Palladium-acyl-olefin complexes

An attempt was also made to produce 0-iodo acyl iodides by the reaction of iodine, carbon monoxide and olefins in the presence of palladium or platinum chloride. This is, in effect, an attempt to make Dr. Tsuji s reaction catalytic rather than stoichiometric. No carbonyl insertion occurred at 1 atm. of carbon monoxide. However, it was found that iodination of the olefin was catalyzed by platinum olefin complexes and that an additional increase in catalytic activity accompanied the presence of carbon monoxide. There has been much speculation at this conference concerning the possibility of affecting catalytic activity by changing the ligands in the coordination sphere of the catalyst. This would appear to be such a case. 

Palladium chloride and metallic palladium are useful for carbonylating olefinic and acetylenic compounds. Further, palladium is active for decarbonylation of aldehydes and acyl halides. Homogeneous decarbonylation of aldehydes and acyl halides and carbonylation of alkyl halides were carried out smoothly using rhodium complexes. An acyl-rhodium complex, thought to be an intermediate in decarbonylation, was isolated by the oxidative addition of acyl halide to chlorotris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium. The mechanisms of these carbonylation and decarbonylation reactions are discussed. 

Carbon monoxide insertion in a palladium-carbon bond is a fairly common reaction [21]. Under polymerization conditions, CO insertion is thought to be rapid and reversible. Olefin insertion in a palladium-carbon bond is a less common reaction, but recent studies involving cationic palladium-diphosphine and -bipyridyl complexes have shown that olefin insertion also, particularly in palladium-acyl bonds, appears to be a facile reaction [22], Nevertheless, it is likely that olefin insertion is the slowest (rate-determining) and irreversible step vide infra) in polyketone formation. 

The stereochemical outcome was in agreement with a mechanism for the palladium-catalyzed cyclization/carboalkoxylation of a substituted alkene (Scheme 47) that involves outer-sphere attack of the indole on the palladium-olefin complex I which, coupled with loss of HCI, would form the alkylpalladium intermediate II. 1,1-Migratory insertion of CO into the Pd-C bond of II with retention of stereochemistry would form the acyl-palladium complex III, which could undergo methanolysis to release c/.v-product and form a palladium(0) complex. Oxidation with Cu(II) would then regenerate the active Pd(II) catalyst. 

Indeed, direct measurements of the rates of insertion of CO and ethylene into alkyl-metal olefin and acylmetal olefin complexes show that the insertion of ethylene into the metal-acyl linkage is faster than the insertion of ethylene into the metal-alkyl linkage. Comparisons of these rates for insertions into cationic palladium complexes containing phenanthroline and bis-diphenylphosphinopropane as ancillary ligand have been made by Brookhart and co-workers. These reactions are shown in Equations 9.69 and 9.70. A summary of the barriers for insertion is provided in Table 9.2. The rate of insertion of ethylene into the metal-acyl bond is orders of magnitude faster than the rate of insertion of ethylene into the metal-alkyl bond. - - ... 

Formation of C-N bond has raised of interest in the scientific community in the last 10 years. In this context, the formation of enamides is a valuable protocol. In addition to conventional approaches that include condensation of amides and aldehydes, addition of amides to alkynes, acylation of imines, Curtius rearrangement of a,jS-unsaturated acyl azides, amide Peterson olefination, and Wittig and Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reactions, several transition metal-catalyzed methods have been developed that allow the synthesis of enamides.Inspired by the analogous arylation of amines catalyzed by palladium or copper complexes (Buchwald-Hartwig reaction), a new approach for the synthesis of enamides has been published recently, which allows to prepare enamides from readily available starting materials (amides and vinyl halides) proceeding under very mild conditions. Thus, we decided to test the Porco-Buchwald amidation of vinyl halides in our synthesis [144-146]. 

