Schrock-type nucleophilic carbenes

Methylidene-rare earth complexes (27) have been synthesized and fully characterized.32 In these complexes, the methylene should be seen as a doubly charged negative ligand. Nevertheless, these methylidene complexes react as Schrock-type nucleophilic carbenes, (27) therefore being analogous to the Tebbe reagent. 

The usual representation of Schrock-type nucleophilic carbenes as electron rich at carbon can be especially misleading in the case of the Tebbe reagent and related complexes. These high oxidation state complexes are electron-deficient and electrophilic at the metal center, and it is unlikely for polarization of the metal-carbon bond to remove even more electron density from the metal under these circumstances. Thus, the reactivity of the Tebbe reagent is more closely related to the electrophilicity and oxophilicity of the metal center than to the nucleophilicity of a polarized carbene carbon that is, the reactivity is due to carbonyl polarization upon complexafion, not attack of the alkylidene carbon on an unactivated, electrophilic carbonyl carbon. 

Fischer-type complexes such as 1 were first prepared in 1964 and their chemical properties studied [1], Schrock-type nucleophilic complexes such as 2 were prepared later [2], They are formed by coordination of strong donor ligands such as alkyl or cyclopentadienyl with no 7i-acccptcr ligand to metals of high oxidation states. The nucleophilic carbene complexes show Wittig s ylide-type reactivity and the structures may be considered as ylides (eq. 8.1)... 

Metal-carbyne complexes M CR are less known than metal carbenes. The carbyne can also be nucleophilic (Schrock type) or electrophilic (Fischer type). Fischer-type metal-carbynes are obtained by reaction of BF3 on a neutral Fischer-type metal-carbene complex, whereas Sehroek earbynes are often obtained by deshydrohalogenation of a Schrock-type metal-carbene eomplex. They catalyze alkyne metathesis and, in particular, give heterocycles with unsaturated substrates. 

Nucleophilic or Schrock-type of carbenes [17-21]. The triplet carbine, however, has two unpaired electrons at its o(aj ) and it(bj ) orbitals that could... 

The surprising stability of N-heterocyclic carbenes was of interest to organometallic chemists who started to explore the metal complexes of these new ligands. The first examples of this class had been synthesized as early as 1968 by Wanzlick [9] and Ofele [10], only 4 years after the first Fischer-type carbene complex was synthesized [2,3] and 6 years before the first report of a Schrock-type carbene complex [11]. Once the N-heterocyclic ligands are attached to a metal they show a completely different reaction pattern compared to the electrophilic Fischer- and nucleophilic Schrock-type carbene complexes. 

A decade after Fischer s synthesis of [(CO)5W=C(CH3)(OCH3)] the first example of another class of transition metal carbene complexes was introduced by Schrock, which subsequently have been named after him. His synthesis of [((CH3)3CCH2)3Ta=CHC(CH3)3] [11] was described above and unlike the Fischer-type carbenes it did not have a stabilizing substituent at the carbene ligand, which leads to a completely different behaviour of these complexes compared to the Fischer-type complexes. While the reactions of Fischer-type carbenes can be described as electrophilic, Schrock-type carbene complexes (or transition metal alkylidenes) show nucleophilicity. Also the oxidation state of the metal is generally different, as Schrock-type carbene complexes usually consist of a transition metal in a high oxidation state. 

AT-heterocyclic carbenes show a pure donor nature. Comparing them to other monodentate ligands such as phosphines and amines on several metal-carbonyl complexes showed the significantly increased donor capacity relative to phosphines, even to trialkylphosphines, while the 7r-acceptor capability of the NHCs is in the order of those of nitriles and pyridine [29]. This was used to synthesize the metathesis catalysts discussed in the next section. Experimental evidence comes from the fact that it has been shown for several metals that an exchange of phosphines versus NHCs proceeds rapidly and without the need of an excess quantity of the NHC. X-ray structures of the NHC complexes show exceptionally long metal-carbon bonds indicating a different type of bond compared to the Schrock-type carbene double bond. As a result, the reactivity of these NHC complexes is also unique. They are relatively resistant towards an attack by nucleophiles and electrophiles at the divalent carbon atom. 

