Vinylketene Iron 0 Complexes

Having established a very effective method for the synthesis of tricar-bonyl(T74-vinylketene)iron(0) complexes, Thomas has subsequently undertaken the most comprehensive study on the reactivity of these complexes to date. The reactions of 221 with phosphoramidate anions,90134 coordinating ligands such as phosphines3 and isonitriles,69,87,89,135,142,143 a variety of nucleophiles,86,89135142 phosphonoacetate anions,88,89 alkynes,108,109,144,145 and al-kenes146,147 have ah been investigated. Crucially, Thomas has also developed a method138 for the kinetic resolution of the vinylketene complexes (221) that ultimately yields enantiomerically pure samples of the complex. This... 

Tricarbonyl(vinylketene)iron(0) complexes were shown to react with dimethyl maleate, dimethyl fumarate, ( )-methyl 4-oxopent-2-enoate and ( )-ethyl 4,4,4-trifluorobut-2-enoate to give decarbonylated adducts. " New (77 -azadiene)Fe(CO)3 complexes containing furan, thiophene or ferrocenyl moieties at the G terminus of the heterodiene complexes have been prepared.X-ray crystal structures and extended Hiickel calculations of the new materials have been reported. Gomplexation of Fe2(GO)9 with iV,iV -bis(3-phenylallylidene)hydrazine in refluxing THF affords new ( 7" -azadiene)Fe(GO)3 complexes.Molecular structures of the new complexes have been confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. 

Many of the syntheses we have seen within this review depend on the carbonylation of a vinylcarbene complex for the generation of the vinylketene species. The ease of this carbonylation process is controlled, to some degree, by the identity of the metal. The electronic characteristics of the metal will clearly have a great effect on the strength of the metal-carbon double bond, and as such this could be a regulating factor in the carbene-ketene transformation. It is interesting to note the comparative reactivity of a (vinylcarbene)chromium species with its iron analogue The former is a fairly stable species, whereas the latter has been shown to carbonylate readily to form the appropriate (vinylketene)iron complex. 

Reaction of ferralactone complexes with amines provides ferralactam complexes. Aromatic amines require the addition of a Lewis acid, whereas alkyl amines react spontaneously. In the course of the reaction, the iron complex moiety moves from one end of the allyl system to the other with concomitant inversion of the configuration at Cl and C4. Reaction of a tricarbonyl(vinylketene)iron complex with electron-deficient alkenes gives (pentenediyl)iron complexes that can be oxidized to tetrasubstituted cyclopropanes. ... 

As part of ongoing research into the behavior of (vinylcarbene)iron complexes,119120 Mitsudo and Watanabe found that the trifluoromethyl-substituted vinylcarbene 174 exhibited a reactivity different from that of both 166 and 169.107 Upon treatment of the complex 174 with triphenylphos-phine the vinylketene complex 175 is formed, a reaction identical to that seen in the series of vinylcarbene complexes 166 (R = H). However, when the vinylcarbene 174 is exposed to a high pressure of carbon monoxide, it is converted cleanly to the ferracyclopentenone 176. Remember that when the vinylcarbene complex 166 (R = H) was treated in the same manner, conversion stopped at the vinylketene complex 167 Even when exposed to a pressure of 80 atmospheres of CO(g), no further reaction was seen to occur. An electron donating ligand (L = PR3) is required for conversion to cyclopentenone structure 168. Conversely, when the more electron-rich vinylcarbene 169 is exposed to carbon monoxide in the same manner, the pyrone complex 172 is formed. 

The intermediacy of a metallacyclobutene is proposed upon reaction of the diphenylcy-clopropenone dimer spirolactone with CpCo(CO)2, ultimately yielding a >j4-vinylketene complex (equation 23 l)295a. Unlike the analogous iron complex (Section IV.B.2.a), no vinyl carbene complex was observed, and hence formation of the metallacyclobutene seems to be more likely. 

In light of the above results it is interesting to note that the reaction of diphenylcyclo-propenone dimer spirolactone with ironenneacarbonyl yields a mixture of ring-opened vinyl carbene and -vinylketene complexes, and these interconvert under addition (or removal) of CO (equation 225) . A possible pathwav to vinylketene Fe-complexes, prepared earlier from cyclopropenes and ironcarbonyls " , may thus involve initial f -coordination, followed by ring cleavage to vinyl carbene and finally carbonylation to the ketene iron // -complexes. An analogous // -manganese complex is prepared similarly by the reaction of CpMn(CO),THF with 3,3-dimethylcyclopropene complex (equation 226) . ... 

The dipolar addition reaction between DMAD or dimethyl maleate and the diimine species [Fe(CNR)3(Pr N=C HCH=NPr>)] (R = Bu , CH2Ph, Cy, 2,6-xylyl etc.) occurs to give complexes of type (4) in the case of [Fe(CO)2(CNR)(Pr N=CHCH=NPri)] there is a competition between CO and CNR insertion into the metallacycle. Compounds containing fused pyrrole rings arc also formed which on heating release substituted 2-vinylpyrroles. -64 similar cycloaddition also occurs between [Fe(C0)3(Bu N=CHCR=0)] (R = Me, Ph) and DMAD. 5 Purther details of the insertion of alkynes into vinylketene iron tricarbonyl complexes have appeared thermolysis of the insertion products gives cyclopentenediones or phenols. -... 