The following mechanism was proposed for the carbonylation of olefin-palladium chloride complex (10). The first step is coordination of carbon monoxide to the complex. Insertion of the coordinated olefin into the palladium-chlorine bond then forms a -chloroalkylpalladium complex (IV). This complex undergoes carbon monoxide insertion to form an acylpalladium complex (V), as has been assumed for many metal carbonyl-catalyzed carbonylation reactions. The final step is formation of a )8-chloroacyl chloride and zero-valent palladium by combination of the acyl group with the coordinated chlorine. 

It is known that insertion of carbon monoxide to form an acyl complex is reversible, in which results depend on the pressure of carbon monoxide and temperature. If the above-mentioned mechanisms are correct, then acyl halides and aldehydes should be decarbonylated to form olefins provided that an acyl-palladium bond is formed by the oxidative addition of acyl halides or aldehydes to metallic palladium. This proved to be the case. When acyl halide was heated with a catalytic amount of metallic palladium or palladium chloride at 200°C. in a distilling flask, carbon monoxide and hydrogen halide were evolved rapidly, and olefin was collected in a good yield. This reaction is a new and useful preparative method of olefins. In the same way, aldehydes can be decarbonylated smoothly, but in this case, both olefin and the corresponding paraffin Were obtained. The latter probably arises by the hydrogenation of the olefin. Decarbonylation of certain aldehydes has been reported by several workers (3, 6), but no reasonable mechanism has been known. The mechanism of the palladium-catalyzed aldehyde formation discussed above gives clear explanation for the palladium catalyzed decarbonylation of aldehydes. 

The stepwise alternating insertions of CO and an alkene into Pd-C bonds comprise important steps in living catalysts for the alternating copolymerization [65]. The olefin insertion into acyl complexes provides cationic alkyl species in which a carbonyl oxygen is coordinated to the palladium center as shown in Eq. 7.4 The chelating alkyl complexes, whose presence has been confirmed by several research groups, would give extra stabilization to prevent occurrence of /I-elimination. 

The proposed meehanism for this transformation is outlined in Scheme 39. An acyl-palladium complex adds to the alkynol following either path A or B, to give I or II after insertion of CO into the palladium-olefin bond. Formation of a /3-lactone could then occur by attack of the hydroxyl group in I onto the acylpalladium complex. 

The mechanism of the hydroformylation has been intensively investigated by Drent and Budzelaar [6], who analyzed the competition between alternative reactions once a Pd-acyl complex was formed from a Pd-hydride species. The reaction with a second olefin leads to ketones (hydroacylation) and polyketones (copolymerization), respectively, whereas upon hydrogenolysis of the Pd-acyl bond, an aldehyde is released and thus a catalytic hydroformylation cycle is finally closed. Because of the high hydrogenation activity of palladium complexes, the aldehydes formed may be immediately converted into the corresponding alcohols. The type of the actually observed reaction pathway is mainly determined by [6]... 

The role of palladium in organic synthesis continues to be explored and exploited. Enol stannanes are monoalkylated by allylic acetates in the presence of tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium, Enol stannanes give higher selectivity for monoalkylation than enolate ions or silyl enol ethers. High regioselec-tivity is observed for alkylation at the less substituted end of the allyl moiety. Olefins, after complexation to palladium(ll), alkylate enolate anions. The organopalladium product may be converted into saturated ketones, or into enones by /3-elimination, or acylated with carbon monoxide (Scheme... 

Compared to the CO insertion, fewer reports have appeared on the olefin insertion into an acyl palladium. Direct observation of this process has been reported very recently by Rix and Brookhart [89-92] using cationic l,10-phenanthroline-Pd(II) complexes. They have investigated the microscopic steps responsible for the alternating copolymerization of ethene with CO using the same 1,10-phenanthroline system. On the basis of the kinetic and thermodynamic data, they proposed an accurate model for the polymer chain growth. In support stepwise isolation of the intermediates have been accomplished by norbornene as a substrate where symmetrical bidentate nitrogen ligands were used [93-95]. 

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