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Organometallics 2009, 28, 2206–2210
C-Cl Bond Activation of ortho-Chlorinated Imine with Iron
Complexes in Low Oxidation States
Yujie Shi, Min Li, Qingping Hu, Xiaoyan Li, and Hongjian Sun*
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong UniVersity, Shanda Nanlu 27, 250100 Jinan,
People’s Republic of China
ReceiVed December 8, 2008
The ortho-chelated iron(II) complexes [FeCl(PMe3)3((C6H3Cl-ortho)CHdN-R)] (R ) Me, Ph) (3, 4)
and [FeCl(PMe3)3(C6H4-CHdN-R)] (R ) Ph, n-Bu) (7, 8) were prepared through oxidative addition of
the C-Cl bond of ortho-chlorinated imine using iron(0) complexes, [Fe(PMe3)4]. The reactions of 3, 4,
and 8 with CO delivered the carbonyl Fe(II) complexes 9-11. A one-pot reaction of [FeMe2(PMe3)4]
with (C6H3Cl2-2,6)CHdN-Ph in CO atmosphere resulted in carbonyl Fe(II) complexes [FeMe(CO)(PMe3)2-
((C6H3Cl-ortho)CHdN-Ph)] (12). The crystal and molecular structures of complexes 3, 4, 7-9, and 12
were determined by X-ray diffraction.
(eq 2) center with imine as an anchoring group. In the case of
nickel(0) complexes, a series of bis(isoindolinone)s were formed
through carbonylative cyclization and dimerization of phe-
nylimine.
Introduction
In the past few years aromatic carbon-halogen bond activa-
tion at transition metal centers has been proven to be a useful
tool in synthetic organic chemistry. When compared with the
reactive and expensive iodo- and bromoarenes, as well as both
costly and inert fluoroarenes, chloroarenes are certainly the most
attractive aryl halides for synthetic applications on an industrial
scale. Due to the importance of functionalization or dechlori-
nation of aromatic chlorides, there is currently a great deal of
interest in the activation of the C-Cl bond, which has been
found comparatively inert.1 There have been some examples
of catalytic activation of the carbon-chlorine bond and
carbon-carbon coupling of chloroarenes by palladium,2-4
nickel,5 cobalt,6-8 and iron9 complexes such as the Heck
reaction, Suzuki coupling, and Stille coupling.
Recently we have reported cyclometalation reactions involv-
ing C-Cl bond activation at a cobalt(I)6c (eq 1) and nickel(0)5g
Fax: +86-531-88564464.
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Here we report on our new progress in the direction of
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10.1021/om801162u CCC: $40.75
2009 American Chemical Society
Publication on Web 03/04/2009