Reductive cyclotrimerization

As an illustrative example taken from the current literature, consider the variation of C-C and C-O bond lengths in the deltate species CsO2- held within a dinuclear organometallic uranium(IV) complex. In a remarkable synthesis, this cyclic aromatic oxocarbon dianion is generated by the metal-mediated reductive cyclotrimerization of carbon monoxide, as indicated in the reaction scheme... 

TMSCl is essential as a promoter in a low-valent vanadium-catalysed reductive cyclotrimerization of aliphatic aldehydes, producing 1,3-dioxolanes (equation 4). It is also an essential component in the zinc-induced intramolecular imine cross coupling of diarylidene sulphamides subsequent cleavage provides a route to unsymmetiical l,2-diaryl-l,2-diaminoethanes (equation 5). It acts as an activating agent in the samarium-promoted cyclopropanation of allylic and a-allenic alcohols. 

Pd-cataly2ed reactions of butadiene are different from those catalyzed by other transition metal complexes. Unlike Ni(0) catalysts, neither the well known cyclodimerization nor cyclotrimerization to form COD or CDT[1,2] takes place with Pd(0) catalysts. Pd(0) complexes catalyze two important reactions of conjugated dienes[3,4]. The first type is linear dimerization. The most characteristic and useful reaction of butadiene catalyzed by Pd(0) is dimerization with incorporation of nucleophiles. The bis-rr-allylpalladium complex 3 is believed to be an intermediate of 1,3,7-octatriene (7j and telomers 5 and 6[5,6]. The complex 3 is the resonance form of 2,5-divinylpalladacyclopentane (1) and pallada-3,7-cyclononadiene (2) formed by the oxidative cyclization of butadiene. The second reaction characteristic of Pd is the co-cyclization of butadiene with C = 0 bonds of aldehydes[7-9] and CO jlO] and C = N bonds of Schiff bases[ll] and isocyanate[12] to form the six-membered heterocyclic compounds 9 with two vinyl groups. The cyclization is explained by the insertion of these unsaturated bonds into the complex 1 to generate 8 and its reductive elimination to give 9. 

Recently, it has been demonstrated that coordination vacancies on the surface metal cations are relevant to the unique redox reactivity of oxide surfaces]2]. Oxidation of fonnaldehyde and methyl formate to adsorbed formate intermediates on ZnO(OOOl) and reductive C-C coupling of aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes and cyclic ketones on 1102(001) surfaces reduced by Ar bombardment are observed in temperature-prognunmed desorption(TPD). The thermally reduced 1102(110) surface which is a less heavily damaged surface than that obtained by bombardment and contains Ti cations in the -t-3 and +4 states, still shows activity for the reductive coupling of formaldehyde to form ethene]13]. Interestingly, the catalytic cyclotrimerization of alkynes on TiO2(100) is also traced in UHV conditions, where cation coordination and oxidation states appear to be closely linked to activity and selectivity. The nonpolar Cu20( 111) surface shows a... 

The isomerization barrier of 15.0-20.0 kcal mol-1 (AG ) can be considered to be large enough to allow isolation and characterization of bis(q3-<2 /),A- nms-dodecatrienediyl-Nin stereoisomers of 7b41 as reactive intermediates in the stoichiometric cyclotrimerization process. Furthermore, the trans orientation of the two allylic groups gives rise to an insurmountable barrier for reductive elimination for these cases, which prevents these species from readily leaving the thermodynamic sink via a facile reductive elimination. The isolated intermediates clearly constitute dead-end... 

From the mechanistic point of view, the observed competitive reactions can be explained by considering two different pathways (Scheme 114). The intermediacy of ruthenacyclopentadiene 453 or biscarbenoid 452, formed from the reaction of a diyne and a ruthenium(ll) complex, is postulated in the proposed mechanism. Cyclopropanation of the alkene starts with the formation of ruthenacyclobutane 456, which leads to the generation of the vinylcarbene 457. Then, the second cyclopropanation occurs to afford the biscyclopropyl product 458. Insertion of the alkene 459 into the ruthenacyclopentadiene 453 affords the ruthenacycloheptadiene 454. The subsequent reductive elimination gives the cyclotrimerization product 455. The selectivity toward the bis-cyclopropyl product 458 is improved with an increasing order of haptotropic flexibility of the cyclopentadienyl-type ligand. 

A plausible mechanism for the cyclotrimerization includes initial oxidative cyclization between the less-hindered alkyne terminus and the ketone carbonyl group to form an oxaruthenacyclopentene intermediate. The insertion of the second alkyne terminus into the C-Ru bond, followed by reductive elimination, affords the 277-pyran compounds. 

