Metathesis tungsten

Hocker and co-workers first used a classical tungsten metathesis catalyst to polymerize cyclooctatetraene (COT) via ROMP (Scheme XIII) [75]. Two practical methods were developed for the polymerization. In the first method, W[(OCH(CH2Cl)]nCl6 was first added to a flask, followed by AlEt2Cl and solvent. After the catalyst mixture aged for 5 min, COT was added all at once. In... 

Schrock also showed in 1980 that, importantly, some alkylidene eomplexes of tantalum and tungsten can metathesize olefins if they contain alkoxy ligands, and, in 1990, he reported a whole family of very active tungsten metathesis eatalysts including chiral ones, which led him to disclose, in collaboration with Hoveyda, the first examples of enantioselective metathesis reaetions. 

Ring-Opening Polymerization. Ring-opening polymerization of cycloolefins in the presence of tungsten- or molybdenum-based catalysts proceeds by a metathesis mechanism (67,68). 

Solid catalysts for the metathesis reaction are mainly transition metal oxides, carbonyls, or sulfides deposited on high surface area supports (oxides and phosphates). After activation, a wide variety of solid catalysts is effective, for the metathesis of alkenes. Table I (1, 34 38) gives a survey of the more efficient catalysts which have been reported to convert propene into ethene and linear butenes. The most active ones contain rhenium, molybdenum, or tungsten. An outstanding catalyst is rhenium oxide on alumina, which is active under very mild conditions, viz. room temperature and atmospheric pressure, yielding exclusively the primary metathesis products. 

H risson and Chauvin (88) examined the metathesis between acyclic alkenes and cycloalkenes (telomerization) in the presence of two other tungsten-based catalysts, namely WOCl4-Sn(n-C4He)4 and WOCI4-... 

Olefin metathesis is the transition-metal-catalyzed inter- or intramolecular exchange of alkylidene units of alkenes. The metathesis of propene is the most simple example in the presence of a suitable catalyst, an equilibrium mixture of ethene, 2-butene, and unreacted propene is obtained (Eq. 1). This example illustrates one of the most important features of olefin metathesis its reversibility. The metathesis of propene was the first technical process exploiting the olefin metathesis reaction. It is known as the Phillips triolefin process and was run from 1966 till 1972 for the production of 2-butene (feedstock propene) and from 1985 for the production of propene (feedstock ethene and 2-butene, which is nowadays obtained by dimerization of ethene). Typical catalysts are oxides of tungsten, molybdenum or rhenium supported on silica or alumina [ 1 ]. 

Pyridine complexes of Pd- and Pt-pincer ligands are also suitable substrates for olefin metathesis [116]. The first-generation catalyst 9 efficiently mediates the RCM of diallylphosphines and diallyl sulfide when the heteroatom is com-plexed by a cationic [C5H5(NO)(PPh3)Re] moiety [117]. This principle has been exploited in the same study for tungsten, rhodium, and platinum complexes. 

An obvious drawback in RCM-based synthesis of unsaturated macrocyclic natural compounds is the lack of control over the newly formed double bond. The products formed are usually obtained as mixture of ( /Z)-isomers with the (E)-isomer dominating in most cases. The best solution for this problem might be a sequence of RCAM followed by (E)- or (Z)-selective partial reduction. Until now, alkyne metathesis has remained in the shadow of alkene-based metathesis reactions. One of the reasons maybe the lack of commercially available catalysts for this type of reaction. When alkyne metathesis as a new synthetic tool was reviewed in early 1999 [184], there existed only a single report disclosed by Fiirstner s laboratory [185] on the RCAM-based conversion of functionalized diynes to triple-bonded 12- to 28-membered macrocycles with the concomitant expulsion of 2-butyne (cf Fig. 3a). These reactions were catalyzed by Schrock s tungsten-carbyne complex G. Since then, Furstner and coworkers have achieved a series of natural product syntheses, which seem to establish RCAM followed by partial reduction to (Z)- or (E)-cycloalkenes as a useful macrocyclization alternative to RCM. As work up to early 2000, including the development of alternative alkyne metathesis catalysts, is competently covered in Fiirstner s excellent review [2a], we will concentrate here only on the most recent natural product syntheses, which were all achieved by Fiirstner s team. 

These limitations were overcome with the introduction of the well-defined, single-component tungsten and molybdenum (14) alkylidenes in 1990. (Fig. 8.4).7 Schrock s discoveiy revolutionized the metathesis field and vastly increased die utility of this reaction. The Schrock alkylidenes are particularly reactive species, have no side reactions, and are quite effective as polymerization catalysts for both ROMP and ADMET. Due to the oxophilicity of molybdenum, these alkylidenes are moisture and air sensitive, so all reactions using these catalysts must be performed under anaerobic conditions, requiring Schlenk and/or glovebox techniques. 

Schrock RR (1998) Olefin Metathesis hy Well-Defined Complexes of Molybdenum and Tungsten. 1 1-36... 

Thomas, R., Moulijn, J.A., Debeer, V.H.J. and Medema, J. (1980) Structure-metathesis-activity relations of silica supported molybdenum and tungsten-oxide. J. Mol. Catal., 8, 161. 

A high metathesis activity was also observed when CH3Re03 was chemisorbed on Nb205. There appears to be a correlation between the catalytic activity and the Lewis acidity of the support.267 Catalytic activity of supported tungsten phenoxide in olefin metathesis was also studied.268... 

In the case of other Group 6 metals, the polymerization of olefins has attracted little attention. Some molybdenum(VI) and tungsten(VI) complexes containing bulky imido- and alkoxo-ligands have been mainly used for metathesis reactions and the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of norbornene or related olefins [266-268]. Tris(butadiene) complexes of molybdenum ) and tungsten(O) are air-stable and sublimable above 100°C [269,270]. At elevated temperature, they showed catalytic activity for the polymerization of ethylene [271]. 

In retrospect it is not surprising that the niobium and tantalum alkylldene complexes we prepared are not good metathesis catalysts since these metals are not found in the "classical" olefin metathesis systems (2). Therefore, we set out to prepare some tungsten alkylidene complexes. The first successful reaction is that shown in equation 6 (L = PMe3 or PEt3) (11). These oxo... 

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