Carbanions Substituted by Transition Metals: Synthesis, Structure, and Configurational Restrictions of a Lithium Titanium Phosphonate

Cyclic Bis-alkylidene Complexes of Titanium and Zirconium: Synthesis, Characterization, and Reaction

Transition-metal alkylidenes have exhibited wide applications in organometallic chemistry and synthetic organic chemistry, however, cyclic Schrock-carbene-like bis-alkylidenes of group 4 metals with a four-electron donor from an alkylidene have not been reported. Herein, the synthesis and characterization of five-membered cyclic bis-alkylidenes of titanium (4 a,b) and zirconium (5 a,b) are reported, as the first well-defined group 4 metallacyclopentatrienes, by two-electron reduction of their corresponding titana- and zirconacyclopentadienes. DFT analyses of 4 a show a four-electron donor (σ-donation and π-donation) from an alkylidene carbon to the metal center. The reaction of 4 a with N,N'-diisopropylcarbodiimide (DIC) leads to the [2+2]-cycloaddition product 6. Compound 4 a reacted with CO, affording the oxycyclopentadienyl titanium complex 7. These reactivities demonstrate the multiple metal-carbon bond character. The reactions of 4 a or 5 a with cyclooctatetraene (COT) or azobenzene afforded sandwich titanium complex 8 or diphenylhydrazine-coordinated zirconacyclopentadiene 9, respectively, which exhibit two-electron reductive ability.

X-Ray Structural Studies of Small-Bite Ligands on Large Cations – Lanthanide(III) Ions and Dimethylphosphate

Reactions of lanthanide chlorides or trifluoracetates (tfa) or picrates with trimethylphosphate alone in the first two cases or trimethylphosphate plus 1,10-phenanthroline or 2,2′;6′,2′′-terpyridine in the third, result in the formation of crystalline products containing dimethylphosphate (dmp–). Single crystal X-ray structural characterisation of these materials has shown that the stoichiometrically simple Ln(dmp)3 species obtained with chloride reactants and the lighter lanthanides are polymeric and commonly dimorphic, while the stoichiometrically more variable mixed dmp/tfa complexes have structures closely related to one phase of the Ln(dmp)3 family, and the presence of picrate and aza-aromatic ligands enables the isolation of Y and Lu derivatives containing binuclear species. In all, the dmp– ligands adopt exclusively the κ1O;κ1O′ bridging mode, the overall results indicating that this should apply to the complete lanthanide series.

Geminal Dianions Stabilized by Main Group Elements

This review is dedicated to the chemistry of stable and isolable species that bear two lone pairs at the same C center, i.e., geminal dianions, stabilized by main group elements. Three cases can thus be considered: the geminal-dilithio derivative, for which the two substituents at C are neutral, the yldiide derivatives, for which one substituent is neutral while the other is charged, and finally the geminal bisylides, for which the two substituents are positively charged. In this review, the syntheses and electronic structures of the geminal dianions are presented, followed by the studies dedicated to their reactivity toward organic substrates and finally to their coordination chemistry and applications.

Lithium pinacolone enolate solvated by hexamethylphosphoramide

We report the crystal structure of a substoichiometric, HMPA-trisolvated lithium pinacolone enolate tetramer (LiOPin)4·HMPA3 abbreviated as T3. In this tetramer one HMPA binds to lithium more strongly than the other two causing a reduction in spatial symmetry with corresponding loss of C3 symmetry. A variety of NMR experiments, including HMPA titration, diffusion coefficient-formula weight (D-FW) analysis, and other multinuclear one- and two-dimensional NMR techniques reveal that T3 is the major species in hydrocarbon solution when more than 0.6 equiv of HMPA is present. Due to a small amount of moisture from HMPA or air leaking into the solution, a minor complex was identified and confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis as a mixed aggregate containing enolate, lithium hydroxide, and HMPA in a 4:2:4 ratio, [(LiOPin)4·(LiOH)2·HMPA4], that we refer to as pseudo-T4. A tetra-HMPA-solvated lithium cyclopentanone enolate tetramer was also prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction, leading to the conclusion that steric effects dominate the formation and solvation of the pinacolone aggregates. An unusual mixed aggregate consisting of pinacolone enolate, lithium diisopropyl amide, lithium oxide, and HMPA in the ratio 5:1:1:2 is also described.

Copper-Catalyzed Methylenation Reaction: Total Synthesis of (+)-Desoxygaliellalactone

The enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-desoxygaliellalactone was achieved in six steps starting from 4-tert-butyldimethylsilyloxybutanal. This synthesis featured a one-pot copper-catalyzed methylenation-Diels-Alder cyclization. The challenging methylenation of aldehyde 4 was studied under various reaction conditions. Whereas Wittig reaction conditions led to byproducts resulting from decomposition of the sensitive butenolide moiety, the mild copper-catalyzed methylenation reaction produced the desired triene in good yield.