Phosphinidenes differ from carbenes because of the additional lone pair. This lone pair enables interactions with, e.g., a transition metal group for increased stability, while maintaining carbene-hke behavior. These terminal /] -complexed phosphinidenes differ from the p2-> fi3-> and p4-complexes, which are not part of this survey. Phosphinidenes that are stabilized by a transition metal group also relate to carbene complexes. A distinction in Fischer and Schrock-type complexes has been advanced to distinguish phosphinidene complexes with nucleophilic properties from those that are electrophiHc [ 13 ]. In this survey we address this topic in more detail. 

Electrophilic and nucleophilic phosphinidene complexes have been related to the corresponding carbene complexes of which the Fischer-type is usually considered as a singlet-singlet combination and the Schrock-type as a triplet-triplet combination. However, both the strongly preferred triplet state of R-P and the M=P bond analysis suggest this schematic interpretation to be less appropriate for transition metal complexed phosphinidenes. 

When the development of carbene-complex chemistry began in the mid seventies, two different patterns of reactivity emerged and led to a, maybe overemphasized, division of these compounds into (electrophilic) Fischer-type and (nucleophilic) Schrock-type carbene complexes (Figure 1.1). 

In situation (a) a strong carbon-metal bond results. To this group belong the typical Schrock-type carbenes [e.g. Np3Ta=CH(7Bu)], many of which are nucleophilic at carbon. Situation (b) should also lead to nucleophilic carbene complexes, albeit with a weaker carbon-metal bond. Typical reactions of nucleophilic carbene complexes include carbonyl olefination (Section 3.2.4) and olefin metathesis (Section 3.2.5). 

Transition metal carbene complexes have broadly been classified into Fischer-type and Schrock-type carbene complexes. The former, typically low-valent, 18-electron complexes with strong 7t-acceptors at the metal, are electrophilic at the carbene carbon atom (C ). On the other hand, Schrock-type carbene complexes are usually high-valent complexes with fewer than 18 valence electrons, and without n-accepting ligands. Schrock-type carbene complexes generally behave as carbon nucleophiles (Figure 1.4). 

This reactivity pattern is certainly unexpected. Why should low-valent complexes react as electrophiles and highly oxidized complexes be nucleophilic Numerous calculations on model compounds have provided possible explanations for the observed chemical behavior of both Fischer-type [3-8] and Schrock-type [9-17] carbene complexes. In simplified terms, a rationalization of the reactivity of carbene complexes could be as follows. The reactivity of non-heteroatom-stabilized carbene complexes is mainly frontier-orbital-controlled. The energies of the HOMO and LUMO of carbene complexes, which are critical for the reactivity of a given complex, are determined by the amount of orbital overlap and by the energy-difference between the empty carbene 2p orbital and a d orbital (of suitable symmetry) of the group L M. 

Schrock type carbene complexes are usually high-valent, electron-deficient complexes without 7t-accepting ligands. These complexes often behave as C-nucleophiles and typical reactions include carbonyl olefination and olefin metathesis. 

Some Schrock-type carbene complexes, i.e. high-valent, electron-deficient, nucleophilic complexes of early transition metals, can undergo C-H insertion reactions with simple alkanes or arenes. This reaction corresponds to the reversal of the formation of these carbene complexes by elimination of an alkane (Figure 3.36). 

As discussed in previous sections, high-valent carbene complexes of early transition metals have ylide-like, nucleophilic character. Some Schrock-type carbene complexes react with carbonyl compounds in the same manner as do phosphorus ylides, namely by converting the carbonyl group into an alkene. 

Most experimental data suggest that the actual methylenating agent derived from the Tebbe reagent upon treatment with a weak base, is the highly reactive carbene complex Cp2Ti=CH2 [709]. This complex is a typical Schrock-type carbene, because it is high-valent [Ti(IV)], electron-deficient (16 valence electrons) and nucleophilic at carbon. 

