Angewandte
Chemie
Remarkably,the change to methyl substituents on the
(pyridyl)pyrrolide ligand allowed for the observation of Pt-
catalyzed intermolecular hydroarylation of unactivated ole-
fins. Similar to the thermolyses of 1a and 1b,upon thermol-
ysis of 1c at 1008C for 5 h in C6D6 in the presence of C2H4
(70 equiv) ethane and methane (CH4 and CH3D) were
released. However,rather than a cyclometalated Pt II species,
the PtII product [(dmpp)Pt(CH2CH2C6D5)(C2H4)] (cis-[D5]5)
was observed in a 48% yield by 1H NMR spectroscopy
(Scheme 1). The configuration (cis) was assigned by
NOESY[11] and refers arbitrarily to the position of the
2-phenethyl ligand with respect to the pyrrolide group.
A variety of arene (C6H6, C6H5CH3, C6H5CF3) and olefin
(C2H4, C3H6,cyclohexene,norbornene) combinations were
examined with 1c or trans-6 as a precatalyst for hydro-
arylation. The product distributions were analyzed by GC-MS
and GC-FID,and the results are summarized in Table 1 (a
more complete listing can be found in Tables S1 and S2 in the
Supporting Information).[11] Hydroarylation of C2H4 (390–
410 mm initial concentration) in C6H6 to form ethylbenzene
gave TONs of 26 (1c) or 36 (trans-6); the higher TON for
trans-6 compared to 1c may be due to a more efficient
conversion to the active catalyst. Notably,when multiple
products are possible,hydroarylation product mixtures con-
tain similar ratios using 1c or trans-6 as a precatalyst. With
C3H6,both Markovnikov ( iPr-Ar) and anti-Markovnikov
(nPr-Ar) products are observed,with the former favored 5–
6:1. The isomeric distribution meta > para > ortho was
obtained for reactions with C3H6 in C6H5CH3 (o/m/p
9:66:25) and C2H4 in C6H5CF3 (o/m/p 6:62:32). Both the
fact that some anti-Markovnikov product is observed and that
a preference for meta and para over ortho functionalization is
Notably,the product of hydroarylation,C
6D5CH2CH2D
([D6]ethylbenzene),was also observed in the 1H NMR
spectrum,and the concentration of this organic product
continued to increase upon further heating for an additional
12 h.
However,complex cis-[D5]5 decomposed significantly
over this time to intractable products. The organic product,
C6D5CH2CH2D,was identified by 1H NMR spectroscopy and
GC-MS. When C6D12 was used as the solvent with C2H4 and
C6H6 (0.21m) added as reagents,no evidence of hydroaryla-
tion (or hydroalkylation) was observed in the 1H NMR
spectrum. Instead,decomposition of 1c to Pt0 was observed
with evidence of numerous unidentified compounds in the
1H NMR spectrum.
À
observed suggest that a C H bond activation pathway is
operative.
A small amount of styrenes (0.1–0.7 TON),presumably
formed by b-hydride elimination and also some dialkylation
products (0.5–1.6 TON) were observed.[11] Increasing the
amount of C2H4 from 220 to 390 mm caused a 1.4-fold
increase in TON in the hydroarylation of C6H6 using 1c as the
precatalyst. The relative amount of dialkylated products also
increased from 4% to 9% of the total TON under these
conditions.[11]
A related PtII catalyst precursor compound [(dmpp)Pt-
(SMe2)Ph] (trans-6) was prepared by the reaction of 3 with
[{Me2Pt(m-SMe2)}2] in C6H6.[13] The relative configuration,
[11]
phenyl trans to pyrrolide,was confirmed by NOESY.
Heating a C6D6 solution of trans-6 at 1008C caused partial
isomerization to cis-6 (greater than 2:1 cis/trans after
133 h).[11] Upon pressurization of a C6D6 solution of trans-6
with C2H4 and subsequent heating at 598C for 14 h,con-
version to cis-[D5]5 (59%) was observed in the 1H NMR
spectrum. Heating of either cis-[D5]5 or trans-6 under C2H4 in
C6D6 at 1008C produced the hydroarylation product
C6D5CH2CH2D. Similar attempts to synthesize [(dmpp)Pt-
{(C3H6)C6H5}(C3H6)] by heating trans-6 in C6D6 at 598C under
an atmosphere of C3H6 were unsuccessful. However, trans-6
can act as a precatalyst for the hydroarylation of C3H6 with
C6H6 or C6H5CH3 (Table 1).[14]
Reaction of C2H4 with a 1:1 solution of C6D6 and C6H6
using 1c as the precatalyst gave [D0]ethylbenzene through
[D6]ethylbenzene as observed by GC-MS,with the major
product being [D3]ethylbenzene (Supporting Information,
Figure S15). This isotopomer distribution suggests rapid
scrambling of H or D from the solvent (C6H6 or C6D6) into
ethylbenzene.[11]
Stoichiometric reactions of cis-5 or cis-[D5]5 in C6D6 with
no C2H4 present produced PhCH2CH3 or PhCH2CH2D,
respectively,as determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy.[11]
Thus,whether or not the C2 carbon of ethylbenzene bears
one D or only H is dependent upon whether the phenyl group
of the 2-phenethyl ligand of cis-5 was deuterated or not.
The mechanism shown in Scheme 2 is consistent with the
isotopic labeling results and the regioselectivity described
above. A PtII phenyl ethylene complex, A,[15] formed in situ
from 1c or trans-6,undergoes migratory insertion of olefin
Table 1: Products and TONs for the hydroarylation of olefins.[a]
Arene
C6H6
Olefin
Cat.
TON
o/m/p
iPr/nPr
C2H4
C3H6
1c
26
8
À
À
into the Pt Ph bond. Aryl C H bond cyclometalation of the
86:14
phenethyl group of B forms C. Insertion of an olefin into a
cyclohexene
norbornene
C2H4
8
10
4
II
À
Pt Ph bond followed by orthometalation of the Ph ring has
7:93[b]
2
recently been observed upon thermolysis of [TpMe PtPh-
C6H5CH3
C3H6
C2H4
2
2
10:63:27
6:62:32
85:15
(C2H4)] [TpMe = 3,5-dimethyl-tris(pyrazolyl)borate].
The
[5]
2
C6H5CF3
C6H6
observation of cis-5 and the results of the stoichiometric
reactions of cis-5 and cis-[D5]5 are consistent with a similar
reaction sequence in this system. However,here a five-
coordinate cyclometalated hydrido PtIV species C would be
C2H4
C3H6
C2H4
C3H6
trans-6
36
18
12
3
85:15
84:16
C6H5CH3
6:94
9:66:25
À
formed,and alkyl C H reductive elimination from five-
[a] Reaction conditions: 100–1108C, 1–3 mol% of 1c or trans-6, 17–
50 h.[11,17] [b] meta and para isomers could not be resolved and are listed
together.
coordinate PtIV structures is well precedented.[4] Coordination
of the solvent to the PtII product of C H reductive elimi-
À
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 7694 –7696
ꢀ 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
7695