Carbenoid Complexes of Electron-Deficient Transition Metals—Syntheses of and with Short-Lived Building Blocks

The relation of thermodynamic stability and kinetic lability of σ-organometallic compounds of transition metals, together with an improved understanding of the subtle interactions between central metal, ligands, and substrates, has increased the chemist's ability to plan organometallic syntheses. This article presents new results on intermediary and isolable synthetic building blocks incorporating metal–ligand multiple bonds of electron-deficient transition metals; the main emphasis will be placed on compounds with titanium–carbon double bonds. This particular class of compounds is mainly generated by H-transfer reactions starting from readily accessible alkyl and alkenyl derivatives. The preparative use of L₂Ti(CHR₂)R′] derivatives as sources for L₂Ti?CR₂] intermediates will be discussed, as well as the nature of these intermediates. Application of the same approach to vinyltitanium compounds L₂Ti(CH?CH₂)R] opens up an access to a short-lived metallaallene derivative L₂Ti?C?CH₂] of an electron-deficient transition metal. The reactivity of these synthetic building blocks is mainly characterized by the nucleophilic properties of the α-C atoms as well as by the spatial orientation of the π-bonding planes. Numerous cycloaddition products with unsaturated substrates could be isolated and characterized for the first time by using L₂Ti?C?CH₂] intermediates. Hence it is possible to compare the properties of a multitude of metallacyclic ring systems with those obtained from “Tebbe–Grubbs chemistry”, and in this context, the dependence of the properties of metallacyclic four-membered rings on the substitution pattern is discussed. This class of compounds includes the metallaoxetanes, which have been obtained for the first time by the cycloaddition of the CpTi?C?CH₂] intermediate with cumulenes and metal carbonyls. The differing cycloreversion behavior of these metallaoxetanes enables the differentiation of species exhibiting classical and nonclassical reactivity. The number and position of the exocyclic double bonds are the determining factors of the reactivity of the formed metallacycles. The discussion of the products obtained from titanium methylene and vinylidene building blocks is an up-to-date report on the formation and applications of carbene complexes and carbene intermediates of group 4 metals.