Titanium-aluminum complex, Tebbe

Another broad class of compounds are the bridged carbene complexes. These compounds contain two identical or two different metal centers with the carbene centers bonded to both of the metal atoms in a bridging relationship. However, these binuclear complexes generally do not show classical carbene reactivity and will therefore not be discussed further, except to mention briefly the special case of the titanium-aluminum complex (3) developed by Tebbe and Grubbs and their coworkers.101 This, and related complexes, has proven to be particularly useful in organic synthesis, although its principal importance is in reactions other than cyclopropanations. 

Actually, the titanium carbene LXVIII (not as stable as the chromium derivative) is usually generated in situ by stoichiometric reactions of titanium complexes with alkyls of aluminum or magnesium (typically, Tebbe s reagent LXVII ) [107]. 

Complexes with /i -methylidenes are also known. Complex 2.41 in which methylidene and chloride bridges are present between titanium and aluminum is known as Tebbe s complex. Note that had we not known the structure, Tebbe s complex might have been formulated as Cp TiCCH ) plus Me AlCl. As will be seen, Tebbe s complex has relevance in alkene polymerization and metathesis reactions. Complex 2.42 is a unique example of a monometallic complex with a single carbon atom as one of the ligands. From the earlier examples it is clear that representative organometallic complexes with M-CR (n = 0-3) have all been isolated and fully characterized. 

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