Transition‐Metal‐Mediated Cleavage of C−C Bonds in Aromatic Rings

Metal‐mediated cleavage of aromatic C?C bonds has a range of potential synthetic applications: from direct coal liquefaction to synthesis of natural products. However, in contrast to the activation of aromatic C?H bonds, which has already been widely studied and exploited in diverse set of functionalization reactions, cleavage of aromatic C?C bonds remains Terra incognita. This Minireview summarizes the recent progress in this field and outlines key challenges to be overcome to develop synthetic methods based on this fundamental organometallic transformation.     

Transition‐Metal‐Mediated and ‐Catalyzed C−F Bond Activation by Fluorine Elimination

The activation of carbon–fluorine (C?F) bonds is an important topic in synthetic organic chemistry. Metal‐mediated and ‐catalyzed elimination of β‐ or α‐fluorine proceeds under milder conditions than oxidative addition to C?F bonds. The β‐ or α‐fluorine elimination is initiated from organometallic intermediates having fluorine substituents on carbon atoms β or α to metal centers, respectively. Transformations through these elimination processes (C?F bond cleavage), which are typically preceded by carbon–carbon (or carbon–heteroatom) bond formation, have been increasingly developed in the past five years as C?F bond activation methods. In this Minireview, we summarize the applications of transition‐metal‐mediated and ‐catalyzed fluorine elimination to synthetic organic chemistry from a historical perspective with early studies and from a systematic perspective with recent studies.     

Transition‐Metal‐Mediated Cleavage of a SiSi Double Bond

Reaction of carbene‐stabilized disilicon ( 1 ) with Fe(CO)₅ gives the 1:1 adduct L:Si?Si[Fe(CO)₄]:L (L:=C{N(2,6‐Prⁱ₂C₆H₃)CH}₂) ( 2 ) at room temperature. At raised temperature, however, 2 may react with another equivalent of Fe(CO)₅ to give L:Si[μ‐Fe₂(CO)₆](μ‐CO)Si:L ( 3 ) through insertion of both CO and Fe₂(CO)₆ into the Si₂ core, which represents the first experimental realization of transition metal‐carbonyl‐mediated cleavage of a Si?Si double bond. The structures and bonding of both 2 and 3 have been investigated by spectroscopic, crystallographic, and computational methods.     

Transition‐Metal‐Free Reaction of Aryltrimethylammonium Iodides with Arylzinc Reagents

Reaction of aryltrimethylammonium iodides with arylzinc chlorides in the absence of a transition‐metal catalyst to form biaryl compounds was performed under mild conditions. The reaction was suitable for a broad scope of substrates and exhibited good compatibility of functional groups. The Mg²⁺ ion was demonstrated to markedly promote the reaction.     

N‐Functionalized Ferrocenes: Subvalent Group XIV Element Chlorides and tert‐Butyllithium‐Induced C−C Bond Cleavage under Mild Conditions

The ferrocene derivative (η⁵‐Cp)Fe{η⁵‐C₅H₃‐1‐(ArNCH)‐2‐(CH₂NMe₂)} ( 1 ; Ar=2,6‐iPr₂C₆H₃)) reacts diastereoselectively with LiR by carbolithiation and subsequent hydrolysis to give (η⁵‐Cp)Fe{η⁵‐C₅H₃‐1‐(ArHNCHR)‐2‐(CH₂NMe₂)} ( 3 : R=tBu; 4 : R=Ph; 5 : R=Me) in high yields. For R=tBu, the organolithium derivative (η⁵‐Cp)Fe{η⁵‐C₅H₃‐1‐(ArLiNCHR)‐2‐(CH₂NMe₂)} ( 2 ) was isolated. Compound 2 reacts with GeCl₂?dioxane and SnCl₂ to give the metallylene amide chlorides (η⁵‐Cp)Fe{η⁵‐C₅H₃‐1‐(ArMNCHtBu)‐2‐(CH₂NMe₂)} 6 (M=GeCl) and 7 (M=SnCl), respectively, which each contain three stereogenic centers. The potential of 7 as a ligand in transition‐metal chemistry is demonstrated by formation of its complex (η⁵‐Cp)Fe{η⁵‐C₅H₃‐1‐(ArMNCHtBu)‐2‐(CH₂NMe₂)} [ 9 , M= Sn(Cl)W(CO)₅]. Treatment of 3 with tert‐butyllithium at room temperature causes an unprecedented carbon–carbon bond cleavage whereas under kinetic control, lithiation at the Cp‐3 position takes place, which leads to the isolation of (η⁵‐Cp)Fe{η⁵‐C₅H₃‐1‐(ArHNCHtBu)‐2‐(CH₂NMe₂)‐3‐SiMe₃} ( 10 ).     

