Ruthenium-allenylidene

Keywords Ruthenium-carbenes, Ruthenium-allenylidenes, Ring closing metathesis, Natural product synthesis, Fine chemicals. 

Since the vinylcarbenes la-c and the aryl substituted carbene (pre)catalyst Id, in the first turn of the catalytic cycle, both afford methylidene complex 3 as the propagating species in solution, their application profiles are essentially identical. Differences in the rate of initiation are relevant in polymerization reactions, but are of minor importance for RCM to which this chapter is confined. Moreover, the close relationship between 1 and the ruthenium allenylidene complexes 2 mentioned above suggests that the scope and limitations of these latter catalysts will also be quite similar. Although this aspect merits further investigations, the data compiled in Table 1 clearly support this view. 

Although the ruthenium allenylidene complexes 2 have not yet been as comprehensively studied as their carbene counterparts, they also seem to exhibit a closely related application profile [6]. So far, they have proven to tolerate ethers, esters, amides, sulfonamides, ketones, acetals, glycosides and free secondary hydroxyl groups in the substrates (Table 1). 

Fig. 7 Some examples of six- and five-coordinate ruthenium allenylidenes...

The central Co,=Cp double bond of an allenylidene backbone can also react with a variety of dipolar organic substrates to yield cyclic adducts. Most of the cychza-tion processes reported occur in a stepwise manner via an initial nucleophilic attack at the Coi atom and further rearrangement of the molecule involving a coupling with the Cp carbon. Representative examples are the reactions of the electron-poor ruthenium-allenylidene complex 46 with ethyl diazoacetate and 1,1-diethylpropar-gylamine to yield the five- and six-membered heterocyclic compounds 82 and 83, respectively (Scheme 29) [260, 284]. 

Highly reactive organic vinylidene and allenylidene species can be stabilized upon coordination to a metal center [1]. In 1979, Bruce et al. [2] reported the first ruthenium vinylidene complex from phenylacetylene and [RuCpCl(PPh3)2] in the presence of NH4PF6. Following this report, various mthenium vinylidene complexes have been isolated and their physical and chemical properties have been extensively elucidated [3]. As the a-carbon of ruthenium vinylidenes and the a and y-carbon of ruthenium allenylidenes are electrophilic in nature [4], the direct formation of ruthenium vinylidene and ruthenium allenylidene species, respectively, from terminal alkynes and propargylic alcohols provides easy access to numerous catalytic reactions since nucleophilic addition at these carbons is a viable route for new catalysis (Scheme 6.1). 

As described in the previous sections, a variety of nucleophiles attack the Cy atom of ruthenium-allenylidene intermediates. Aromatic compounds should also be suitable candidates and this was found to be the case [30]. Thus, reactions of propargylic alcohols with heteroaromatic compounds such as furans, thiophenes, pyrroles, and indoles in the presence of a diruthenium catalyst such as la proceeded smoothly to afford the corresponding propargylated heteroaromatic compounds in high yields with complete regioselectivity (Scheme 7.25). The reaction is considered to be an electrophilic aromatic substitution if viewed from the side of aromatic compounds. 

Ruthenium Allenylidenes and Indenylidenes as Catalysts in Alkene Metathesis... 

Among the R2C(=C) =Ru homologs promoting alkene metathesis the most recent discoveries deal vhth the allenylidene-ruthenium and related pre-catalysts. This chapter is devoted to the class of ruthenium-allenylidene metathesis precatalysts, their intramolecularly rearranged indenylidene catalysts, and their use in... 

The observation by Selegue in 1982 [13] that 16 electron ruthenium(II) intermediates could activate terminal propargyl alcohols into ruthenium-allenylidene complexes, via 3-hydroxyvinylidene-metal intermediates, showed not only thatthese allenylidene complexes were stable toward the action of the released water but, especially, that it could be an excellent way to generate allenylidene-metal complexes from easily accessible sources, the propargyl alcohols (Equation 8.1). 

This evidence of easy stoichiometric formation of ruthenium-allenylidene led Trost, 10 years later, to propose for the first time such an intermediate in a ruthenium (Il)-catalyzed transformation of functional propargyl alcohols [18[. Since 2000 Nishibayashi et al. [19-23] have developed a set of catalytic propargylations, with... 

In the field of alkene metathesis ruthenium-allenylidene precursors have made, since 1998, an important contribution to catalysis [12, 31, 32], for the formation of cycles and macrocycles via RCM, ROMP and acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization. 

Scheme 8.5 Enyne metathesis catalyzed by the photochemically activated ruthenium allenylidene precursor la.

Table 8.1 ROMP of cycloalkenes with ruthenium allenylidene catalysts.

Other closely related ruthenium-allenylidene were made and evaluated in alkene metathesis [32]. Werner et al. [49] also produced allenylidene complexes of analogous structure to that of the Grubbs catalyst, but containing hemilabile phosphine such as complex X (Scheme 8.9). However, the Ru—O bond may be too stable to initiate the rearrangement into indenylidene, the coordination of alkene and to become a catalyst. 

Scheme 8.10 Ruthenium allenylidene complexes with chelating NHC ligand.

Scheme 8.11 Formation of indenylidene ruthenium complex accelerated bythe protonation of ruthenium allenylidene complex.

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