Polyene-metal complexes

The work of Iida et al. (84,85,86) on stabilization by complementary color development has been extended now to include the use of various color-masking agents that apparently can prevent the formation of excessive amounts of highly colored polyene-metal complexes (HO). 

In 1982 the present author discovered cyclic orbital interactions in acyclic conjugation, and showed that the orbital phase continuity controls acyclic systems as well as the cyclic systems [23]. The orbital phase theory has thus far expanded and is still expanding the scope of its applications. Among some typical examples are included relative stabilities of cross vs linear polyenes and conjugated diradicals in the singlet and triplet states, spin preference of diradicals, regioselectivities, conformational stabilities, acute coordination angle in metal complexes, and so on. 

The use of metal complexed heterocyclic polyenes in these cycloadditions has also proven useful, as both the 1,1-dioxythiepine and azepine derivatives 250 and 253 took part in [6 + 4]- and [6+ 2]-photocycloadditions, respectively, to afford good yields of the... 

Ketenes and isocyanates also undergo facile [6 + 2]-photocycloaddition with metal complexed cyclic polyenes. Irradiation of 232 in the presence of diphenylketene gave 256 in good yield (Scheme 58)120. This should be contrasted with the normal behavior of ketenes toward alkenes, which typically involves [2 + 2]-cycloaddition. Isocyanates such as 257 work as well. The adducts are produced in high yields and have considerable potential in synthesis. 

The product distribution observed in the dimerization of polyene-substituted ketyl radicals is also remarkable in that only products involving dimerization at the carbonyl carbon atom are observed (equation 23)82,83. This finding is quite independent of the reducing agent, since ketyl radicals formed by reduction with low-valent transition metal complexes behave analogously84-86. 

In general, the rearrangements of dienes and polyenes can be both thermal and photochemical reactions (the latters are not included in this chapter), and can be catalyzed by acids, bases, metal complexes and enzymes. They can be degenerate processes or occur with the introduction or elimination of functional groups, be accompanied by shifts of multiple bonds or by migrations of atoms or groups and they may lead to cyclizations. 

Fullerenes, among which the representative and most abundant is the 4 symmetrical Cgg with 30 double bonds and 60 single bonds, are known to behave as electron-deficient polyenes rather than aromatic compounds [7]. The energy level of the triply degenerate LUMO of Cgg is almost as low as those of p-benzoquinone or tetracyanoethylene. Thus, a wide variety of reactions have been reported for Cgg such as nucleophilic addition, [4-1-2] cycloaddition, 1,3-dipolar addition, radical and carbene additions, metal complexation, and so on [7]. Fullerene Cgg also undergoes supramolecular complexation with various host molecules having electron-donating ability and an adequate cavity size [8]. 

Several effects can influence the electronic structure of Cjq upon metal complex formation. One is the removal of one double bond from the remaining 29 fullerene double bonds. As in any polyene system, this decreased conjugation is expected to raise the energy of the LUMO and therefore decreases the electron affinity of the system. Conversely, the d-orbital backbonding transfers electron density from the metal into n orbitals of the remaining double bonds, which also decreases the electron affinity. 

Compounds with a narrow HOMO-LUMO gap (Figure 5.5d) are kinetically reactive and subject to dimerization (e.g., cyclopentadiene) or reaction with Lewis acids or bases. Polyenes are the dominant organic examples of this group. The difficulty in isolation of cyclobutadiene lies not with any intrinsic instability of the molecule but with the self-reactivity which arises from an extremely narrow HOMO-LUMO gap. A second class of compounds also falls in this category, coordinatively unsaturated transition metal complexes. In transition metals, the atomic n d orbital set may be partially occupied and/or nearly degenerate with the partially occupied n + 1 spn set. Such a configuration permits exceptional reactivity, even toward C—H and C—C bonds. These systems are treated separately in Chapter 13. 

