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NHCs to be used. While this provides a flexible, modular ap-
proach to the formation of the active catalyst, the generality of
the precatalyst is limited by its inability to be activated at
room temperature.[20a]
Table 1. Synthesis of novel nickel-NHC complexes.
Our group has previously developed a series of Ni-precata-
lysts (4) bearing phosphine ligands (Scheme 1b). The com-
plexes provide facile access to catalytically active Ni0 in the
presence of silyl triflates.[21] The reduction of 4 from NiII to Ni0
is suggested to occur by transmetallation with an additional
equivalent of 4 followed by reductive elimination, thus only
activating 50% of the material (Scheme 1b).
Entry
Ni-Precatalyst
Isolated
Yield [%]
Herein, we describe a new NHC Ni-precatalyst design (5,
Scheme 1c) that readily reduces to the catalytically active Ni(0)
species for reactions such as the Ni-catalyzed carbonyl-ene, hy-
droalkenylation, and amination reactions. This design was in-
spired by the previous phosphine complexes (4) by containing
an aryl ligand with the addition of a piperidine moiety to satis-
fy the coordination sphere. An olefin was also appended to
the complex to facilitate the reduction of NiII to Ni0 by an intra-
molecular Heck reaction.
1
2
3
X=H (8)
X=F (9)
X=CF3 (10)
53
56
61
4
5
85
17
The investigation began by synthesizing the NHC-Ni com-
plexes with IPr as the NHC and a bidentate aryl ligand
(Table 1). The complexes were each prepared by oxidative ad-
dition of the corresponding aryl chloride to a pre-formed solu-
tion of [(IPr)Ni(cod)2] in a glovebox. The new complexes were
initially synthesized with p-acceptors trans to the strong s-do-
nating carbene, such as pyridines (8–10), an imine (11), and a
phosphite (12), because it was thought necessary for obtaining
stable complexes (Table 1, Entries 1–5).[22] Unexpectedly, stable
motifs could also be obtained in the absence of strong p-ac-
ceptors using amine ligands trans to the NHC. Whereas acyclic
amines did not afford stable complexes (Entry 6), morpholine-
(13), pyrrolidine- (14), and piperidine-derived complexes (15)
could also be prepared in low to moderate yields (Table 1, En-
tries 7–9). However, complexes 13 and 14 could not be puri-
fied to homogeneity. Similar complexes bearing appended ole-
fins with varying carbon linker lengths were also prepared
with yields ranging between 38 and 43% (5a, 16, 17, En-
tries 10–12). The addition of the olefin was made in order to
test whether the precatalyst could reduce from NiII to Ni0 by
undergoing an intramolecular Heck-reaction. Interestingly, the
bright yellow, cyclic amine complexes (5a, 15–17) demonstrat-
ed remarkable stability to both air and column chromato-
graphic conditions with neutral alumina. Lastly, in addition to
IPr, complex 5b was synthesized with the SIPr ligand
(Entry 13).
6
7
8
9
R=Me, Et, Ph
0
NR2 =N-morpholyl (13)
NR2 =N-pyrrolidyl (14)
NR2 =N-piperidyl (15)
m=2, n=3 (16)
m=1, n=1 (17)
m=2, n=1 (5a)
29[a]
41[a]
12
10
11
12
38
39
43
13
57
[a] Impure complex isolated. See the Supporting Information.
12 was then tested for catalytic activity, as cooperative cataly-
sis has been demonstrated for a variety of phosphite-carbene
systems[24] including the previously mentioned carbonyl-ene re-
action[23] (Entry 6). Regrettably, 12 also displayed no signs of
activity. Complexes with tertiary amines without olefins also
displayed little to no reactivity in the carbonyl-ene reaction
(Entries 7–9). However, the yield of the reaction with complex
15 continued to increase to 30% over seven days. After evalu-
ating a series of complexes with appended olefins with varying
linker lengths (Entries 10–12), complex 5a (Entry 12) was deter-
mined to be an effective precatalyst for the carbonyl-ene reac-
tion producing 7a in 93% in situ yield after 48 h.
The synthesized complexes along with Cowley’s complex
(1a) were then evaluated as precatalysts for the IPr-Ni-cata-
lyzed carbonyl-ene reaction between benzaldehyde, 1-octene,
and Et3SiOTf (Table 2).[23] As expected, Cowley’s complex 1a
was not a suitable precatalyst for the carbonyl-ene reaction
(Table 2, Entry 1). When 2-phenylpyridine (PPy) complex 8 and
its electron deficient derivatives (9 and 10) were evaluated,
very minimal reactivity was observed (Entries 2–4). This may
have been caused by catalyst poisoning by the pyridines pres-
ent. Even when complex 11 with a more bulky imine ligand
was employed, no reaction was observed (Entry 5). Complex
With the success of complex 5a as a precatalyst, an investi-
gation into the possible modes of precatalyst activation was
&
ChemCatChem 2018, 10, 1 – 6
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