Dehydrative cyclization of alkynals: Vinylidene complexes with the C β incorporated into unsaturated five- or six-membered rings

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201102969

A nice ring: The title compounds are easily prepared by dehydrative cyclization of terminal alkynals in the presence of osmium, iridium, and rhodium precursors (see scheme). Copyright

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201102969

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201102969
Synthetic Methods
Dehydrative Cyclization of Alkynals: Vinylidene Complexes with the
Cb Incorporated into Unsaturated Five- or Six-Membered Rings**
Marꢀa Batuecas, Luz Escalante, Miguel A. Esteruelas,* Cristina Garcꢀa-Yebra, Enrique OÇate,
and Carlos Saꢁ*
Vinylidene–transition metal complexes are intermediates in a
number of synthetically important organic transformations.[1]
However, the development of single-step procedures for the
preparation of vinylidene complexes with the Cb atom of the
C2 chain incorporated into five- or six-membered rings,
substructures commonly found in bioactive natural and
nonnatural products, still remains a challenge.[2]
Alder reactions to afford vinylidenes with the Cb integrated
into a ring [Eq. (1); Cp = h5-C5H5].[10] In contrast Lin and co-
workers have reported that the nucleophilic addition of
propargyl Grignard reagents to Cg and subsequent Au(PR3)-
catalyzed cyclization of the resulting diyne yields a vinylidene
with the Cb incorporated into
a five-membered ring
[Eq. (2)].[11]
Vinylidene complexes are most often prepared by the
tautomerization of terminal alkynes, therefore the majority of
vinylidene ligands are monosubstituted;[3] the disubstituted
ones are relatively rare. Remarkable findings have shown that
heteroatom-substituted internal alkynes can afford disubsti-
tuted vinylidenes having a heteroatom on the Cb atom.[4] In
addition, we have recently described the preparation of
borylvinylidene derivates from alkynyl boryl complexes
through a 1,3-boryl shift from the metal center to the Cb
atom of the alkynyl ligand.[5] The known dicarbon-disubsti-
tuted vinylidenes have been generally prepared by electro-
philic addition to neutral alkynyl complexes.[6] Ishii and co-
workers have demonstrated that under appropriate condi-
tions it is also possible to form dicarbon-disubstituted vinyl-
idenes from unfunctionalized internal alkynes.[7] Both allenes
and alkylidenecyclopropanes have been used to prepare
ruthenium[8] and osmium vinylidenes,[9] respectively. Vinyli-
dene ligands having the Cb atom incorporated into a ring are
extremely rare and have been prepared by multistep proce-
dures from allenylidene compounds. We have shown that the
Functionalized terminal alkynes have proven to be useful
for generating valuable organic fragments within the coordi-
nation sphere of a transition metal. For instance, the most
general synthetic approach to allenylidene complexes
employs propargylic alcohols.[12] Those containing hydrogen
atoms adjacent to the carbon atom bearing the OH group give
alkenylvinylidenes.[13] When the alkynol has a CH2 spacer
between the triple bond and the OH group, 2-oxacycloal-
kylidene complexes are formed.[14]
=
Cb Cg bond of electrophilic allenylidenes undergoes Diels–
[*] M. Batuecas, Prof. M. A. Esteruelas, Dr. C. Garcꢀa-Yebra,
Dr. E. OÇate
Alkynals are valuable substrates in organic synthesis.[15]
Thus, a variety of metal-catalyzed processes involving these
molecules have been developed.[16] We have now discovered
that terminal alkynals are useful substrates for generating
vinylidene complexes with the Cb atom incorporated into a
five- or six-membered ring in a single step.
Departamento de Quꢀmica Inorgꢁnica—Instituto de Sꢀntesis
Quꢀmica y Catꢁlisis Homogꢂnea (ISQCH)
Universidad de Zaragoza—CSIC, 50009 Zaragoza (Spain)
E-mail: maester@unizar.es
L. Escalante, Prof. C. Saꢁ
Departamento de Quꢀmica Orgꢁnica—Centro Singular de Inves-
tigaciꢃn en Quꢀmica Biolꢃgica y Materiales Moleculares (CIQUS)
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
Treatment of toluene solutions of the cyclopentadienyl
osmium complex 1 with 1.5 equivalents of 3,3-di(methoxy-
carbonyl)-5-hexyn-1-al
and
4,4-di(methoxycarbonyl)-6-
