Trialkylaluminum N‐Heterocyclic Olefin (NHO) Adducts as Catalysts for the Polymerization of Michael‐Type Monomers

Synthetic Strategies of N-Heterocyclic Olefin (NHOs) and Their Recent Application of Organocatalytic Reactions and Beyond

N-heterocyclic olefin (NHO) derivatives have an electron-rich as well as highly polarized carabon-carbon (C=C) double bond because of the electron-donating nature of nitrogen and sulphur atoms. While NHOs have been developing as novel organocatalysts and ligands for transition-metal complexes in various organic compound syntheses, different research groups are currently interested in preparing imidazole and triazolium-based chiral NHO catalysts. Some of them have been used for enantioselective organic transformations, but were still elusive. N-heterocyclic olefins, the alkylidene derivatives of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC), have shown promising results as effective promoters for numerous organic syntheses such as asymmetric catalysis, hydroborylation, hydrosilylation, reduction, CO2 sequestration, alkylation, cycloaddition, polymerization and the ring-opening reaction of aziridine and epoxides, esterification, C-F bond functionalization, amine coupling, trifluoromethyl thiolation, amination etc. NHOs catalysts with suitable structures can serve as a novel class of Lewis/Bronsted bases with strong basicity and high nucleophilicity properties.These facts strongly suggest their enormous chemical potential as sustainable catalysts for a wide variety of reactions in synthetic chemistry. The synthesis of NHOs and their properties are briefly reviewed in this article, along with a summary of the imidazole and triazole core of NHOs' most recent catalytic uses.

Zinc-Mediated Transmetalation as a Route to Anionic N-Heterocyclic Olefin Complexes in the p-Block

Anionic N-heterocyclic olefins (aNHOs) are suited well for the stabilization of low-coordinate inorganic complexes, due to their steric tunability and strong σ- and π-electron donating abilities. In this study, the new two-coordinate zinc complex (^MeIPrCH)₂Zn (^MeIPrCH = [(MeCNDipp)₂C═CH]^-, Dipp = 2,6-diisopropylphenyl) is shown to participate in a broad range of metathesis reactions with main group element-based halides and hydrides. In the case of the group 14 halides, Cl₂E·dioxane (E = Ge and Sn), transmetalation occurs to form dinuclear propellane-shaped cations, [(^MeIPrCHE)₂(μ-Cl)]⁺, while the aNHO-capped phosphine ligand ^MeIPrCH-PPh₂ is obtained when (^MeIPrCH)₂Zn is combined with ClPPh₂. Lastly, ZnH₂ elimination drives transmetalation between (^MeIPrCH)₂Zn and hydroboranes and hydroalumanes, leading to Lewis acidic aNHO-supported -boryl and -alane products.

Brönsted Basicities and Nucleophilicities of N-Heterocyclic Olefins in Solution: N-Heterocyclic Carbene versus N-Heterocyclic Olefin. Which Is More Basic, and Which Is More Nucleophilic?

A Brönsted basicity scale comprising nine representative N-heterocyclic olefins (NHOs) was established by measuring the equilibrium acidities of their corresponding precursors in DMSO using an ultraviolet-visible spectroscopic method. The basicities (pK_aHs) of the investigated NHOs cover a range from 14.7 to 24.1. The basicities of unsaturated NHOs are stronger than those of their N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) analogues; however, the basicities for the saturated ones are much weaker than those of their NHC analogues, which is largely due to the aromatization effect that intrinsically influences the acidic dissociations of NHC and NHO precursors. The nucleophilicities of four NHOs were measured photometrically by monitoring the kinetics of reactions of these NHOs with common reference electrophiles for quantifying nucleophilic reactivities. In general, the nucleophilicity of the NHOs is much stronger than that of commonly used Lewis bases such as Ph₃P or DMAP [4-(dimethylamino)pyridine] but weaker than that of their NHC analogues; however, caution should be taken when generalizing this conclusion to a wide range of electrophiles with distinctively electronic and structural properties.

Reactivity of phospha-Wittig reagents towards NHCs and NHOs

Phospha-Wittig reagents, RPPMe3 (R = Mes* 2,4,6-tBu3-C6H2; MesTer 2,6-(2,4,6-Me3C6H2)-C6H3; DipTer 2,6-(2,6-iPr2C6H3)-C6H3), can be considered as phosphine-stabilized phosphinidenes. In this study we show that PMe3 can be displaced by NHCs or NHOs. Interestingly, phosphinidene-like reactivity results in a subsequent C(sp2)-H activation of the exocyclic CH2 group in NHOs. This concept was further extended to allyl-apended NHOs, which resulted in phosphine-substituted allyl species.

Donor-Stabilized Monocarba-Bridged Bis(cyclopentadienyl)alanes

Five monocarba-bridged bis(cyclopentadienyl)aluminum halide NHC and thione complexes and one monocarba-bridged bis(cyclopentadienyl)phosphanylalane NHC complex are reported. The former were synthesized by transmetalation of a C[1]magnesocenophane with the corresponding aluminum(III) chloride and aluminum(III) bromide donor adducts. The phosphanylalane complex was obtained by a subsequent functionalization of the corresponding bromoalane with lithium diphenylphosphide. All complexes were characterized in solution by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and in the solid state by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Bonding energies of the NHC and thione ligands to the aluminum centres were estimated by DFT calculations.

The Brönsted Basicities of N-Heterocyclic Olefins in DMSO: An Effective Way to Evaluate the Stability of NHO-CO2 Adducts

A Brönsted basicity scale (∼24 pK units) for 85 commonly seen imidazole-, imidazoline-, triazole-, and thiazole-based N-heterocyclic olefins (NHOs) in DMSO was established using a well-examined computational model. The influence of substituents on the Brönsted basicities of these NHOs was investigated through basicity comparisons and rationalized by geometric analyses. The Gibbs energy (ΔG_r) of the reaction between NHO and CO₂ was also calculated, which linearly correlates with the basicity of the corresponding NHO, suggesting that the stability of NHO-CO₂ adducts can be evaluated by the basicity of NHOs and a stronger basicity leads to a more stable NHO-CO₂ adduct.