Molybdenum complexes, ROMP

We will focus on the development of ruthenium-based metathesis precatalysts with enhanced activity and applications to the metathesis of alkenes with nonstandard electronic properties. In the class of molybdenum complexes [7a,g,h] recent research was mainly directed to the development of homochi-ral precatalysts for enantioselective olefin metathesis. This aspect has recently been covered by Schrock and Hoveyda in a short review and will not be discussed here [8h]. In addition, several important special topics have recently been addressed by excellent reviews, e.g., the synthesis of medium-sized rings by RCM [8a], applications of olefin metathesis to carbohydrate chemistry [8b], cross metathesis [8c,d],enyne metathesis [8e,f], ring-rearrangement metathesis [8g], enantioselective metathesis [8h], and applications of metathesis in polymer chemistry (ADMET,ROMP) [8i,j]. Application of olefin metathesis to the total synthesis of complex natural products is covered in the contribution by Mulzer et al. in this volume. 

Synthetic protein-like polymers containing amino acids find pharmaceutical and biological applications and display self-assembly properties [174], In this aspect, both ROMP and ADMET have been used as tools for the polymerization of amino acid-based monomers. Early ROMP examples date back to 1994 with the synthesis and ROMP of amino acid-derived homochiral norbomene monomers by Coles et al [175], The molybdenum complex [Mo(=CHCMe2Ph)(=NC6H3Pr,2-2,6)(OBu )2]... 

The molybdenum neopentyUdene complex Mo(CHBu )(NR)(OBu )2 is the active catalyst used in a fascinating development for the synthesis of 11-Vt semiconductor clusters (ZnS, CdS, PbS) and silver and gold nanoclusters of predictable size within microdomains in films of block copolymers prepared by ROMP. Block copolymers of norbomene and a functionalized norbomene that wiU complex with a metal-containing compound were prepared and characterized as monodisperse materials. The functionalized component (amine, alkoxide, or thiolate) then sequestered the metal and the metallated block copolymer was cast into a film which was subsequently treated with H2S to convert the metal into the sulfide. The molybdenum complexes have also featured in the development of the synthesis of side-chain liquid crystal polymers by living ROMP.98 99... 

A related complex, Mo(N-t-Bu)(CH-t-Bu)(OCMe(CF3)2)2 (10), was synthesized by Osborn et al. and investigated for the ROMP of norbomene and acyclic internal olefins [146]. Boncella performed metathesis reactions using tris(pyrazolyl)borate stabilized molybdenum complexes in combination with AIQ3 [147]. 

It is interesting that ROMP could proceed along with hydrosilylation of nbd. Thus, photochemically initiated hydrosilylation of nbd by triethylsilane in the presence of a catalytic amount (ca. 2 mol%) of the molybdenum complexes [Mo(CO)6] or [Mo(CO)4(T] -nbd)] gave 5-triethylsilylnorbornene (99 1 mixture of endo- and exo-isomers). 

In the case of other Group 6 metals, the polymerization of olefins has attracted little attention. Some molybdenum(VI) and tungsten(VI) complexes containing bulky imido- and alkoxo-ligands have been mainly used for metathesis reactions and the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of norbornene or related olefins [266-268]. Tris(butadiene) complexes of molybdenum ) and tungsten(O) are air-stable and sublimable above 100°C [269,270]. At elevated temperature, they showed catalytic activity for the polymerization of ethylene [271]. 

Although numerous advantages are associated with the use of supercritical carbon dioxide (scC02) as an ecologically benign and user friendly reaction medium, systematic applications to metal-catalyzed processes are still rare. A notable exception is a recent report on the use of scC02 for the formation of industrially relevant polymers by ROMP and the eyelization of various dienes or enynes via RCM [7]. Both Schrock s molybdenum alkylidene complex 24 and the ruthe-... 

The resulting complexes 59 display catalytic activities in ROMP that exceed even the performance of molybdenum-imido system 50 (Fig. 3), which has been considered as intrinsically more active than late-transition metal systems, but also more sensitive toward polar functionalities, water, and air. Thus, to combine... 

The ROMP of 136 may be used as the first stage in the preparation of polyacetylene molecules with mesogenic (liquid-crystalline) functional groups at the chain ends the ROMP of 136 is initiated by a molybdenum carbene complex and the living ends terminated by reaction with a substituted benzaldehyde bearing a mesogenic group, followed... 

The proposed idea that metal alkyhdene complexes are be able to catalyze olefin metathesis was confirmed in 1980 [8] and consolidated in 1986 by Schrock with the development of the first well-characterized, highly active, neutral tungsten (Cl, Fig. 3) [9] and molybdenum (C2) [10] alkylidene complexes. These complexes were able to catalyze both the metathesis of different olefins and the ROMP of functionalized norbomene to polynorbomene with low polydispersities [11]. Moreover, these catalysts were used by Wagener and coworkers to perform the first quantitative ADMET polymerization [12] and copolymerization [13] of 1,5-hexadiene and 1,9-decadiene. However, the low stability of these catalysts in... 

This facile solution for catalyst immobilisation follows a more complex approach reported by Mayr et al. [246], This research group attached the imidazolium salt to a nor-bomene unit that was then subjected to a ring opening metathesis polymerisation (ROMP) reaction to form the polymeric NHC precursor (see Figure 4.77). The ROMP reaction had to be carried out with a molybdenum based Schrock catalyst because the ruthenium based Grubbs catalyst did not provide an endgroup that could be quantitatively capped with a suitable final endgroup. 

The initial observation of a metal carbene that reacted with an alkene to give a metallacyclobutane complex was reported by Osborn and coworkers for the reaction shown in equation (10). This reaction was observed by NMR spectroscopy at low temperature (—70°C). When this reaction mixture was allowed to warm to higher temperature, polynorbornene was produced in high yield. Shortly after this discovery, the titanocene complex (4) was shown to be an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of monodisperse polynorbornenes. These discoveries, along with the synthesis of a new family of tungsten (5a), molybdenum (5b), and rhenium (6) catalysts,shown in Figure 1, have opened a new era of ROMP chemistry in which the polymer synthesis is guided by the selection of a catalyst... 

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