Transition metals, tetrahydrofuran

Alkali-metal graphites are extremely reactive in air and may explode with water. In general, reactivity decreases with ease of ionization of M in the sequence Li > Na > K > Rb > Cs. Under controlled conditions H2O or ROH produce only H2, MOH and graphite, unlike the alkali-metal carbides M2C2 (p. 297) which produce hydrocarbons such as acetylene. In an important new reaction CgK has been found to react smoothly with transition metal salts in tetrahydrofuran at room temperature to give the corresponding transition metal lamellar compounds ... 

Finally, the term steric stabihzation coifid be used to describe protective transition-metal colloids with traditional ligands or solvents [38]. This stabilization occurs by (i) the strong coordination of various metal nanoparticles with ligands such as phosphines [48-51], thiols [52-55], amines [54,56-58], oxazolines [59] or carbon monoxide [51] (ii) weak interactions with solvents such as tetrahydrofuran or various alcohols. Several examples are known with Ru, Ft and Rh nanoparticles [51,60-63]. In a few cases, it has been estab-hshed that a coordinated solvent such as heptanol is present at the surface and acts as a weakly coordinating ligand [61]. 

This article aims to review papers that were published in 2006 on reactions and syntheses of furans, benzofurans and their derivatives. Two reviews have summarized the syntheses of furans <06OBC1627> and tetrahydrofurans <06EJO1627>. Another review <06001613> records the progress of transition metal-catalyzed asymmetric ring opening of oxabenzonorbornadienes. 

Transition metal catalysis on solid supports can also be applied to indole formation, as shown by Dai and coworkers [41]. These authors reported a palladium- or copper-catalyzed procedure for the generation of a small indole library (Scheme 7.23), representing the first example of a solid-phase synthesis of 5-arylsulfamoyl-substituted indole derivatives. The most crucial step was the cydization of the key polymer-bound sulfonamide intermediates. Whereas the best results for the copper-mediated cydization were achieved using l-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) as solvent, the palladium-catalyzed variant required the use of tetrahydrofuran in order to achieve comparable results. Both procedures afforded the desired indoles in good yields and excellent purities [41]. 

While the notion that the alkoxides derived from aliphatic alcohols are poor nucleophiles toward 7r-allylmetal complexes has prevailed over the years, much progress made in the recent past has rendered the transition metal-catalyzed allylic alkylation a powerful method for the O-allylation of aliphatic alcohols. In particular, owing to the facility of five- and six-membered ring formation, this process has found extensive utility in the synthesis of tetrahydrofurans (THFs) (Equation (29))150-156 and tetrahydropyrans (THPs).157-159 Of note was the simultaneous formation of two THP rings with high diastereoselectivity via a Pd-catalyzed double allylic etherification using 35 in a bidirectional synthetic approach to halichondrin B (Equation (30)).157 The related ligand 36 was used in the enantioselective cyclization of a Baylis-Hillman adduct with a primary alcohol (Equation (31)).159... 

The reactions between cyclopropenes and carbon monoxide in the presence of transition metals have been of some use in synthesis,93 and in 1978 Binger initiated a study of the reactions between metal carbonyls and cyclopropenes in order to elucidate the generality of these reactions.75 It was found that dicarbonyl 775-cyclopentadienyl(tetrahydrofuran)manganese(I) reacted with 3,3-dime thy Icy clopropene at 0°C to produce -(vinylketene) complex 81 in fair yield. The only other transition metal in Binger s study that was found to react with 3,3-dimethylcyclopropene in this manner was iron (see Section VI,B). 

Other transition metal anions fail in giving the expected compounds . Germanium halides react more easily but are useless for the preparation of optically active compounds. Indeed, optically active bromo-germanes are not known, and chlorogermanes rapidly racemize in ether or tetrahydrofuran. ... 

The reaction between metal atoms and ethers is varied. Deoxygenation occurs with the more electropositive transition metals, e.g., Ti, V, Cr, and probably Fe, but Klabunde has been able to use tetrahydrofuran as a medium to form active nickel slurries by condensing in nickel vapor (56, 60). 

The compound [PPN][Mn2(/i-PPh2)(CO)8] is an orange, air-stable solid. It is soluble in tetrahydrofuran, acetone, and chlorinated solvents, moderately soluble in alcohols and toluene and insoluble in water and hydrocarbon solvents. Solutions of [PPN][Mn2(ju-PPh2)(CO)8] are surprisingly stable as compared to most other transition metal carbonyl anions, decomposing only slowly (days) on exposure to air and/or moisture. The carbonyl IR spectrum of the anion in dichloromethane shows absorptions at 2037 (m), 1947 (s), 1941 (vs), 1914(w), 1888(m), and 1872(m).3... 

Heating borazine in vacuo at 70°C yields poly(borazylene) polymers, which are soluble in solvents such as tetrahydrofuran or glyme and could be thermolyzed to boron nitride in good yields (120). Other soluble preceramic polymers were produced by transition-metal catalyzed formation of B-alkenylborazines (eq. 34) which were thermally polymerized under mild conditions to poly(alkenylborazines). The latter yielded boron nitride having low carbon contents when thermolyzed in an ammonia atmosphere (121). 

