Niobium complexes olefin

Yasuda and coworkers51 reported a route to niobocene-allyl compounds by hydrometa-lation of conjugated dienes with niobium hydrido-olefin complexes, NbH(C5H5)2(olefin),... 

The coordinated ethylene is readily expelled at 25 °C by the attack of a conjugated diene and the hydride is transferred to the sterically less crowded diene terminus. Thus the niobium hydrido-olefin complexes serve as convenient reagents for the preparation of 1,2- or 1,3-dialkyl-substituted allylniobium compounds starting from butadiene, (E,E) and (/i,Z)-2,4-hcxadicnc, (E)- and (Z)-l,3-pentadiene (equation 1), 3-methyl-l,3-pentadiene and isoprene (equation 2). All the allyl niobium compounds synthesized were isolated as air-sensitive pale-yellow crystals by crystallization from hexane. 

The coordinated ethylene is readily expelled at 25 °C by the attack of a conjugated diene and the hydride is transferred to the sterically less crowded diene terminus. Thus the niobium hydrido-olefin complexes serve as convenient reagents for the preparation of... 

The Wittig-type olefination of carbonyl compounds is one of the characteristic reactions of carbene complexes. High-valent carbene complexes of early transition metals show ylide-like reactivity to vards carbonyl compounds. In 1976, Schrock first demonstrated that niobium and tantalum neopentylidene complexes 1 and 2, the typical nucleophilic Schrock-type carbene complexes, olefinate various carbonyl compounds including carboxylic acid derivatives [4]. 

In retrospect it is not surprising that the niobium and tantalum alkylldene complexes we prepared are not good metathesis catalysts since these metals are not found in the "classical" olefin metathesis systems (2). Therefore, we set out to prepare some tungsten alkylidene complexes. The first successful reaction is that shown in equation 6 (L = PMe3 or PEt3) (11). These oxo... 

As mentioned in the introduction, early transition metal complexes are also able to catalyze hydroboration reactions. Reported examples include mainly metallocene complexes of lanthanide, titanium and niobium metals [8, 15, 29]. Unlike the Wilkinson catalysts, these early transition metal catalysts have been reported to give exclusively anti-Markonikov products. The unique feature in giving exclusively anti-Markonikov products has been attributed to the different reaction mechanism associated with these catalysts. The hydroboration reactions catalyzed by these early transition metal complexes are believed to proceed with a o-bond metathesis mechanism (Figure 2). In contrast to the associative and dissociative mechanisms discussed for the Wilkinson catalysts in which HBR2 is oxidatively added to the metal center, the reaction mechanism associated with the early transition metal complexes involves a a-bond metathesis step between the coordinated olefin ligand and the incoming borane (Figure 2). The preference for a o-bond metathesis instead of an oxidative addition can be traced to the difficulty of further oxidation at the metal center because early transition metals have fewer d electrons. 

Schrock and co-workers note that the chain mechanism is almost certainly correct, but major questions remain unanswered. They are conducting studies with alkyhdene complexes of niobium, tantalum, and tungsten, directed towards understanding in detail how and why metathesis catalysts work. From preliminary results they predict that the olefin co-ordinates to the metal before a metallocyclobutane complex can be formed, that rearrangement of metallocyclobutane is slow relative to the rate of metathesis, and that important chain-termination steps are rearrangement of metallocyclobutane intermediates and bimolecular decomposition of methylene complexes. For these systems, co-catalysts such as the alkyl-aluminium chlorides are not necessary the initial alkyl group on the metal... 

Bercaw has extended these studies of alkyl formation from niobium olefin-hydride complexes to include additional examples of meta-substituted styrene complexes of permethylniobocene. As noted in earlier work , electron-donating substituents on the j8-carbon accelerate this insertion reaction, whereas electron-withdrawing substituents retard the rate based on a correlation with a p of —1.2... 

Kinetic studies have also been carried out with the sterically less constrained endo-( ACp)2Nb(CH2=CHR)H system. Again, a correlation of insertion rate with (7pj is seen p= -1.1). However, unlike the ( -Cp)2Nb(CH2=CHR)H systems studied earlier, the ground-state energies of the niobium olefin-hydride complexes also vary with the electronic nature of the substituent. 

Small carborane complexes of tantalum, titanium, niobium, and other early metals are of interest to us as potentially useful reagents for organic transformations, especially in the area of olefin polymerization catalysis under mild conditions. These complexes are invariably bent-sandwich... 

Nucleophilic alkylidene complexes of niobium and tantalum react with ketones and aldehydes to afford olefins. 

Carbonyl Olefination Using Zirconium, Tantalum, Niobium, Molybdenum, and Tungsten Carbene Complexes... 

Reaction of niobocene dichloride with Grignard reagents afforded not the expected organo-niobium species but hydride olefin complexes, probably... 

Trivalent lanthanocene complexes that are isoelectronic (14e, (P) to cationic group 4 metallocenes are also active for olefin polymerization, although their activity is much less than that of Ti and Zr [28,29]. Mashima et al. have reported monocyclopentadienyl rf-diene complexes of tantalum and niobium that are isoelectronic to group 4 metallocenes. These complexes catalyze ethylene polymerization, albeit with low activity [30]. 

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