E-mail: carlos.saa@usc.es
heptyn-1-al for 5 hours at 608C produces the displacement
of one of the phosphine ligands by the alkynals and their
dehydrative cyclization to afford, in a single-step process, the
[**] Financial support from the MICINN of Spain (project numbers
CTQ2008-00810 and CTQ2008-06557), and the Consolider Ingenio
2010 (CSD2007-00006), The Diputacion General de Aragꢃn (E35),
Xunta de Galicia, and the European Regional Development Fund
(2007/XA084 and INCITE08PXIB 209024PR), and the European
Social Fund is acknowledged. M.B. and L.E. thank the Spanish
MICINN and Fundaciꢃn Fundayacucho (Venezuela), respectively,
for predoctoral grants.
alkenylvinylidene derivatives
2
and 3, respectively
(Scheme 1). These compounds were isolated as red (2) and
brown (3) solids in high yields (86% and 70%, respectively).
The X-ray structure of 3 proves the formation of the
vinylidenes with the Cb atom integrated into a ring. The
vinylidene moiety is bonded to the metal in a nearly linear
fashion with an Os-C(1)-C(2) angle of 173.7(3)8. The Os–C(1)
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201102969.
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the aldehyde. At room temperature the decarbonylation is
prevented. However, the formation of the vinylidene is too
slow and addition of 20% mol of triflic acid is required as a
catalyst. Under these conditions, complex 7 is obtained after
five days in almost quantitative yield (93%; Scheme 2).
Scheme 2. For the crystal structure of 7, the thermal ellipsoids are
Scheme 1. For the crystal structure of 3, the thermal ellipsoids are
shown at 50% probability.[21]
shown at 50% probability.[21]
Complex 7 was characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis.
The Ir–C(1) and C(1)–C(2) bond lengths of 1.762(9) and
1.353(12) ꢀ, respectively, and the Ir-C(1)-C(2) angle of
178.6(7)8 agree well with those reported for other iridium
vinylidene complexes.[18] In the 13C{1H} NMR spectrum, the
IrCa resonance appears at d = 257.5 ppm.
and C(1)–C(2) bond lengths of 1.832(3) and 1.326(4) ꢀ,
respectively, compare well with those found in other osmium
vinylidene complexes.[17] In the 13C{1H} NMR spectra, the
OsCa resonances appear at d = 284.0 (2) and 290.5 ppm (3).
The iPr3P-Os-PiPr3 metal fragment also promotes the
dehydrative cyclization of terminal alkynals to afford this type
of vinylidene. Treatment of tetrahydrofuran solutions of the
dihydride 4 with 1.5 equivalents of 3,3-di(methoxycarbonyl)-
5-hexyn-1-al for 2 hours at 508C leads to the hydride
alkenylvinylidene derivate 5 and acetic acid [Eq. (3)]. Com-
plex 5 was isolated as a dark purple solid in 72% yield. The
formation of 5 implies, in addition to the dehydrative
cyclization of the alkynal, the reduction of the metal center
from OsIV to OsII. The 13C{1H} NMR spectrum of this
compound shows the OsCa resonance of the vinylidene at
The rhodium counterpart is similarly achieved starting
from 8 (Scheme 3). In this case, the intermediates of the
1
d = 285.9 ppm. In the H NMR spectrum, the hydride signal
appears at d = À11.59 ppm.
Scheme 3.
vinylidene formation process have been detected or isolated
and fully characterized. The isolation of the intermediates is a
consequence of the less-electron-rich character of rhodium, in
comparison with osmium and iridium, which increases the
activation barrier for the cyclization and dehydration steps.
Complex 8 reacts with 3,3-di(methoxycarbonyl)-5-hexyn-
1-al to initially give the monosubstituted vinylidene 9, which is
slowly transformed into 10 as a result of a formal insertion of
This dehydrative cyclization of terminal alkynals is not
only promoted by different metal skeletons of an element but
also by different metals. The square planar iridium(I) com-
plex 6 reacts with 3,3-di(methoxycarbonyl)-5-hexyn-1-al in
tetrahydrofuran at 608C to give, after three days, the 16-
valence electron alkenylvinylidene derivative 7 in 60% yield
along with a minor amount of the carbonyl compound
[IrCl(CO)(PiPr3)2] that results from the decarbonylation of
=
À
H
the C O bond of the aldehyde substituent into the Cb
bond. Acetic acid catalyzes this insertion. Whereas the
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9713

