Vinylketenes

Note 2. At higher temperatures some of the product might decompose into ethene and vinylketene. 

In addition to the synthesis of heterocycles, the Corey-Chaykovsky reaction bestows an entry to carbocycles as well. The reaction of (trialkylsilyl)vinylketene 89 with substituted ylide 90 led exclusively to rrans-4,5-dimethyl cyclopentenone 91. The substituted ylide 90 here serves as a nucleophilic carbenoid reagent in the formal [4 +1] annulation reaction. 

By a photochemically induced elimination of CO, a chromium carbene complex with a free coordination site is generated. That species can coordinate to an alkyne, to give the alkyne-chromium carbonyl complex 4. The next step is likely to be a cycloaddition reaction leading to a four-membered ring compound 5. A subsequent electrocyclic ring opening and the insertion of CO leads to the vinylketene complex 6 ... 

Structural analogues of the /]4-vinylketene E were isolated by Wulff, Rudler and Moser [15]. The enaminoketene complex 11 was obtained from an intramolecular reaction of the chromium pentacarbonyl carbene complex 10. The silyl vinylketene 13 was isolated from the reaction of the methoxy(phenyl)-carbene chromium complex 1 and a silyl-substituted phenylacetylene 12, and -in contrast to alkene carbene complex 7 - gave the benzannulation product 14 after heating to 165 °C in acetonitrile (Scheme 6). The last step of the benzannulation reaction is the tautomerisation of the /]4-cyclohexadienone F to afford the phenol product G. The existence of such an intermediate and its capacity to undergo a subsequent step was validated by Wulff, who synthesised an... 

A greatly enhanced chemoselective formation of phenol is observed for alkoxy(alkenyl)carbene complexes compared to alkoxy(aryl)carbene complexes. This behaviour reflects the ease of formation of the rf-vinylketene complex intermediate E starting from alkenylcarbene complexes for aryl complexes this transformation would require dearomatisation. 

The thermal benzannulation of Group 6 carbene complexes with alkynes (the Dotz reaction) is highly developed and has been used extensively in synthesis [90,91]. It is thought to proceed through a chromium vinylketene intermediate generated by sequential insertion of the alkyne followed by carbon monoxide into the chromium-carbene-carbon double bond [92]. The realization that photodriven CO insertion into Z-dienylcarbene complexes should generate the same vinylketene intermediate led to the development of a photochemical variant of the Dotz reaction (Table 14). 

The cyclobutenone 70 is transformed to the r/4-vinylketene complex 72 with (t/5-indenyl)Co(PPh3)2 71. The vinylketene complex 72 undergoes cyclization with alkynes to produce the corresponding phenols 73. FeCl3 oxidation of the (2-phenylvinyl)ketene complex, however, leads to the naphthol 74. A catalytic synthesis of phenols via the vinylketene intermediates 72 is achieved by the use of Ni(COD)2 as a catalyst [36]. (Scheme 26)... 

The rearrangement of 70 to vinylketenes is thermally possible [37]. A variety of cyclobutenones are prepared by the transition-metal-induced carbon-carbon bond formation, which elevates the synthetic utility of their ring enlargement. 

Cycloaddition of the carbene chromium complexes 97 with CO incorporation provides a versatile method for naphthol synthesis, in which the metallacy-clic intermediates 99 are involved [47]. An alternative entry to 101 is achieved by metal carbonyl-catalyzed rearrangement of the cyclopropenes 98 via the same metalla-cyclobutenes 99 and vinylketene complexes 100 [52], Mo(CO)6 shows a higher activity than Cr(CO)6 and W(CO)6. The vinylketene complex 103 is formed by the regioselective ring cleavage of 1,3,3-trimethylcyelopropene 102 with an excess of Fe2(CO)9 [53]. (Scheme 35 and 36)... 

There is mechanistic evidence to show that this formal (3 + 3) cycloaddition starts with attack of betaine-C at CI<2 of the three-ring (429) and leads to 2-pyrone formation either by a concerted process (429 — 428) or stepwise via cyclobutenone and 0-acyl vinylketene intermediates (430/431) depending on the leaving group ... 

The Liebeskind group cross-coupled 4-chloro-2-cyclobutenone 69 with 2-tribuylstannyl-benzothiazole to synthesize a-pyridone-based azaheteroaromatics [48], The adduct 70 underwent a thermal rearrangement to afford a transient vinylketene 71, which then intramolecularly cyclized onto the C—N double bond of benzothiazole, giving rise to thiazolo[3,2-a]pyridin-5-one 72. In another case, 2-acetyl-4-trimethylstannylthizaole (73) was coupled with an acid chloride 74 to form the desired ketone 75 [49]. 

Despite these important studies, most steps of the reaction mechanism are still only postulated. Therefore, we have decided to undertake a theoretical investigation of the Dotz reaction by discussing whether the reaction proceeds via a dissociative or an associative pathway in the initial steps of the process. We have also analyzed the central part of the reaction, the key issue being whether the reaction proceeds through a vinylketene intermediate (route A) or, instead, via a metallacycloheptadienone (route B). As will be seen, we came across a novel third pathway (route C) that turns out to be the best alternative from thermodynamic and kinetic points of view... 

This section is divided as follows First, the results for the vinylketene route (section 3.2.1) and for the chromacycloheptadienone route (section 3.2.2) are presented, followed by a brief comparison of the two studied canonical paths. Once pondered the most classically assumed mechanisms, we discuss and compare (section 3.2.3) the suitability of a novel route involving a chromahexatriene intermediate as an alternative to redefine the standard pathway believed to be operative. 

In addition to the ring opening of cyclopropenes noted above, vinylketene complexes 103 have been prepared by (1) ligand initiated carbonyl insertion of vinyl carbene complexes 104 and (2) benzoylation of ,/3-unsaturalcd acyl ferrates 105 (Scheme 20)114. X-ray diffraction analysis of these vinylketene complexes indicates that the structure may be best represented as a hybrid between an /j4-dicnc type complex (103) and an jj3-allyl r/1 acyl complex (106). The Fe-Cl distance (ca 1.92 A) is shorter than the Fe-C2, Fe-C3, or Fe-C4 distances (ca 2.1-2.2 A)113a-C. In addition, the C—C—O ketene array is not linear (bend angle ca 135°). 

---