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). 

Although the preparative chemistry of (vinylketene)cobalt(I) complexes is relatively limited in the literature, the methods used include all the major procedures that have been more widely exploited in the analogous chromium and iron systems. There are many similarities between the intermediates involved in the synthesis of vinylketene complexes of iron, chromium, and cobalt, but as the metal is varied the complexes containing analogous ligands often exhibit significant differences in stability and reactivity (see Sections II and VI). Comparison of such species has often been an important aim of the research in this area. The (vinylketene)cobalt(I) complexes have also been shown to be synthetically useful precursors to a variety of naphthols, 2-furanones, ce-pyrones, phenols,6,22,95 >8, y-unsaturated esters,51 and furans.51,96a... 

In 1987, Nitta reported the formation of an unexpected vinylketene complex from the reaction of an azido-substituted cyclopropene with diiron nonacarbonyl.104 They had previously investigated the chemical behavior of the complexed nitrene intermediates that result from the reaction of organic azides and iron carbonyls113 and were interested in replicating the thermal isomerization of 3-azido-l,2,3-triphenylcyclopropene (163) into 4,5,6-triphenyl-l,2,3-triazine using a metal carbonyl-promoted re-... 

Similar pyrone complexes were isolated by Semmelhack97a as the products of the reaction between tetracarbonyl[ethoxy(alkyl)carbene]iron(0) complexes and various acetylenes. Vinylketene complexes are proposed as key intermediates in the mechanism of this conversion, which closely matches analogous reactions with cobalt carbenes51 (see Section V,B), while showing crucial differences with the analogous reaction of a chromium carbene (see Section II,B). 

While attempting to prepare an T71-(vinylcarbene)iron complex121 by the alkylation or acylation of an a,/3-unsaturated acylferrate, Mitsudo and Wa-tanabe found122 that the major isolated product was in fact an -vinylketene complex (178), formed presumably by the carbonylation of an intermediate V-vinylcarbene, which may then undergo olefin coordination to the vacant metal site. All attempts to isolate such intermediates, or to observe them by 13C NMR spectroscopy, failed. Only in the reaction between potassium tetracarbonyl -cinnamoy ferrate (179.a) and pivaloyl chloride (180.b) was a side product (181) isolated in appreciable yield. In other reactions, only a trace (<1%) of such a compound was detected by spectroscopy. The bis(triphenylphosphine)iminium(l + ) (PPN) salts of 179.a and 179.b also reacted with 2 equiv of ethyl fluorosulfonate to give 178.g and 178.h in 21 and 37% yield, respectively. All products were somewhat unstable to silica gel, hence the low isolated yields in some cases. 

In 1991, Park reported123 the first synthesis of iron alkynylcarbene complexes (184), involving the nucleophilic attack of a lithium acetylide on pentacarbonyl iron, followed by electrophilic quench. With such compounds in hand, he proceeded to investigate their reactivity123,124 and found that upon addition of cyclopentadiene to the alkynylcarbene complexes 184, the products formed were 774-vinylketene complexes (185). During column chromatography, some of these products (185.a and 185.b) were transformed into the tricarbonyl(norbornadiene)iron derivatives 186. Others (185.C and 185.d, not shown) were hydrolyzed as part of the workup procedure, to afford pure samples of the norbornadiene complexes 186.C and... 

Herrmann has reported127128 that irradiation of an ethereal mixture of iron pentacarbonyl and diphenylketene leads to the synthesis of the red vinylketene complex 209, containing the unusual feature of partial involve-... 

In 1991, Thomas reported88a that the reaction between vinylketene complexes (221) and several phosphonoacetate anions generated vinylallene complexes (246), in some cases with extremely high stereoselectivity.88,89 This Wadsworth-Emmons type reaction occurs via attack by the phosphonoacetate carbanion at the ketene carbonyl carbon, and product ratios clearly depend on the steric bulk of the R and R substituents. The relative stereochemistry of the major isomers of 246 were determined by X-ray analysis. Upon oxidation of the vinylallene complexes with iron(III) chloride, a range of substituted furanones were isolated.8813,89... 

The Thomas investigation then turned to the reactivity of vinylketene complexes (221) with alkynes.108,109,144 Initially, electron-poor alkynes were used, and in the cases 247.d-247.g complete regiocontrol is exhibited over the insertion, with the more sterically demanding substituent being located on the carbon nearest to the iron moiety. 

Whereas Fischer-type chromium carbenes react with alkenes, dienes, and alkynes to afford cyclopropanes, vinylcyclopropanes, and aromatic compounds, the iron Fischer-type carbene (47, e.g. R = Ph) reacts with alkenes and dienes to afford primarily coupled products (58) and (59) (Scheme 21). The mechanism proposed involves a [2 -F 2] cycloaddition of the alkene the carbene to form a metallacyclobutane see Metallacycle) (60). This intermediate undergoes jS-hydride elimination followed by reductive elimination to generate the coupled products. Carbenes (47) also react with alkynes under CO pressure (ca. 3.7 atm) to afford 6-ethoxy-o -pyrone complexes (61). The unstable metallacyclobutene (62) is produced by the reaction of (47) with 2-butyne in the absence of CO. Complex (62) decomposes to the pyrone complex (61). It has been suggested that the intermediate (62) is transformed into the vinylketene complex... 

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