Communications
treatment of tetrahydrofuran solutions of 8 with 1.5 equiv-
of acids, the protonation of the oxygen atom of the aldehyde
increases the electrophilicity of the carbonyl carbon atom.
This facilitates its electrophilic attack to Cb. The resulting
carbyne intermediates subsequently dissociate the CbH
proton. The phosphine dissociated during the reactions
shown in Scheme 1 seems to facilitate the hydrogen atom
migration from Cb to the oxygen atom in the zwitterionic
intermediates resulting from the electrophilic attack of the
carbonyl group to Cb.
In conclusion, vinylidene complexes with the Cb atom
incorporated into unsaturated five- or six-membered rings are
easily prepared by dehydrative cyclization of terminal alky-
nals in the presence of transition-metal compounds.[22]
alents of the alkynal for 24 hours at 608C in the presence of
2.0 equivalents of the acid affords 10 in quantitative yield, a
mixture of 9 and 10 in a 3:7 molar ratio is formed in its
absence. Characteristic spectroscopic features of 9 are: a
double triplet at d = 288.6 ppm (JC-Rh = 58.6 Hz and JC-P
=
16.0 Hz) and a singlet at d = 197.7 ppm corresponding to
RhCa and the carbonyl group, respectively, in the
13C{1H} NMR spectrum; and a singlet at d = 9.42 ppm and a
multiplet at d = 0.15 ppm assigned to the CHO and CbH
1
protons, respectively, in the H NMR spectrum. Complex 10
was isolated as a dark green solid in 85% yield. In the
13C{1H} NMR spectrum the RhCa resonance of the vinylidene
is observed at d = 283.3 ppm, whereas the C(OH) signal
1
Received: April 29, 2011
Revised: June 16, 2011
Published online: August 2, 2011
appears at d = 66.7 ppm. In the H NMR spectrum, the most
noticeable feature is the presence of a OH signal at d =
2.43 ppm in [D6]benzene and d = 5.36 ppm in [D8]THF.
Complex 10 slowly dehydrates to give 11, the rhodium
counterpart of 7. The dehydration is catalyzed by triflic acid.
At room temperature in the presence of a 10% mol of acid,
the transformation is quantitative after 1 hour. Complex 11 is
isolated as a green solid in 98% yield. In agreement with
other rhodium vinylidene complexes,[19] the 13C{1H} NMR
Please note: Minor changes have been made to this manuscript since
its publication in Angewandte Chemie EarlyView. The Editor.
Keywords: alkynes · cyclizations · iridium · osmium · rhodium
.
spectrum shows the RhCa resonance at d = 290.0 ppm (JC-Rh
59.2 Hz and JC-P = 16.8 Hz) as a double triplet.
=
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Scheme 4.
expected for terminal alkynes, terminal alkynals react with
different types of transition-metal complexes, such as 1, 4, 6,
and 8, to initially give monosubstituted vinylidene intermedi-
ates related to 9. The formal insertion of the C O bond of the
aldehyde substituent into the Cb H bond of the vinylidene
moiety leads to cyclic derivatives related to 10, which
dehydrate to afford the alkenylvinylidenes 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11.
The insertion step is catalyzed by acids (Os [Eq. (3)], Ir and
Rh; Schemes 2 and 3) or alternatively by bases (Scheme 1). It
is well known that vinylidene complexes of late transition
metals are nucleophilic at Cb and their reactions with
electrophiles lead to carbyne derivatives.[20] In the presence
=
À
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