Transition metal alkyl compounds synthesis

Attempts to synthesize transition metal alkyl compounds have been continuous since 1952 when Herman and Nelson (1) reported the preparation of the compound C H6>Ti(OPri)3 in which the phenyl group was sigma bonded to the metal. This led to the synthesis by Piper and Wilkinson (2) of (jr-Cpd)2 Ti (CH3)2 in 1956 and a large number of compounds of titanium with a wide variety of ligands such as ir-Cpd, CO, pyridine, halogen, etc., all of which were inactive for polymerization. An important development was the synthesis of methyl titanium halides by Beerman and Bestian (3) and Ti(CH3)4 by Berthold and Groh (4). These compounds show weak activity for ethylene polymerization but are unstable at temperatures above — 70°C. At these temperatures polymerizations are difficult and irreproduceable and consequently the polymerization behavior of these compounds has been studied very little. In 1963 Wilke (5) described a new class of transition metal alkyl compounds—x-allyl complexes,... 

Reaction of [Mn(R)(CO)j] with neutral nucleophiles is by far the most widely studied type of reaction for [Mn(R)(CO)s] compounds. The reaction usually involves addition of the neutral neucleophile, L, and is accompanied by CO insertion/alkyl migration to form an acyl species [Eq. (29)]. L is usually a tertiary phosphine (PR3), an alkylated amine (RNH2), or free carbon monoxide. Besides being a carbon-carbon bond forming reaction of fundamental importance, alkyl migration reactions of transition metal alkyl species have direct relevance to catalysis, especially for the 0X0 or hydroformylation process (2), the Monsanto acetic acid synthesis (2), and the synthesis of ethylene glycol (94). 

The ease of reversal of alkene insertion is evident from the numerous syntheses of transition metal-hydride complexes using main group metal alkyls as the source of hydride. The hydride in the products of such reactions usually arises from -hydride abstraction or elimination from intermediate unstable transition metal alkyls. This idea is reinforced by the greater effectiveness of secondary alkyls such as isopropyl or cyclohexyl compounds. However, it has been shown that in at least one case the hydride results from hydrolysis of a Pt-Mg bond, not from the alkyl formed from reaction of a Pt-Cl bond with a Grignard reagent. Several of the reactions listed in Table 1 are spontaneously reversible. Reactions where -hydride elimination has been used in the synthesis of hydrides are listed in Table... 

The synthesis of transition metal alkyls usually involves the interaction of a very reactive metal alkyl, with a transition metal halide or alkoxide. This approach necessarily involves having two metals in the system which considerably complicates the problem of isolation of single pure compounds. In addition, low-valence transition metal compounds are electron-deficient molecules, and, for this reason, they will attempt to expand their coordination number by sharing ligands (halogen, alkyl, etc.) between two metal centers with the formation of bimetallic complexes. 

Numerous unusual organosulfiir transition metal compounds have been obtained by reactions of various metal carbonyls and cyclopentadienyl-metal carbonyls with certain mercaptans, sulfides, disulfides, and dithietenes (1,2). Other types of organosulfiir transition metal compounds have been obtained from metal sulfides and certain acetylene derivatives (3). This paper discusses a new and entirely different synthesis of new types of organosulfur derivatives of metal carbonyls with metal-sulfiir bonds. These new compounds have been obtained by thermal or photochemical decarbonylation of compounds of general formula CH S CH ) U(CO)yHC H )y (n = 1,2 or 3 M = Fe [x 2, y = 1], or Mn [x = 5, y = OJ) without metal-sulfur bonds. These sulfur-containing transition metal alkyl derivatives, none of which has been previously reported, may in turn be obtained from metal carbonyl anions and the chloroalkyl methyl sulfides CH S(CHpnCl. 

In the preparative section 3.2 devoted to metal-carbene complexes, it is shown how the a-elimination reaction from high oxidation state early-transition-metal-alkyl complexes is one of the general methods of synthesis of Schrock s Ta and Nb alkylidene complexes. The other direction, formation of an alkylidene from an alkylidyne complex, can also be a valuable route to metal alkylidenes. For instance, Schrock s arylamino-tungsten-carbynes can be isomerized to imido-tungsten-carbene by using a catalytic amount of NEts as a base. These compounds are precursors of olefin metathesis catalysts by substitution of the two Cl ligands by bulky alkoxides (dimethoxyethane then decoordinates for steric reasons), and this route was extended to Mo complexes ... 

Monoanions derived from nitroalkanes are more prone to alkylate on oxygen rather than on carbon in reactions with alkyl halides, as discussed in Section 5.1. Methods to circumvent O-alkylation of nitro compounds are presented in Sections 5.1 and 5.4, in which alkylation of the a.a-dianions of primary nitro compounds and radial reactions are described. Palladium-catalyzed alkylation of nitro compounds offers another useful method for C-alkylation of nitro compounds. Tsuj i and Trost have developed the carbon-carbon bond forming reactions using 7t-allyl Pd complexes. Various nucleophiles such as the anions derived from diethyl malonate or ethyl acetoacetate are employed for this transformation, as shown in Scheme 5.7. This process is now one of the most important tools for synthesis of complex compounds.6811-1 Nitro compounds can participate in palladium-catalyzed alkylation, both as alkylating agents (see Section 7.1.2) and nucleophiles. This section summarizes the C-alkylation of nitro compounds using transition metals. 

Asymmetric synthesis of tricyclic nitro ergoline synthon (up to 70% ee) is accomplished by intramolecular cyclization of nitro compound Pd(0)-catalyzed complexes with classical C2 symmetry diphosphanes.94 Palladium complexes of 4,5-dihydrooxazoles are better chiral ligands to promote asymmetric allylic alkylation than classical catalysts. For example, allylic substitution with nitromethane gives enantioselectivity exceeding 99% ee (Eq. 5.62).95 Phosphi-noxazolines can induce very high enatioselectivity in other transition metal-catalyzed reactions.96 Diastereo- and enantioselective allylation of substituted nitroalkanes has also been reported.9513... 

Transition metal complexes have been used in a number of reactions leading to the direct synthesis of pyridine derivatives from acyclic compounds and from other heterocycles. It is pertinent also to describe two methods that have been employed to prepare difficultly accessible 3-alkyl-, 3-formyl-, and 3-acylpyridines. By elaborating on reported194,195 procedures used in aromatic reactions, it is possible to convert 3-bromopyridines to products containing a 3-oxoalkyl function196 (Scheme 129). A minor problem in this simple catalytic process is caused by the formation in some cases of 2-substituted pyridines but this is minimized by using dimethyl-formamide as the solvent.196... 

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