Okamoto and coworkers recently described the iron-catalyzed cyclotrimerization of alkynes utilizing a low-valent iron-diimine complex that was generated in situ upon reduction with zinc dust (Scheme 9.34) [92]. 

To highlight what one would expect in reactions of the diphosphazirco-nole 37, it is instructive to examine the rj4-l,3-diphosphacyclobutadiene complex (38) (94,95), whose X-ray structure is compared in Fig. 15 with that of the isoelectronic rj4-cyclobutadiene complex 39 (96). Compound 38 is readily obtained from reaction of (Cp)Co(T/2-C2H4)2 and 2 equiv of Bu CP. The same reaction with a pure alkyne does not stop at a cyclodimer but leads to cyclotrimerization (97). In fact, transition metal-cyclobutadiene complexes normally form only at temperatures above 80°C, presumably from a metallole intermediate, by a double reductive elimination process. It is noteworthy how readily this cyclodimerization to complex 38 takes place with phosphaalkynes. 

Arene complexes are usually prepared by the following methods (i) metal vapor synthesis (see Metal Vapor Synthesis of Transition Metal Compounds).(ii) AEAIX3 reduction of a metal halide in the presence of the arene and (hi) alkyne cyclotrimerization (see Cyclodimerization -tri-merization Reactions). Synthetic procedmes to obtain r] -arene derivatives have been reviewed by Pampaloni and Calderazzo. Over the past ten years, studies in this... 

A wide variety of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts are available for alkyne cyclotrimerization. As a result, numerous mechanistic pathways have been established for the different versions of this process, each characteristic of the metals involved in the system. The most common involves the intermediacy of metallacyclopentadienes, derived as already shown from any number of metal fragments and two alkynes. Upon opening a vacant coordination site, these systems may readily complex a third alkyne, which may insert to give a transient metallacycloheptatriene from which the benzene product is ultimately released via reductive elimination of the metal (Scheme 24). ... 

In addition to isolation and characterization of the ruthenacycle complexes 18 or 32, the detailed reaction mechanism of the [2 + 2 + 2] cyclotrimerization of acetylene was analyzed by means of density functional calculations with the Becke s three-parameter hybrid density functional method (B3LYP) [25, 33]. As shown in Scheme 4.12, the acetylene cyclotrimerization is expected to proceed with formal insertion/reductive elimination mechanism. The acetylene insertion starts with the formal [2 + 2] cycloaddition of the ruthenacycle 35 and acetylene via 36 with almost no activation barrier, leading to the bicydic intermediate 37. The subsequent ring-... 

In the case of tetramethylbutatriene, Ni(0) catalyzes not only the cyclodimerization (formation of [4]radialene 94), but also the cyclotrimerization, leading to [6]radialene 95 and its isomer 96 (see also Section ILD). The product pattern depends to some extent on the nature of the catalyst, but the choice of solvent seems to be more crucial. This is illustrated impressively by the Ni(cod)2-catalyzed reaction of 93, which leads exclusively to the [4]radialene in toluene solution, but to the [6]radialene in DMF. Interestingly, the stoichiometric reaction between 93 and (2,2Tbipyridyl)-(l,5-cyclooctadiene)nickel yields the nickel complex 97, which has been isolated and characterized by X-ray diffraction. On treatment of 97 with two equivalents of maleic anhydride, reductive elimination of nickel takes place and octamethyl[4]radialene (94) is formed in good yield. This reaction sequence sheds light on the mechanism of the Ni-catalyzed reactions mentioned above further ideas on the mechanism of the cyclodimerization and cyclotrimerization reactions have been developed by lyoda and coworkers. ... 

REACTION PRODUCTS AND ORGANOMETALLIC INTERMEDIATES WITH NICKEL(0) COMPLEXES. Nickel(O) complexes such as (Cod)2Ni, show a striking parallel with lithium(0) complexes in their reactions with diphenylacetylene a sequence of monomolecular reduction bimolecular, stereospecific reduction and cyclotrimerization (Scheme IX). Consonant with the suggestion that nickel(0) forms nickelirene (26) and nickelole (27) intermediates in the course of cyclotrimerization of diphenylacetylene is the isolation of (Z)-l,2-di-phenylethene (28) and (E,E)-1,2,3,4-tetraphenyl-l,3-butadiene (29) upon hydrolysis. Furthermore, when DC1 was used in the workup, both 28 and 29... 

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