of interest in reactions catalyzed by ru-thenium(II) porphyrin complexes, simultaneously with the development of new chiral ruthenium porphyrins [175-178]. Although these reactions focus mainly on asymmetric epoxidation of olefins [179,180], in some cases asymmetric cyclopropanations were very successful As a recent example, the intermolecular cyclopropanation of styrene and its derivatives with ethyl diazoacetate afforded the corresponding cyclopropyl esters in up to 98% ee with high trans/cis ratios of up to 36 and extremely high catalyst turnovers of up to 1.1 X 10 [140]. The structure of the metalloporphyrin is given in Fig. 2. Asymmetric intramolecular cyclopropanations were also reported with the same catalyst [140]. hi this case, the decomposition of a series of aUyhc diazoacetates afforded the cyclopropyl lactones in up to 85% ee. Both the inter-and intramolecular cyclopropanation were proposed to proceed via a reactive chiral ruthenium carbene intermediate. The enantioselectivities in these processes were rationahzed on the basis of the X-ray crystal structures of closely related stable chiral carbene complexes obtained from the reaction of the chiral complex with N2CPh2 and N2C(Ph)C02CH2CH = CH2. 

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