Rhodium acetylene, insertion

As corroborated by deuterium labeling studies, the catalytic mechanism likely involves oxidative dimerization of acetylene to form a rhodacyclopen-tadiene [113] followed by carbonyl insertion [114,115]. Protonolytic cleavage of the resulting oxarhodacycloheptadiene by the Bronsted acid co-catalyst gives rise to a vinyl rhodium carboxylate, which upon hydrogenolysis through a six-centered transition structure and subsequent C - H reductive elimina-... 

In sharp contrast to the unique pattern for the incorporation of carbon monoxide into the 1,6-diyne 63, aldehyde 77 was obtained as the sole product in the rhodium-catalyzed reaction of 1,6-enyne 76 with a molar equivalent of Me2PhSiH under CO (Scheme 6.15, mode 1) [22]. This result can be explained by the stepwise insertion of the acetylenic and vinylic moieties into the Rh-Si bond, the formyl group being generated by the reductive elimination to afford 77. The fact that a formyl group can be introduced to the ole-finic moiety of 76 under mild conditions should be stressed, since enoxysilanes are isolated in the rhodium-catalyzed silylformylation of simple alkenes under forcing conditions. The 1,6-enyne 76 is used as a typical model for Pauson-Khand reactions (Scheme 6.15, mode 2) [23], whereas formation of the corresponding product was completely suppressed in the presence of a hydrosilane. The selective formation of 79 in the absence of CO (Scheme 6.15, mode 3) supports the stepwise insertion of the acetylenic and olefmic moieties in the same molecules into the Rh-Si bond. 

We have explored two types of carbon-carbon bond forming reactions operated under almost neutral conditions. Both reactions are initiated by the formation of an H-Rh-Si species through oxidative addition of a hydrosilane to a low-valence rhodium complex. Aldol-type three-component couphngs are followed by the insertion of an a,yS-unsatu-rated carbonyl compound into a Rh-H bond, whereas silylformylation is accomplished by the insertion of an acetylenic moiety into a Rh-Si bond. 

Unsaturated ethers. The efficient insertion of carboalkoxycarbenes into the O—H bond of alcohols catalyzed by Rh(II) acetate (5, 571-572) extends to reactions with unsaturated alcohols. For this reaction copper(II) triflate is usually comparable to rhodium(II) alkanoates. Insertion predominates over cyclopropanation in the case of ethylenic alcohols. In reactions with acetylenic alcohols, cyclopropenation can predominate over insertion because of steric effects, as in reactions of HC=CC(CH3)2OH where the insertion/addition ratio is 36 56. 

Reactions of rhodium(III) porphyrins with olefins and acetylenes - Ogoshi et al. [326] have described the reactions of vinyl ether with rhodium (III) porphyrins which are depicted in reaction sequence (33). Step (a) appears to be an insertion of the olefin into the Rh-Cl bond followed by alcoholysis of a chlorosemiacetal to the acetal, step (b) is the hydrolysis of the acetal to the aldehyde. The insertion is thought to start by heterolysis of the Rh-Cl bond producing a cationic species which forms a 7i-complex with the electron-rich olefin. 

The reaction of acetylenic alcohols with ethyl diazoacetate and a rhodium acetate catalyst resulted in competitive addition to the alkyne and insertion into the H-0 bond in ratios varying from 15 to 0.6 depending on the substrate and the catalyst. ... 

Cyclopropenation. Cyclopropenes can be formed from alkynes by reaction with methyl diazoacetate using a rhodium(ll) carboxylate as catalyst. The reaction is not particularly subject to steric hindrance, but polar groups (CH2COOCH3) inhibit cyclopropenation markedly. Insertion reactions compete with cyclopropenation in the case of acetylenic alcohols. ... 

The cyclization did not work well with 4- or 6-carbon terminal aUcynols or with compounds containing nonterminal alkynes. The proposed mechanism involved initial oxidative addition of the OH group to the rhodium center with loss of CO and coordination of the pendant acetylene. Migratory insertion in a 5-exo-dig mode produces the coordinated cyclic vinyl ether, which could add an alcohol to the vinyl group and reductive elimination of the organic product regenerates the reactive metal complex. Alternatively, reductive elimination from the metal vinyl ether would produce a vinyl ether, which would be trapped by the alcoholic solvent (Scheme 14). 

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