Ruthenium carbonyl elimination

Subsequent insertion of CO into the newly formed alkyl-ruthenium moiety, C, to form Ru-acyl, D, is in agreement with our 13C tracer studies (e.g., Table III, eq. 3), while reductive elimination of propionyl iodide from D, accompanied by immediate hydrolysis of the acyl iodide (3,14) to propionic acid product, would complete the catalytic cycle and regenerate the original ruthenium carbonyl complex. 

Another possible reason that ethylene glycol is not produced by this system could be that the hydroxymethyl complex of (51) and (52) may undergo preferential reductive elimination to methanol, (52), rather than CO insertion, (51). However, CO insertion appears to take place in the formation of methyl formate, (53), where a similar insertion-reductive elimination branch appears to be involved. Insertion of CO should be much more favorable for the hydroxymethyl complex than for the methoxy complex (67, 83). Further, ruthenium carbonyl complexes are known to hydro-formylate olefins under conditions similar to those used in these CO hydrogenation reactions (183, 184). Based on the studies of equilibrium (46) previously described, a mononuclear catalyst and ruthenium hydride alkyl intermediate analogous to the hydroxymethyl complex of (51) seem probable. In such reactions, hydroformylation is achieved by CO insertion, and olefin hydrogenation is the result of competitive reductive elimination. The results reported for these reactions show that olefin hydroformylation predominates over hydrogenation, indicating that the CO insertion process of (51) should be quite competitive with the reductive elimination reaction of (52). 

The mass spectra of several bis(pentafluorophenyl)phosphido and bis(pentafluorophenyl)arsenido derivatives of iron and ruthenium carbonyls of the type [(C6F5)2EM(CO)3]2 [38 E = P or As M = Fe or Ru) have been investigated 75,76), Stepwise losses of carbonyl groups followed by elimination of CgFsFeF or MF2 (M = Fe or Ru) fragments are observed. 

Similar germane eliminations are probably part of the high-temperature condensations reported particularly for ruthenium carbonyl and similar systems (compare 5.8.4.2.1). 

In the first application of ultrafast TRIE spectroscopy (that is, with time-scales of 10 to 10 s), reductive elimination and oxidative addition of H2 have been traced following flash photolysis of the related ruthenium carbonyl dihydride complex Ru(PPh3)3(CO)H2 in benzene solution (90). This precursor is of particular note because it is known to catalyze insertion of alkenes into C-H bonds at the unsaturated carbon center of alkenes or arenes in a position /3 to a carbonyl group. The course of events has been monitored from excitation with an ultrafast UV laser (giving pulses at A = 304 nm with an energy of... 

By monitoring the intensity of the carbonyl absorption it was observed that oxidation of methyl 4,6-0-benzylidene-2-deoxy-a-D-Zt/ ro-hexopyrano-side with chromium trioxide-pyridine at room temperature gave initially the hexopyranosid-3-ulose (2) in low concentration, but attempts to increase this yield resulted in elimination of methanol to give compound 3. However, when methyl 4,6-0-benzylidene-2-deoxy-a-D-Zt/ ro-hexo-pyranoside is oxidized by ruthenium tetroxide in either carbon tetrachloride or methylene dichloride it affords compound 2 without concomitant elimination. When compound 2 was heated for 30 minutes in pyridine which was 0.1 M in either perchloric acid or hydrochloric acid it afforded compound 3, but in pyridine alone it was recoverable unchanged (2). Another example of this type of elimination, leading to the introduction of unsaturation into a glycopyranoid ring, was observed... 

Allyl methylcarbonate reacts with norbornene following a ruthenium-catalyzed carbonylative cyclization under carbon monoxide pressure to give cyclopentenone derivatives 12 (Scheme 4).32 Catalyst loading, amine and CO pressure have been optimized to give the cyclopentenone compound in 80% yield and a total control of the stereoselectivity (exo 100%). Aromatic or bidentate amines inhibit the reaction certainly by a too strong interaction with ruthenium. A plausible mechanism is proposed. Stereoselective CM-carboruthenation of norbornene with allyl-ruthenium complex 13 followed by carbon monoxide insertion generates an acylruthenium intermediate 15. Intramolecular carboruthenation and /3-hydride elimination of 16 afford the -olefin 17. Isomerization of the double bond under experimental conditions allows formation of the cyclopentenone derivative 12. 

The postulated mechanism involves a directing effect of the carbonyl group to the metal center, ideally positioning this metal for insertion into the ortho-G-H bond. The resulting ruthenium hydride undergoes hydridometallation of the olefin followed by reductive elimination to give the new C-C bond. 

The mechanism of the Meerwein-Pondorf-Verley reaction is by coordination of a Lewis acid to isopropanol and the substrate ketone, followed by intermolecular hydride transfer, by beta elimination [41]. Initially, the mechanism of catalytic asymmetric transfer hydrogenation was thought to follow a similar course. Indeed, Backvall et al. have proposed this with the Shvo catalyst [42], though Casey et al. found evidence for a non-metal-activation of the carbonyl (i.e., concerted proton and hydride transfer [43]). This follows a similar mechanism to that proposed by Noyori [44] and Andersson [45], for the ruthenium arene-based catalysts. By the use of deuterium-labeling studies, Backvall has shown that different catalysts seem to be involved in different reaction mechanisms [46]. 

An allenylaldehyde can be transformed efficiently into an a-methylene-y-butyro-lactone by a ruthenium-catalyzed carbonylative cycloaddition process (Scheme 16.34) [37]. The reaction mechanism may involve a metallacyclopentene, which undergoes insertion of CO and reductive elimination leading to the product. 

Coordinated nitrogen donor atoms can be involved in chelate-forming template reactions by virtue of nucleophilic addition to carbonyl compounds. An early and rather specific example does not allow the possibility of elimination following the addition step (equation 46).171 More recent work on ruthenium(III) and osmium(III) results in the formation of a-diimine chelate rings... 

Such a reactivity has been observed previously during the pyridine-promoted solvolysis of acetyltetracarbonyl cobalt(I) (56). Both effects in the case of ruthenium suggest that the carbonylated product does not leave the metal center by reductive elimination of acyl iodide, but rather by nucleophilic displacement. 

Allylic alcohols are isomerized via direct interaction of the ruthenium atom with alcohol. /3-Elimination of ruthenium hydride from metal alkoxide yields a ruthe-nium-enone species C which undergoes insertion of the olefinic moiety into the Ru-H to form an oxyallylic intermediate D. As a result, the hydrogen atom shifts from the a- to y-position of the allylalcohol. Protonolysis of the oxyallylic species leads to a saturated carbonyl compound and cationic unsaturated species, [CpRu(PPh3)2] A. 

The proposed mechanism for the oxidation reaction is presented in Scheme 14.44. The formation of Ru-alcoholate (species 11) by the reaction of catalyst I with benzyl alcohol is considered to be the first step of the catalytic cycle, followed by P-hydride elimination to produce the corresponding carbonyl compound and probably a ruthenium hydride species. Subsequent reaction of complex 111 with may afford the complex Ru-hydroperoxide IV. The uptake of alcohol again completes the cycle with the formation of and H O. 

---