Preparation of Osmium η5-Phospholide Complexes and Their Reactions with Acyl Electrophiles: C═O Bond Cleavage and C−C Bond Formation within the Metal Coordination Sphere

Low-spin 1,1'-diphosphametallocenates of chromium and iron

We report two anionic diphosphametallocenates, [K(2.2.2-crypt)][M(PC4Me4)2] (M = Cr, 2-Cr; Fe, 2-Fe). Both are low-spin (S = ½) by EPR spectroscopy and SQUID magnetometry. This contrasts the high-spin (S = 3/2) ferrocenate, [K(2.2.2-crypt)][Fe(C5H2-1,2,4-tBu)2] (4-Fe). Quantum chemical calculations suggest this is due to significant differences in ligand field splitting of the d-orbitals which also explain structural features in the 2-M complexes.

Direct Synthesis of Phospholyl Lithium from White Phosphorus

The selective construction of P-C bonds directly from P4 and nucleophiles is an ideal and step-economical approach to utilizing elemental P4 for the straightforward synthesis of organophosphorus compounds. In this work, a highly efficient one-pot reaction between P4 and 1,4-dilithio-1,3-butadienes was realized, which quantitatively affords phospholyl lithium derivatives. DFT calculations indicate that the mechanism is significantly different from that of the well-known stepwise cleavage of P-P bond in P4 activation. Instead, a cooperative nucleophilic attack of two Csp2 Li bonds on P4 , leading to simultaneous cleavage of two P-P bonds, is favorable. This mechanistic information offers a new view on the mechanism of P4 activation, as well as a reasonable explanation for the excellent yields and selectivity. This method could prove to be a useful route to P4 activation and the subsequent production of organophosphorus compounds.

Diastereoselective synthesis and coordination chemistry of enantiopure keto-bis-(2-phosphametallocene)s

Enantiopure 2-(chlorocarbonyl)phosphametallocenes [MCp*(2-{COCl}-3,4-Me(2)-5-Ph-PC(4))] (M = Fe, Ru) react with phospholide anions to give 2-phosphametallocene-2'-acylphospholides K[MCp*(2-CO-2'-{3',4'-Me(2)-5'-PhPC(4)}-3,4-Me(2)-5-Ph-PC(4))] (M = Fe, Ru) and these have been converted into keto-bis-(2-phosphametallocene)s through reaction with [FeClCp*(tmeda)]; templation of this process with CuBr gives rise to the C(2)- (or pseudo-C(2)- when M = Ru) symmetric form of [{MCp*(3,4-Me(2)-5-Ph-PC(4))}(2)-2,2'-(CO)] (M = Fe, Ru; Fe, Fe) with high (>95%) diastereoselectivity. X-Ray structures of these ligands coordinated to [RuCp*Cl] and [PtCl(2)] centres show that the spatial orientation of the very flexible keto-bis-(2-phosphametallocene) structure is highly responsive to the coordination sphere of the chelated platinum or ruthenium centre.