Transition metal-allyl systems

A combination of molecular mechanics, based on the dummy atom technique described above, with a QSAR-type treatment and a linear free energy relationship (LFER)-based model was used successfully to analyze the relative importance ofsteric influences on regioselectivity and stereoselectivity in the palladium-catalyzed allyla-tion reaction ]564]. 

MM3 -based force fields for (p -allyl)palladium and palladium-olefin complexes with various co-ligands, which are based on the POS approach and do not require dummy atoms to define the connectivity, have been developed and vahdated with experimentally observed and QM omputed data [179, 565]. 

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A detailed study of the mechanism of the insertion reaction of monomer between the metal-carbon bond requires quantitative information on the kinetics of the process. For this information to be meaningful, studies should be carried out on a homogeneous system. Whereas olefins and compounds such as Zr(benzyl)4 and Cr(2-Me-allyl)3, etc. are very soluble in hydrocarbon solvents, the polymers formed are crystalline and therefore insoluble below the melting temperature of the polyolefine formed. It is therefore not possible to use olefins for kinetic studies. Two completely homogeneous systems have been identified that can be used to study the polymerization quantitatively. These are the polymerization of styrene by Zr(benzyl)4 in toluene (16, 25) and the polymerization of methyl methacrylate by Cr(allyl)3 and Cr(2-Me-allyl)3 (12)- The latter system is unusual since esters normally react with transition metal allyl compounds (10) but a-methyl esters such as methyl methacrylate do not (p. 270) and the only product of reaction is polymethylmethacrylate. Also it has been shown with both systems that polymerization occurs without a change in the oxidation state of the metal. 

It is more difficult to study equilibria between transition metal allyl compounds and bases, olefins, etc. In the case of Zr (allyl) 4 and pyridine, a valency change occurs as shown by Eq. (8), and the process is irreversible. The polymerization is considered to be preceded by displacement of one allyl group by the monomer (12) as shown in Eq. (1). In the methyl methacrylate/Cr(allyl)3 system it was not possible to detect any interaction between the olefin and catalyst with infrared radiation, even with equimolar concentrations because of the strong absorption by the allyl groups not involved in the displacement processes. Due to the latter, evidence for equilibrium between monomer and catalyst is less likely to be found with these compounds than with the transition metal benzyl compounds. 

The polymerization of conjugated dienes with transition metal catalytic systems is an insertion polymerization, as is that of monoalkenes with the same systems. Moreover, it is nearly generally accepted that for diene polymerization the monomer insertion reaction occurs in the same two steps established for olefin polymerization by transition metal catalytic systems (i) coordination of the monomer to the metal and (ii) monomer insertion into a metal-carbon bond. However, polymerization of dienes presents several peculiar aspects mainly related to the nature of the bond between the transition metal of the catalytic system and the growing chain, which is of o type for the monoalkene polymerizations, while it is of the allylic type in the conjugated diene polymerizations.174-183... 

Finally, the hybridization of the carbon atom also has a marked effect on its willingness to attach to the transition metal. Allyl or benzyl halides undergo oxidative addition faster than aromatic or vinyl halides. The least reactive are alkyl halides which require the use of nickel(O)9 complexes or highly active catalyst systems.10 If we start from an optically active substrate, then the oxidative addition usually proceeds in a stereoselective manner. 

Benn R, Bussemeier B, Flolle S, Jolly PW, Mynott R, Tkatchenko I, Wilke G (1985) Transition-metal allyls. 6. The stoichiometric reaction of 1,3-dienes with ligand modified zerovalent-nickel systems. J Organomet Chem 279 63-86... 

The very first example of the catalytic reductive cyclization of an acetylenic aldehyde involves the use of a late transition metal catalyst. Exposure of alkynal 78a to a catalytic amount of Rh2Co2(CO)12 in the presence of Et3SiH induces highly stereoselective hydrosilylation-cyclization to provide the allylic alcohol 78b.1 8 This rhodium-based catalytic system is applicable to the cyclization of terminal alkynes to form five-membered rings, thus complementing the scope of the titanocene-catalyzed reaction (Scheme 54). 

For the synthesis of heterocycles, an efficient strategy has been introduced utilizing the dual transition metal sequences (Scheme 6).11,lla The key issue is the compatibility of the two catalyst systems. Jeong et al. studied the one-pot preparation of bicyclopentenone 35 from propargylsulfonamide 33 and allylic acetate.11 This transformation includes two reactions the first palladium-catalyzed allylation of 33 generates an enyne 34 and the following Pauson-Khand type reaction (PKR) of 34 yields a bicyclopentenone 35. The success of this transformation reflects the right combination of catalysts which are compatible with each other because the allylic amination can be facilitated by the electron-rich palladium(O) catalyst and the PKR needs a Lewis-acidic catalyst. Trost et al. reported the one-pot enantioselective... 

Various transition metals have been used in redox processes. For example, tandem sequences of cyclization have been initiated from malonate enolates by electron-transfer-induced oxidation with ferricenium ion Cp2pe+ (51) followed by cyclization and either radical or cationic termination (Scheme 41). ° Titanium, in the form of Cp2TiPh, has been used to initiate reductive radical cyclizations to give y- and 5-cyano esters in a 5- or 6-exo manner, respectively (Scheme 42). The Ti(III) reagent coordinates both to the C=0 and CN groups and cyclization proceeds irreversibly without formation of iminyl radical intermediates.The oxidation of benzylic and allylic alcohols in a two-phase system in the presence of r-butyl hydroperoxide, a copper catalyst, and a phase-transfer catalyst has been examined. The reactions were shown to proceed via a heterolytic mechanism however, the oxidations of related active methylene compounds (without the alcohol functionality) were determined to be free-radical processes. 

The transition metal-catalyzed allylic substitution using hard or unstabilized nucleophiles has not been extensively studied, particularly with unsymmetrical allylic alcohol derivatives. This may be attributed to the highly reactive and basic nature of these nucleophiles and the inability to circumvent regiochemical infidehty in unsymmetrical systems. Hard nucleophiles may be characterized as those that undergo substitution with net inversion of stereochemistry [29], due to their propensity to add directly to the... 

The present volume comprises 17 chapters, written by 27 authors from 11 countries, and deals with theoretical aspects and structural chemistry of peroxy compounds, with their thermochemistry, O NMR spectra and analysis, extensively with synthesis of cyclic peroxides and with the uses of peroxides in synthesis, and with peroxides in biological systems. Heterocyclic peroxides, containing silicon, germanium, sulfur and phosphorus, as well as transition metal peroxides are treated in several chapters. Special chapters deal with allylic peroxides, advances in the chemistry of dioxiranes and dioxetanes, and chemiluminescence of peroxide and with polar effects of their decomposition. A chapter on anti-malarial and anti-tumor peroxides, a hot topic in recent research of peroxides, closes the book. 

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