Unsaturated organic molecules such as alkenes, alkynes, dienes, polyenes and arenes can also stabilize low oxidation states in metal complexes, being both o donors (filled bonding jt orbitals) and jt acceptors (empty antibonding jt orbitals). In these so-called Jt complexes, only jt orbitals are involved in the metal-to-ligand bonds. This latter type of complex is beyond the scope of this chapter and only a few examples will be given. 

As noted in the introduction, in contrast to attack by nucleophiles, attack of electrophiles on saturated alkene-, polyene- or polyenyl-metal complexes creates special problems in that normally unstable 16-electron, unsaturated species are formed. To be isolated, these species must be stabilized by intramolecular coordination or via intermolecular addition of a ligand. Nevertheless, as illustrated in this chapter, reactions of significant synthetic utility can be developed with attention to these points. It is likely that this area will see considerable development in the future. In addition to refinement of electrophilic reactions of metal-diene complexes, synthetic applications may evolve from the coupling of carbon electrophiles with electron-rich transition metal complexes of alkenes, alkynes and polyenes, as well as allyl- and dienyl-metal complexes. Sequential addition of electrophiles followed by nucleophiles is also viable to rapidly assemble complex structures. 

Allylic metals, in propargylic alcohol alkylation, 11, 129 ir-Allylic palladium complexes, and carbocyclization, 11, 426 Allylic position, alkenes, dienes, polyenes, metallation, 9, 6 Allylic selenides, [2,3]sigmatropic rearrangement, 9, 481 Allylic substitution reactions for C-N bonds via amination... 

A variety of synthetic routes to monoene and polyene tri-fluorophosphine-transition metal complexes have been devised. Direct photochemically induced reaction of a metal-PF3 complex with an activated alkene or diene (method A) has proved useful only for iron, the products being either [Fe(PF3)4(alkene)J or [Fe(PF3)3(diene)] (194). Mixed carbonyl-trifluorophosphine complexes of the type [Fe(PF3)x(CO)3 x(diene)] result from either thermal or photochemical reactions of dieneiron carbonyl complexes and PF3 (52, 53) (method B). The compounds are fluxional. 

As might be expected for a polyene metal cation, the arene ligand in complexes (395) is unreactive toward normal Friedel-Crafts substitution. In turn, the FeCp+ adjunct acts as a good electron-withdrawing group and facilitates attack by hydride and carbanion nucleophiles on the benzene ligand to form ( -cyclohexadienyl)FeCp complexes. For LiAlH4 as nucleophile and at low... 

Table 7 Transition metal complexes of cyclic dienes/trienes/polyenes/n-donor ligands prepared via the metal vapor-ligand codeposition method...

The crystal structure analysis (64) of the vitamin A aldehyde complex (75) (R = CHO), which confirms that suggested (63) on the basis of the NMR spectrum, shows a bonding of the Fe(CO)3 to the polyene chain quite analogous to that observed in several butadiene-(or substituted butadiene-)metal complexes (59, 113). The iron-carbon atom distances and the carbon-carbon bond lengths, clearly suggest (64) a CT,7r-bonded rather than a two-rr-bonded structure. A similar a,Tr bonding has been proposed for the complexes l,l -bicyclopentenyl, -hexenyl, and -heptenyltricarbonyliron (76) (391), and for the tricarbonyliron complex... 

Alkenes, polyenes, arenes, and CO normally do not react with nucleophiles because these species are already electron rich. When these n ligands complex with a metal, however, (especially if the metal is electron deficient due to the presence of other electron-withdrawing ligands or due to a relatively high oxidation state), they are forced to give up some of their electron density to the attached metal complex fragment. The complexed ligands are now electron deficient compared with... 

The ability of organo-rare-earth metal complexes to undergo alkene or alkyne insertion provides the possibility to perform polyene cyclizations, producing metal-alkyl species which can then undergo o-bond metathesis with an appropriate reagent to produce a cyclic compound. Thus, termination via protonolysis (6) results in cycloalkane derivatives however, termination via silylation is more desirable as a functionalized cyclic framework is formed (Fig. 9). 

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