Transition metal enolates redox reactions

In view of the extensive and fruitful results described above, redox reactions of small ring compounds provide a variety of versatile synthetic methods. In particular, transition metal-induced redox reactions play an important role in this area. Transition metal intermediates such as metallacycles, carbene complexes, 71-allyl complexes, transition metal enolates are involved, allowing further transformations, for example, insertion of olefins and carbon monoxide. Two-electron- and one-electron-mediated transformations are complementary to each other although the latter radical reactions have been less thoroughly investigated. 

Although several research groups have been interested in transition metal enolates to use the metal centre as a potential site of asymmetry in the design of chiral catalysts, examples of well defined redox reaction involving middle to late transition elements and lanthanides are scarce in the literatnre. Based on Pearson s theory of hard and soft acids and bases", it has been proposed that combining a hard ligand with a soft late transition metal centre may lead to weak metal-heteroatom links, resnlting in reactive late metal-heteroatom bonds. 

Quite a number of transition-metal complexes are capable of isomerizing allyUc alcohols into transition-metal-enol complexes through an internal redox process. Those can then be trapped in situ with aldehydes in an aldol reaction. Motherwell and coworkers developed a RhClIPPhjIj-catalyzed domino isomerization-aldol reaction of secondary allyl alcohols, which gave rise to a mixture of syn- and owti-aldol products, with only small amounts of the regioisomeric aldol product occasionally being formed (Scheme 8.25) [42]. 

Various transition metals have been used in redox processes. For example, tandem sequences of cyclization have been initiated from malonate enolates by electron-transfer-induced oxidation with ferricenium ion Cp2pe+ (51) followed by cyclization and either radical or cationic termination (Scheme 41). ° Titanium, in the form of Cp2TiPh, has been used to initiate reductive radical cyclizations to give y- and 5-cyano esters in a 5- or 6-exo manner, respectively (Scheme 42). The Ti(III) reagent coordinates both to the C=0 and CN groups and cyclization proceeds irreversibly without formation of iminyl radical intermediates.The oxidation of benzylic and allylic alcohols in a two-phase system in the presence of r-butyl hydroperoxide, a copper catalyst, and a phase-transfer catalyst has been examined. The reactions were shown to proceed via a heterolytic mechanism however, the oxidations of related active methylene compounds (without the alcohol functionality) were determined to be free-radical processes. 

C. Redox Reactions of Enolates of Transition Metals and Lanthanides. . . 484... 

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