Reagents metal/carbon nucleophile reactions

The most often-reported metallic systems used in the formation of carboxylic acids are most certainly those systems that involve a zero-valent nickel species as the active intermediate. Ochiai et al. reported on a bimetallic catalytic system which allowed the synthesis of various saturated carboxylic acid in good yields, under very mild conditions [53] (0.1 MPa C02, 4—8 h reaction time, temperatures ranging from room temperature to 323 K). The catalytic system was based on the use of organozinc reagents as carbon nucleophiles, which could be selectively carboxy-lated in the presence of Ni(acac)2 as the main catalyst. 

We see from these examples that many of the carbon nucleophiles we encountered in Chapter 10 are also nucleophiles toward aldehydes and ketones (cf. Reactions 10-104-10-108 and 10-110). As we saw in Chapter 10, the initial products in many of these cases can be converted by relatively simple procedures (hydrolysis, reduction, decarboxylation, etc.) to various other products. In the reaction with terminal acetylenes, sodium acetylides are the most common reagents (when they are used, the reaction is often called the Nef reaction), but lithium, magnesium, and other metallic acetylides have also been used. A particularly convenient reagent is lithium acetylide-ethylenediamine complex, a stable, free-flowing powder that is commercially available. Alternatively, the substrate may be treated with the alkyne itself in the presence of a base, so that the acetylide is generated in situ. This procedure is called the Favorskii reaction, not to be confused with the Favorskii rearrangement (18-7). ... 

The effect of metal basicity on the mode of reactivity of the metal-carbon bond in carbene complexes toward electrophilic and nucleophilic reagents was emphasized in Section II above. Reactivity studies of alkylidene ligands in d8 and d6 Ru, Os, and Ir complexes reinforce the notion that electrophilic additions to electron-rich compounds and nucleophilic additions to electron-deficient compounds are the expected patterns. Notable exceptions include addition of CO and CNR to the osmium methylene complex 47. These latter reactions can be interpreted in terms of non-innocent participation of the nitrosyl ligand. 

Alternatively, the transmetalation can be facilitated by increasing the nucleophilicity of the carbon nucleophile participating in the cross-coupling, which is most often done by increasing the electron density on the metal by coordination of extra anionic ligands. Two distinct approaches to nucleophilic activation are (i) the addition of appropriate Lewis bases to the reaction mixture (nucleophilic catalysis) or (ii) the use of a preformed, electron-rich, organo-metallic reagent with enhanced nucleophilicity. 

Silicon-based Lewis acids have been known for some time, and the related chemistry in catalysis has recently been reviewed [24]. Most examples in the literature are mainly based on achiral species and will be discussed only briefly in this section. In general, a broad variety of reactions can be catalyzed with compounds like MejSiOTf, MejSiNTf or MOjSiClO. One advantage over some metal Lewis acids is that they are compatible with many carbon nucleophiles like silyl enol ethers, allyl organometallic reagents and cuprates. 

Reaction with even harder nucleophiles such as organolithiums and Grignard reagents is substantially limited by virtue of the fact that these carbon nucleophiles add by direct attack at the metal center, as opposed to the softer carbon nucleophiles which add by attack on the allyl ligand. Direct metal addition can lead to the opening of alternative reaction pathways, e.g. 3-H elimination, in competition with reductive elimination which accomplishes nucleophile allylation (equation 40). 

Most of the examples of carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions discussed earlier utilize stoichiometric quantities of the carbon nucleophile and the carbon electrophile. Most commonly the nucleophilic species is formed in solution (organometallic, enolate, phosphorane, etc.) and the electtophile is added. Thus stoichiometric quantities of reagents such as bases or metals are used to form the reactive nucleophile. These are, for the most part, classic processes that work well and give predictable results. Many have been used quite successfully for well over one hundred years for assembling organic structures. 

The reactions of type II proceed by transmetallation of the complex 5. The transmetallation of 5 with hard carbon nucleophiles M R (M = main group metals) such as Grignard reagents and metal hydrides MH generates 8. Subsequent reductive elimination gives rise to an allene derivative as the final product. Coupling reactions of terminal alkynes in the presence of Cul belong to Type II. 

The second subgroup has the reaction center bound directly to the metal, a situation which occurs with many organometallic reagents. The reaction then involves the cleavage of a strong metal-carbon bond. Lefour and Loupy50 believe that nucleophilic assistance is necessary for this process. The regioselectivity of the reaction depends on the nature of the metal involved. Hard metals tend to promote addition to the carbonyl... 

Carbonyl metallates find their widest application as reagents for introducing electrophilic functionality to the metal centre, which is highly nucleophilic. Table 3.3 indicates nucleophilicities for a range of common carbonyl metallates estimated from conventional SN2 reaction rates with iodomethane. This illustrates their versatility in metal-carbon bond forming reactions however, as shown in Figure 3.6, this reactivity is not limited to carbon electrophiles but allows a wide range of metal-element bonds to be easily formed (see also reactions of metal carbonyls below). 

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