It is well known that metal carbenes can be classified as Fisher and Schrock carbenes. The classification is mainly based on the n electron density distribution on the M = C moiety (Scheme 4.2). On the basis of the n electron density distribution, carbene complexes of the Fisher-type (E) are normally electrophilic at the carbene carbon while carbene complexes of the Schrock-type (F) are nucleophilic at the carbene carbon. Similarly, metal vinylidenes could also be classified into the two types Fisher-type (G) and Schrock-type (H). The majority of isolated metal vinylidenes belong to the Fisher-type. On the basis of the 7t electron density distribution shown in... 

Carbenes, generated by several methods, are reactive intermediates and used for further reactions without isolation. Carbenes can also be stabilized by coordination to some transition metals and can be isolated as carbene complexes which have formal metal-to-carbon double bonds. They are classified, based on the reactivity of the carbene, as electrophilic heteroatom-stabilized carbenes (Fischer type), and nucleophilic methylene or alkylidene carbenes (Schrock type). 

The stereoselective synthesis of 1,4-disubstituted-l,3-dienes proceeds by head-to-head oxidative coupling of two alkynes with formation of an isolable metallacyclic biscarbene ruthenium complex [23], as shown in Scheme 6. Several key experiments involving labeled reagents and stoichiometric reactions and theoretical studies support the formation of a mixed Fischer-Schrock-type biscarbene complex which undergoes protonation at one carbene carbon atom whereas the other becomes accessible to nucleophilic addition of the carboxylate anion (Scheme 6) [23]. 

Complexes of type (120) are examples of an amphiphilic alkylidene, that is, the CHR ligand undergoes both electrophilic addition, typical of Schrock-type carbenes, and nucleophilic addition, typical of Fischer-type carbenes, as exemplified in Scheme 25. ... 

A Schrock-type diphenylmethylidene complex has been prepared by nucleophilic attack of phenyl lithium at the carbene carbon of the Fischer-type methoxyphenylcar-bene complex (eq. (4)), which demonstrates the electrophilic nature of the carbene carbon in Fischer-carbene complexes [16, 17]. 

The carbene carbon atom in high oxidation state complexes of Schrock-type car-benes, by contrast, shows nucleophilic behavior. The bonding mode of these two types of carbene complexes may be schematically represented as shown in Scheme 8.3. 

In contrast, Schrock-type carbenes are made by reactions such as 23.39, contain an early J-block metal in a high oxidation state, and show nucleophilic character (i.e. susceptible to attack by electrophiles, e.g. reaction 23.90). Resonance pair 23.52 describes a Schrock-type carbene complex. 

The first carbene compound to be well characterized was prepared in 1966 and was one of many Fischer-Type Carbene Complexes io be reported (see equation 7). Fischer carbenes are characterized by heteroatom substituents at the carbene carbon, stabilization by a low-valent metal center, and a partial positive charge at the carbene carbon. In contrast, Schrock Type Carbene Complexes, or alkylidenes, that have alkyl substituents, are found on metal centers in higher oxidation states, and are nucleophilic at carbon. Many Fischer carbenes are known for chromium, whereas chromium alkylidenes are much less common. Monohalocarbenes of chromium, for example, (OC)5Cr=C(F)NEt2, have also been extensively investigated. Two carbene reactions of note for their application to organic synthesis are the cycloaddition of alkenes with carbene complexes and the reaction of aromatic carbenes with alkynes to yield complexed naphthols (the Dotz reaction ). ... 

Carbenes are defined as species containing divalent carbon [1], and they may display either electrophilic or nucleophilic reactivity depending on whether the two unshared electrons on the carbon center are unpaired (triplet carbene) or paired (singlet carbene). Metal-carbene complexes can be classified in a similar way based on their reactivity toward electrophiles and nucleophiles. The resonance forms shown in Fig. 4.1 define the limiting structures, and the formal charge on the carbene carbon indicates the preferred reactivity. Those that are nucleophilic at carbon are called Schrock-type complexes or alkylidenes, and they generally... 

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