Rhodium nucleophilic carbenes

The EfZ ratio of stilbenes obtained in the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed reaction was independent of catalyst concentration in the range given in Table 22 357). This fact differs from the copper-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate, where the ratio diethyl fumarate diethyl maleate was found to depend on the concentration of the catalyst, requiring two competing mechanistic pathways to be taken into account 365), The preference for the Z-stilbene upon C ClO -or rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of aryldiazomethanes may be explained by the mechanism given in Scheme 39. Nucleophilic attack of the diazoalkane at the presumed metal carbene leads to two epimeric diazonium intermediates 385, the sterically less encumbered of which yields the Z-stilbene after C/C rotation 357,358). Thus, steric effects, favoring 385a over 385 b, ultimately cause the preferred formation of the thermodynamically less stable cis-stilbene. 

The Lewis acid-Lewis base interaction outlined in Scheme 43 also explains the formation of alkylrhodium complexes 414 from iodorhodium(III) meso-tetraphenyl-porphyrin 409 and various diazo compounds (Scheme 42)398), It seems reasonable to assume that intermediates 418 or 419 (corresponding to 415 and 417 in Scheme 43) are trapped by an added nucleophile in the reaction with ethyl diazoacetate, and that similar intermediates, by proton loss, give rise to vinylrhodium complexes from ethyl 2-diazopropionate or dimethyl diazosuccinate. As the rhodium porphyrin 409 is also an efficient catalyst for cyclopropanation of olefins with ethyl diazoacetate 87,1°°), stj bene formation from aryl diazomethanes 358 and carbene insertion into aliphatic C—H bonds 287, intermediates 418 or 419 are likely to be part of the mechanistic scheme of these reactions, too. 

Carbonyl ylides can be viewed as an adduct between a carbonyl group and a carbene and, in fact, some ylides have been prepared this way (see above). The application of carbonyl ylides to the synthesis of complex natural products has been greatly advanced by the finding that stabilized carbenoids can be generated by the decomposition of ot-diazocarbonyl compounds with copper and rhodium complexes. The metallocarbenoids formed by this method are highly electrophilic on carbon and readily add nucleophiles such as the oxygen of many carbonyl derivatives to form carbonyl ylides. This type of reaction is in fact quite old with the first report being the addition of diazomalonate and benzaldehyde (33,34). 

As an alternative to addition of anionic nucleophiles followed by reoxidation, rhodium(l)-catalyzed C-H activation allowed the nucleophilic addition of alkenes to the intermediate Rh(i) carbene complex <2002JA13964, 2004JOC7329>. Purine behaved anomalously compared to other heterocycles, for which selective monoalkylation was observed, and underwent sequential substitution first at C-8 and then at C-6 (Equation 8). Caffeine was monoalkylated at C-8 in low yield (15%). Selectivity for C-8-arylation was also observed in the palladium-catalyzed C-H activation of 6-phenyl-9-benzylpurine (aryl iodides, 0.05 equiv Pd(OAc)2, 3 equiv Cul, 2.5 equiv CS2CO3, DMF, 160 °C, 60 h, 48-95% yields) <2006OL5389>. 

Reaction 7.34 involves a metal-carbene intermediate, while reaction 7.35 involves nucleophilic attack by the diazo compound to the coordinated alkene. With a rhodium-porphyrin catalyst direct spectroscopic evidence has been obtained for the carbene pathway (see Section 2.5.2). 

Substituted bicyclo[ . 1.0]alkanes may also be obtained by condensation of secondary amines with 2-haloketones. A variety of nucleophilic reactions can be carried out on the intermediate cyclopropaniminium salt 116251 (Scheme 108). Competing alkene scission and cyclopropanation occurs on reaction of enamines with pentacarbonyl-chromium carbene complexes252 (Scheme 109). N-Silylated allylamines and their derived N-silylated enamines undergo rhodium or copper catalysed cyclopropanation by methyl diazoacetate253 (Scheme 110). 

Whereas free singlet carbenes are rather unselective with respect to formation of cyclopropane 22 or ylide 23 and the cyclopropane is favored under conditions that populate the triplet state of a carbene (see Section I.2.I.2.4.2.6.2.), the metal carbenes generated with copper or rhodium catalysts display a selectivity for functional groups which are more nucleophilic than a double bond. Thus, no cyclopropanes are obtained from dialkylallylamines allyl sulfides -allyl dithioacetals , and allyl selenides under carbenoid conditions (copper or rhodium catalysts). 

Rh(TTP) reacts with alkyl halides, acyl halides, aroyl halides, and sulfonyl halides, but it shows no evidence of reaction with molecular hydrogen. These observations further emphasize the fact that Rh(TTP) is essentially a nucleophile and it therefore reacts with those reagents RX that can oxidatively add by nucleophilic attack (34). Rh(TTP) does not react with H2, and H2 seems always to add to (P complexes via a concerted mechanism (35). It appears that Rh(TTP) has very little diradical character, i.e. it is not a good analog of a carbene (35). It is possible that this unreactivity may be associated with the stereochemistry of chelation by the macrocyclic ligand. Earlier studies on the oxidative addition reactions of Rh(I) complex with a tetraaza macrocycle revealed that the Rh(I) had strong nucleophilic properties but the activation of molecular H2 was not reported (36, 37). This possibility is supported by reports that dialkyl sulfide complexes of rhodium chloride catalyze the hydrogenation of olefins (38). 

Intramolecular cyclopropanation is a simple and convenient method to produce bicyclic or tricyclic cyclopropanes when electrophiles, such as carbene precursors, and nucleophiles, such as alkenes, are present in the same molecule. The most significant advancement of this method is the formation of [3.1.0] and [4.1.0] bicyclic compounds from the cyclopropanation of allylic and homoallylic diazocarbonyl compounds. Some of the high stereoselective macrocyclic cyclopropanes, with up to 20-membered ring, can also be synthesized with this method. Among the catalysts used in these reactions, rhodium catalysts are most frequently used for their high yields and stereoselectivities. Their exceptional enantiocontrols in a variety of diazo-alkene substrates make them very popular in bioactive molecular synthetic applications. 

Diazo compounds, with or without metal catalysis, are well-known sources of carbenes. For synthetic purposes a metal catalyst is used. The diazo compounds employed are usually a- to an electron-withdrawing group, such as an ester or a ketone, for stability. In the early days, copper powder was the catalyst of choice, but now salts of rhodium are favoured. The chemistry that results looks very like the chemistry of free carbenes, involving cyclopropanation of alkenes, cyclopropenation of alkynes, C-H insertion reactions and nucleophilic trapping. As with other reactions in this chapter, free carbenes are not involved. Rhodium-carbene complexes are responsible for the chemistry. This has enormous consequences for the synthetic applications of the carbenes - not only does the metal tame the ferocity of the carbene, but it also allows control of the chemo-, regio- and stereoselectivity of the reaction by the choice of ligands. 

The second example is a rhodium(II)-catalysed decomposition of an a-diazo ketone (71). This interaction generated a metal-bound carbene that appears to undergo CH-insertion when tethered to thiophenes the product (72) was an aromatic tricycle. The direct CH-insertion mechanism is probably excluded by the reaction of (73). Treatment of (73) with a rhodium catalyst gave rise to a bicyclic system (75) with a pendant ketene group. The ketene appears to have migrated the authors suggested a mechanism via ketene (74), being formed by nucleophilic attack of the enol ether on the electrophilic carbene. ... 

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