(2Sp,4R,8Sp)-4-Methyl-1-phenyl-diferroceno-5-Z-ethylene-1-phosphinoxide

We present a synthesis of the title compound, a homochiral diferroceno cycle intended for use in asymmetric catalysis. We present a hydrovinylation protocol, which allows the production of the title compound in two steps from a known diferrocenyl precursor. We obtained one of two possible diastereomers selectively and propose a plausible regio- and stereoselective reaction mechanism.

Halide-Mediated Ortho-Deprotonation Reactions Applied to the Synthesis of 1,2- and 1,3-Disubstituted Ferrocene Derivatives

The ortho-deprotonation of halide-substituted ferrocenes by treatment with lithium tetramethylpiperidide (LiTMP) has been investigated. Iodo-, bromo-, and chloro-substituted ferrocenes were easily deprotonated adjacent to the halide substituents. The synthetic applicability of this reaction was, however, limited by the fact that, depending on the temperature and the degree of halide substitution, scrambling of both iodo and bromo substituents at the ferrocene core took place. Iodoferrocenes could not be transformed selectively into ortho-substituted iodoferrocenes since, in the presence of LiTMP, the iodo substituents scrambled efficiently even at −78 °C, and this process had occurred before electrophiles had been added. Bromoferrocene and certain monobromo-substituted derivatives, however, could be efficiently ortho-deprotonated at low temperature and reacted with a number of electrophiles to afford 1,2- and 1,2,3-substituted ferrocene derivatives. For example, 2-bromo-1-iodoferrocene was synthesized by ortho-deprotonation of bromoferrocene and reaction with the electrophiles diiodoethane and diiodotetrafluoroethane, respectively. In this and related cases the iodide scrambling process and further product deprotonation due to the excess LiTMP could be suppressed efficiently by running the reaction at low temperature and in inverse mode. In contrast to the low-temperature process, at room temperature bromo substituents in bromoferrocenes scrambled in the presence of LiTMP. Chloro- and 1,2-dichloroferrocene could be ortho-deprotonated selectively, but in neither case was scrambling of a chloro substituent observed. As a further application of this ortho-deprotonation reaction, a route for the synthesis of 1,3-disubstituted ferrocenes was developed. 1,3-Diiodoferrocene was accessible from bromoferrocene in four steps. On a multigram scale an overall yield of 41% was achieved. 1,3-Diiodoferrocene was further transformed into symmetrically 1,3-disubstituted ferrocenes (1,3-R₂Fc; R = CHO, COOEt, CN, CH=CH₂).

New pentacoordinated rhodium species as unexpected products during the in situ generation of dimeric diphosphine-rhodium neutral catalysts

Dimeric rhodium complexes of the type [Rh(PP)(μ2 -Cl)]2 (PP=diphosphine) are often used as precatalysts and are generated "in situ" from the corresponding diolefin complexes by exchange of the diene with the desired diphosphine. Herein, we report that the "in situ" procedure also leads to unexpected monomeric pentacoordinated neutral complexes of the type [RhCl(PP)(diolefin)], for the first time herein characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography for the ligands 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)propane (DPPP), 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane (DPPB), and 2,2'-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1'-binaphthyl (BINAP). The pentacoordinated complexes are in equilibrium with the dimeric target compound [Rh(PP)(μ2 -Cl)]2 . The equilibrium is influenced by the rhodium-diolefin precursor, the solvent and the temperature. Based on the results of NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopic analysis (kinetics) it could be shown that the pentacoordinated complex [RhCl(PP)(diolefin)] may arise both from the "in situ"-generated neutral complex [Rh(PP)(μ2 -Cl)] by reaction with the free diolefin and, more surprisingly, directly from [Rh(diolefin)(μ2 -Cl)]2 and the diphosphine.