Tungsten alkylidene compound

Aspects of the apparatus for the synthesis using metal atoms are described. The reactions of the atoms of rhenium, tungsten, and osmium with hydrocarbons including alkanes are described. It is shown that metal atom reactions with alkanes can give isolable organometallic compounds including l-alkylidene compounds. 

The ionic compound [Br(Mc3CCH20)2W=CHCMe3]1 [Ga2Br7] displays catalytic activity increased by a factor of ca 3400 compared with the neutral tungsten alkylidene complex. 

Vinyltin derivatives (92) have been prepared by the reaction of acyltin compounds with phosphonium ylides or with phosphonate carbanions. The tungsten complex (93) reacts with a wide range of aryl-substituted ylides (94), and the vinyl-substituted ylide (95), to give phosphorus to metal alkylidene transfer and hence provides a route to tungsten alkylidene complexes (96). ... 

We referred earlier to the significance of reactions at the alkylidyne carbon atoms of the dimetal species. Our studies in this area are in a preliminary stage, but Schemes 1 and 2 summarise some chemistry at the bridged carbon centres for the compounds (1 ) and (3,)(12). It will be noted that protonation of the neutral bridged al ylidyne compounds yields cationic alkylidene species in which one C—C bond of the tolyl group is n2 co-ordinated to tungsten, a feature revealed by both n.m.r. and X-ray diffraction studies. 

Since the late seventies efforts were directed toward the development of well-defined catalysts that would be active without addition of additives or further modification. A wide variety of tungsten and molybdenum alkylidene complexes have been prepared. Many of them show some activity, but only few are good catalysts. The synthesis is often not straightforward and a range of synthetic procedures varying solvents, alkylating reagents, anions, and alkylidene moieties have to be tried before a desired compound will be obtained. 

Aluminium and other metal alkyls also activate tungsten and molybdenum compounds (particularly oxychlorides), to generate homogeneous or supported olefin dismutation catalysts. It is now believed that an initial M-alkyl (M = W, Mo) group is converted to a metal alkylidene group by a-hydrogen abstraction. Coordinated olefin now gives a metallocyclobutane (isolable in some cases) ... 

---