Metathesis, o-bond

There are of course borderline cases when the reacting hydrocarbon is acidic (as in the case of 1-alkynes) a direct attack of the proton at the carbanion can be envisaged. It has been proposed that acyl metal complexes of the late transition metals may also react with dihydrogen according to a o-bond metathesis mechanism. However, for the late elements an alternative exists in the form of an oxidative addition reaction. This alternative does not exist for d° complexes such as Sc(III), Ti(IV), Ta(V), W(VI) etc. and in such cases o-bond metathesis is the most plausible mechanism. 

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O-Bond metathesis of the Ln-alkyl with the phosphine gives a Ln-phosphido complex. (This initiation step was observed to be faster when the hydride derivative [Cp 2bnH]2 was used.) Since the reactions were zero-order in substrate, the next... 

The initially proposed mechanism [14], and one that continues to be considered as the likely pathway for most variants, involves the oxidative cyclization of a Ni(0) complex of an aldehyde and alkyne to a metallacycle (Scheme 18). Metallacycle formation could proceed independently of the reducing agent via metallacycle 19, or alternatively, metallacycle 20a or 20b could be formed via promotion of the oxidative cyclization transformation by the reducing agent. Cleavage of the nickel-oxygen bond in a o-bond metathesis process generates an alkenyl nickel intermediate 21. In the variants involv-... 

The mechanism for the reaction catalyzed by cationic palladium complexes (Scheme 24) differs from that proposed for early transition metal complexes, as well as from that suggested for the reaction shown in Eq. 17. For this catalyst system, the alkene substrate inserts into a Pd - Si bond a rather than a Pd-H bond [63]. Hydrosilylation of methylpalladium complex 100 then provides methane and palladium silyl species 112 (Scheme 24). Complex 112 coordinates to and inserts into the least substituted olefin regioselectively and irreversibly to provide 113 after coordination of the second alkene. Insertion into the second alkene through a boat-like transition state leads to trans cyclopentane 114, and o-bond metathesis (or oxidative addition/reductive elimination) leads to the observed trans stereochemistry of product 101a with regeneration of 112 [69]. 

MR donor bonds, is o-bond metathesis. Alternatively, as the Lewis-acid strength of M increases, the tendency toward agostic or bridging interactions can finally result in H—H bond scission and formal migration of hydride to the metal atom,... 

Zr-catalyzed C C bond formation by cyclic carbozirconation and o-bond metathesis of zirconacydes... 

Scheme 8 o--Bond metathesis polymerization mechanism proposed in Zr-catalyzed dehydrocoupling. 

Table 4. Computed activation barrier (E kcal/mol) and reaction energy (AE, kcal/mol) of the o-bond metathesis reactions of metal formate complexes with the dihydrogen...

Figure 14. Orbital diagram explaining why the 4-center o-bond metathesis (left side) has a higher barrier than the 6-center process (right side).

Another factor to be investigated in the metathesis process is the effect of bases in the reaction media. Bases such as triethylamine are added in the experimental conditions to stabilize the formic acid product because otherwise the product is thermodynamically less stable than the separate carbon dioxide and dihydrogen reactants. As discussed above, the o-bond methathesis involves the heterolytic H-H bond fission, which would be accelerated by the presence of the base. This effect was theoretically investigated in the four-center o-bond metathesis between RhOn1-... 

Figure 2. Hydroboration reactions of olefin catalyzed by early transition metal complexes. The proposed reaction mechanism involves a o-bond metathesis step. (M = Lanthanide or other early transition metals.)...

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. 

A reaction which is rather new and not mentioned in older textbooks is the so-called o-bond metathesis. It is a concerted 2+2 reaction immediately followed by its retrograde reaction giving metathesis. Both late and early transition metal alkyls are prone to this reaction, but for d° early transition metals there is no other mechanism than o-bond metathesis at hand. Many similar reactions such as the reaction of metal alkyls with other HX compounds could be described as if they would follow this pathway, but the use of the term o-bond metathesis is restricted to those reactions in which one reacting species is a metal hydrocarbyl or metal hydride and the other reactant is a hydrocarbon or dihydrogen. In Figure 2.30 the reaction has been depicted. 

The latter reaction might involve an oxidative addition, rapidly followed by a reductive elimination, or alternatively it might involve a o-bond metathesis... 

Another effective way of staying clear of the thermodynamic barriers of C-H activation/substitution is the use of the c-bond metathesis reaction as the crucial elementary step. This mechanism avoids intermediacy of reactive metal species that undergo oxidative additions of alkanes, but instead the alkyl intermediate does a o-bond metathesis reaction with a new substrate molecule. Figure 19.13 illustrates the basic sequence [20],... 

Some of these intermediates are analogous to those proposed by Chauvin in olefin metathesis ( Chauvin s mechanism ) [36]. They can be transformed into new olefins and new carbene-hydrides. The subsequent step of the catalytic cycle is then hydride reinsertion into the carbene as well as olefin hydrogenation. The final alkane liberation proceeds via a cleavage of the Ta-alkyl compounds by hydrogen, a process already observed in the hydrogenolysis [10] or possibly via a displacement by the entering alkane by o-bond metathesis [11]. Notably, the catalyst has a triple functionality (i) C-H bond activation to produce a metallo-carbene and an olefin, (ii) olefin metathesis and (iii) hydrogenolysis of the metal-alkyl. 

Alkane metathesis was first reported in 1997 [84]. Acyclic alkanes, with the exception of methane, in contact with a silica supported tantalum hydride ](=SiO)2TaH] were transformed into their lower and higher homologues (for instance, ethane was transformed into methane and propane). Later, the reverse reaction was also reported [85]. Taking into accountthe high electrophilic character ofa tantalum(III) species, two mechanistic hypotheses were then envisaged (i) successive oxidative addition/reductive elimination steps and (ii) o-bond metathesis. Further work has shown that aLkyhdene hydrides are critical intermediates, and that carbon-carbon... 

Corey proposed a scheme that incorporated both o--bond metathesis and oxidative addition/reductive elimination without resort to a metal-silylene intermediate (Scheme 6).49 51-68 The authors did not provide detailed kinetic... 

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