Discovery. These catalysts were discovered during a study of the use of transition metal cyanides in combination with metal alkyl and hydride reducing agents in polymerizations. The combination of nickel cyanide and lithium aluminum hydride complexed very strongly with tetrahydrofuran. A similar complexing action occurred with propylene oxide and nickel hexacyanoferrate(II)-lithium aluminum hydride. This led to speculation as to the role of the double-metal cyanide itself. 

Transition-metal mediated carbene transfer from 205 to benzaldehyde generates carbonyl ylides 211 which are transformed into oxiranes 216 by 1,3-cyclization, into tetrahydrofurans 212, 213 or dihydrofurans 214 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with electron-deficient alkenes or alkynes, and 1,3-dioxolanes 215 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with excess carbonyl compound120 (equation 67). Related carbonyl ylide reactions have been performed with crotonaldehyde, acetone and cyclohexanone (equation 68). However, the ylide generated from cyclohexanone could not be trapped with dimethyl fumarate. Rather, the enol ether 217, probably formed by 1,4-proton shift in the ylide intermediate, was isolated in low yield120. In this respect, the carbene transfer reaction with 205 is not different from that with ethyl diazoacetate121, whereas a close analogy to diazomalonates is observed for the other carbonyl ylide reactions. 

The increased basicity of a ligand when coordinated to the heavier metals in a transition metal triad has been appreciated for some time (311). This is manifest in (1) the rate of alkylation of alkyldiazenido complexes (kw/kMo = 5.4) (93), and (2) the rate of formation of hydra-zido(2-) complexes by the reaction of dinitrogen complexes with acid, in methanol ( w// Mo = 9.2 x 102) (186), and in tetrahydrofuran (kw/ kMo = 29-85, dependent upon the acid and substrate employed) (187). Clearly the electron-releasing capability of the metal has conflicting influences on the rate, but as in Section VI,El the basicity influence dominates. 

Because transition-metal anions can be prepared conveniently in tetrahydrofuran solution, this cyclic ether was often used in earlier attempts to prepare silicon-metal compounds. It is now generally realized, however, that tetrahydrofuran can frustrate these attempts in two ways. First, it promotes electrophilic attack by the silicon compound on oxygen atoms of coordinated carbonyl groups this leads to the formation of products with Si-0 bonds (54, 138, 262, 300, 306, 310, 336,337), e.g.,... 

The second harmful effect of tetrahydrofuran is that it may undergo ring opening and insert into the silicon-transition-metal bond, again with the formation of a siloxy derivative (252, 336, 337) e.g ... 

Reference has already been made in Section II,A,3 to the harmful effects of polar solvents, in particular tetrahydrofuran, in the preparation of silicon-transition-metal compounds from a silicon halide and a transition-metal anion (61, 137, 138, 300, 305, 306, 310, 331, 337). Frequently, silicon-oxygen rather than silicon-metal compounds result, e.g. (138, 306, 336),... 

Among the carbonylative cycloaddition reactions, the Pauson-Khand (P-K) reaction, in which an alkyne, an alkene, and carbon monoxide are condensed in a formal [2+2+1] cycloaddition to form cyclopentenones, has attracted considerable attention [3]. Significant progress in this reaction has been made in this decade. In the past, a stoichiometric amount of Co2(CO)8 was used as the source of CO. Various additive promoters, such as amines, amine N-oxides, phosphanes, ethers, and sulfides, have been developed thus far for a stoichiometric P-K reaction to proceed under milder reaction conditions. Other transition-metal carbonyl complexes, such as Fe(CO)4(acetone), W(CO)5(tetrahydrofuran), W(CO)5F, Cp2Mo2(CO)4, where Cp is cyclopentadienyl, and Mo(CO)6, are also used as the source of CO in place of Co2(CO)8. There has been significant interest in developing catalytic variants of the P-K reaction. Rautenstrauch et al. [4] reported the first catalytic P-K reaction in which alkenes are limited to reactive alkenes, such as ethylene and norbornene. Since 1994 when Jeong et al. [5] reported the first catalytic intramolecular P-K reaction, most attention has been focused on the modification of the cobalt catalytic system [3]. Recently, other transition-metal complexes, such as Ti [6], Rh [7], and Ir complexes [8], have been found to be active for intramolecular P-K reactions. 

Indolines and indoles were prepared by a direct electrochemical reduction of arenediazonium salts. As a result, radical intermediates were generated from which 3,4-disubstituted tetrahydrofuran skeleta were constructed <02OL2735>. A short and stereoselective total synthesis of furano lignans was realized by radical cyclization of epoxides using a transition-metal radical source <02JOC3242>. Other preparations of tetrahydrofurans using radical cyclization include the synthesis of novel amino acids L-bis-... 

Polymerization activity was obtained with a variety of catalyst compositions. The best stereospecific catalyst was the split pretreated type (357) in which one mole of VC14 was reduced by a stoichiometric amount of an alkyl metal (0.34 mole AlEt3) in heptane at room temperature and heated 16 hours at 90° C. to obtain the purple crystalline VC13-1/3 A1C13. This reduced transition metal component was then treated with two moles of (i-Bu)3Al tetrahydrofuran complex for 20 hours at room temperature to obtain a chocolate-brown catalyst consisting predominantly of divalent vanadium with 0.21 Al/V and 1.4 i-Bu/Al. Polymerizations at 30° C. gave crystalline polymers from methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, isobutyl, tert.-butyl, and neopentyl vinyl ethers. 

---