Synthesis of Fluorinated Building Blocks by Transition‐Metal‐Mediated Hydrodefluorination Reactions

The activation and functionalization of carbon–fluorine bonds can be considered as a major challenge in organometallic chemistry. The growing demand for means to introduce fluorine into new materials or into biologically active molecules has inspired the development of diverse synthetic strategies. Hydrodefluorination is regarded as a promising approach to access partially fluorinated building blocks from readily available perfluorinated bulk chemicals. We provide an overview of transition‐metal‐based complexes and catalysts that were developed to mediate hydrodefluorination reactions. Special emphasis will be placed on discussing the underlying mechanistic patterns and their impact on scope and selectivity. In addition, future requirements for further developing this field will be highlighted.     

Transition‐Metal‐Free Activation of Amides by N−C Bond Cleavage

The amide bond N?C activation represents a powerful strategy in organic synthesis to functionalize the historically inert amide linkage. This personal account highlights recent remarkable advances in transition‐metal‐free activation of amides by N?C bond cleavage, focusing on both (1) mechanistic aspects of ground‐state‐destabilization of the amide bond enabling formation of tetrahedral intermediates directly from amides with unprecedented selectivity, and (2) synthetic utility of the developed transformations. Direct nucleophilic addition to amides enables a myriad of powerful methods for the formation of C?C, C?N, C?O and C?S bonds, providing a straightforward and more synthetically useful alternative to acyl‐metals.     

Recent Advances in Transition‐Metal‐Free Oxygenation of Alkene C=C Double Bonds for Carbonyl Generation

Carbonyl‐forming reactions are a class of fundamental transformations in organic chemistry. Guided by the current importance of environmentally benign metal‐free catalysis and synthesis, herein we review recent advances in carbonyl‐generation reactions based on alkene C=C double oxygenation as well as related cascade reactions in the synthesis of diverse organic products. The content of this focus review consists of two important but different reaction models: oxygenation based on full C=C double‐bond cleavage and oxygenation based on partial C=C double‐bond cleavage.     

Base‐Mediated Transition‐Metal‐Free Dehydrative C−C and C−N Bond‐Forming Reactions from Alcohols

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in using alcohols as alkylating agents for C?C and C?N bond‐forming processes employing mainly TM‐catalysts. Although BH‐catalysis looks like a green atom economy process since water is the only by‐product, it often suffers from one or more drawbacks, such as the use of expensive noble metal complexes, capricious ligands, and toxic organic solvents. Therefore, straightforward, efficient, atom economy and environmentally benign alternative protocols are desirable. This review aims to summarize the current knowledge within the published literature about dehydrative processes developed without TM‐catalysts. The most recent contributions to this topic have been reviewed keeping into account the new findings reported in this area. The features, strengths, and limitations of these alcohol‐based C?C and C?N bond‐forming processes has also been taken into account.     

Facile P−C/C−H Bond‐Cleavage Reactivity of Nickel Bis(diphosphine) Complexes

Unusual cleavage of P?C and C?H bonds of the P₂N₂ ligand, in heteroleptic [Ni(P₂N₂)(diphosphine)]²⁺ complexes under mild conditions, results in the formation of an iminium formyl nickelate featuring a C,P,P‐tridentate coordination mode. The structures of both the heteroleptic [Ni(P₂N₂)(diphosphine)]²⁺ complexes and the resulting iminium formyl nickelate have been characterized by NMR spectroscopy and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were employed to investigate the mechanism of the P?C/C?H bond cleavage, which involves C?H bond cleavage, hydride rotation, Ni?C/P?H bond formation, and P?C bond cleavage.     

A Transition‐Metal‐Free Synthesis of Fluorinated Naphthols

Herein, we describe a transition‐metal‐free protocol for the conversion of simple 2‐allyl‐3‐(trifluoromethyl)phenols into substituted 5‐fluoronaphthalen‐1‐ols. The key events of this reaction include the selective activation of two C?F bonds and formation of an intermediate hexatriene system, which undergoes a 6π electrocyclization, followed by rearomatization. This concept enables the rapid conversion (three steps) of various commercially available 3‐(trifluoromethyl)phenols into novel fluorine‐containing naphthols, which are difficult to prepare by previous methods. The reported sequence was also extended to a one‐pot transformation of 3‐(trifluoromethyl)phenols into 5‐fluoronaphthalen‐1‐ols.     

Transition‐Metal‐Catalyzed Diamination of Olefins

Diaminations are a girl's best friend : New reactions in the field of transition‐metal‐catalyzed diamination of olefins provide a powerful tool for the elaboration of more complex molecules bearing the 1,2‐diamine moiety. An overview of these methods, including asymmetric versions, is given.

     

Hypervalent‐Iodine‐Mediated Carbon–Carbon Bond Cleavage and Dearomatization of 9H‐Fluoren‐9‐ols

A transition‐metal‐free synthesis of spiro compounds from 9H‐fluoren‐9‐ols mediated by hypervalent iodine is reported. In this reaction, an unprecedented β‐carbon elimination of tertiary alkoxyliodine(III) to form new diaryliodonium salts is proposed. The obtained phenol intermediates undergo oxidative dearomatization to furnish a class of oxo‐spiro compounds. This domino reaction significantly increases the complexity of these molecules and shows excellent regio‐ and stereoselectivity.     

Mild Amide‐Cleavage Reaction Mediated by Electrophilic Benzylation

An extremely mild method for amide‐cleavage by using the triazine‐based benzylating reagent 4‐(4,6‐diphenoxy‐1,3,5‐triazin‐2‐yl)‐4‐benzylmorpholinium trifluoromethanesulfonate (DPT‐BM), which spontaneously releases benzyl cation species when being dissolved at room temperature, has been developed. O‐Benzylation of the amide with DPT‐BM and the subsequent hydrolysis of the resulting intermediate benzyl imidate salt afford the corresponding amine and benzyl ester, which can be converted by hydrogenolysis into a carboxylic acid under neutral conditions. O‐Benzylation proceeds depending on both steric and electronic factors around the amide group. Thus, some amides have been selectively cleaved over other amides. Furthermore, intramolecular chemoselective cleavage of an amide group in the presence of an ester group was achieved. Such selective hydrolytic reactions cannot be performed with Meerwein reagents as well as under acidic or basic hydrolytic conditions.     

Saturated Heavier Group 14 Compounds as ‐Electron‐Acceptor (Z‐Type) Ligands

This review article describes the chemistry of transition‐metal complexes containing heavier group 14 elements (Si, Ge, and Sn) as the σ‐electron‐acceptor (Z‐type) ligands and discusses the characteristics of bonds between the transition metal and Z‐type ligand. Moreover, we review the iridium hydride mediated cleavage of E–X bonds (E=Si, Ge; X=F, Cl), where the key intermediates are pentacoordinate silicon or germanium compounds bearing a dative M→E bond.     

Facile Access to Transition‐Metal–Carbonyl Complexes with an Amidinate‐Stabilized Chlorosilylene Ligand

Three transition‐metal–carbonyl complexes [V( L )(CO)₃(Cp)] ( 1 ), [Co( L )(CO)(Cp)] ( 2 ), and [Co( L₂ )(CO)₃]⁺[CoCO)₄]^? ( 3 ), each containing stable N‐heterocyclic‐chlorosilylene ligands ( L ; L =PhC(NtBu)₂SiCl) were synthesized from [V(CO)₄(Cp)], [Co(CO)₂(Cp)], and Co₂(CO)₈, respectively. Complexes 1 , 2 , 3 were characterized by NMR and IR spectroscopy, EI‐MS spectrometry, and elemental analysis. The molecular structures of compounds 1 , 2 , 3 were determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction.