Dimeric Palladium Complexes with Bridging Aryl Groups: When are they Stable?

Stable dimeric palladium(II ) complexes of general formula [Pd₂(μ‐R)₂(η³‐allyl)₂] (R=haloaryl, mesityl) have been prepared. Their X‐ray crystal structures, determined for some of the complexes, show that the two coordination square planes are usually coplanar. The haloaryl complexes are fluxional in solution, showing exchange between cis and trans isomers (relative to the orientation of the two allyl groups in the dimer) through solvent‐assisted associative bridge splitting. A number of other ancillary ligands (O,O, S,S, or C,N donors) failed to stabilize the bridging situation. Also, bridging phenyls were unstable. The reasons for this behavior and the formation of alternative compounds in attempts at synthesizing them are fully analyzed and explained. Stable aryl bridges seem to be favored by a combination of factors: the use of ancillary ligands of small size and lacking electron lone pairs, and the use of aryl ligands reluctant to homo and hetero C? C coupling. These seem to be more important factors in the stabilization of bridging aryl complexes than the strength of the bridges themselves.     

Assessment of the electronic properties of P ligands stemming from secondary phosphine oxides

We report the study of the net donating ability of monodentate and bidentate P ligands stemming from secondary phosphine oxides (SPOs). We experimentally measured and/or calculated the frequencies of CO stretching modes of various metal carbonyl complexes. The inferred electronic properties of the ligands span an unprecedented range, going from π-accepting phosphite-like compounds, to extremely electron-donating ligands outclassing N-heterocyclic carbenes.     

Unusual structures of main group organometallic compounds containing m-terphenyl ligands

The use of the m-terphenyl substituent has facilitated the synthesis of numerous unusual molecules containing main group elements. This review reports these advances as well as highlights potential synthetically useful derivatives. Finally, future applications for this ligand design are suggested.     

In vitro anticancer activity and biologically relevant metabolization of organometallic ruthenium complexes with carbohydrate-based ligands

The synthesis and in vitro anticancer activity of dihalogenido(eta6-p-cymene)(3,5,6-bicyclophosphite-alpha-D-glucofuranoside)ruthenium(II) complexes are described. The compounds were characterized by NMR spectroscopy and ESI mass spectrometry, and the molecular structures of dichlorido-, dibromido- and diiodido(eta6-p-cymene)(3,5,6-bicyclophosphite-1,2-O-isopropylidene-alpha-D-glucofuranoside)ruthenium(II) were determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. The complexes were shown to undergo aquation of the first halido ligand in aqueous solution, followed by hydrolysis of a P--O bond of the phosphite ligand, and finally formation of dinuclear species. The hydrolysis mechanism was confirmed by DFT calculations. The aquation of the complexes was markedly suppressed in 100 mM NaCl solution, and notably only very slow hydrolysis of the P--O bond was observed. The complexes showed affinity towards albumin and transferrin and monoadduct formation with 9-ethylguanine. In vitro studies revealed that the 3,5,6-bicyclophosphite-1,2-O-cyclohexylidene-alpha-D-glucofuranoside complex is the most cytotoxic compound in human cancer cell lines (IC50 values from 30 to 300 microM depending on the cell line).     

P,N-Type benzimidazolyl phosphine ligands for the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki coupling of potassium aryltrifluoroborates and aryl chlorides

This study describes the efficacy of P,N-type benzimidazolyl phosphine ligands, which can be easily synthesized from commercially available and inexpensive starting materials. The application of this ligand array in palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction of aryl chlorides with potassium aryltrifluoroborates is described. The air stable benzimidazolyl phosphines in combination with a palladium metal precursor provides highly effective catalysts for the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of unactivated aryl chlorides and can achieve a catalyst loading of only 0.05 mol %.     

Nickel(II) complexes of bidentate N-heterocyclic carbene/phosphine ligands: efficient catalysts for Suzuki coupling of aryl chlorides

Nickel(II) complexes of bidentate N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)/phosphane ligand L were prepared and structurally characterized. Unlike palladium, which forms [PdCl(2)(L)], the stable nickel product isolated is the ionic [Ni(L)(2)]Cl(2). These Ni(II) complexes are highly robust in air. Among different N-substituents on the ligand framework, the nickel complex of ligand L bearing N-1-naphthylmethyl groups (2 a) is a highly effective catalyst for Suzuki cross-coupling between phenylboronic acid and a range of aryl halides, including unreactive aryl chlorides. The activities of 2 a are largely superior to those of other reported nickel NHC complexes and their palladium counterparts. Unlike the previously reported [NiCl(2)(dppe)] (dppe=1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane), 2 a can effectively catalyze the cross-coupling reaction without the need for a catalytic amount of PPh(3), and this suggests that the PPh(2) functionality of hybrid NHC ligand L can partially take on the role of free PPh(3). However, for unreactive aryl chlorides at low catalyst loading, the presence of PPh(3) accelerates the reaction.     

Efficient solid-phase synthesis of peptide-based phosphine ligands: towards combinatorial libraries of selective transition metal catalysts

A new methodology for the solid-phase synthesis of peptide-based phosphine ligands has been developed. Solid supported peptide scaffolds possessing either primary or secondary amines were synthesised using commercially available Fmoc-protected amino acids and readily available Fmoc-protected amino aldehydes for reductive alkylation, in standard solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). Phosphine moieties were introduced by phosphinomethylation of the free amines as the final solid-phase synthetic step, immediately prior to complexation with palladium(II), thus avoiding tedious protection/deprotection of the phosphine moieties during the synthesis of the ligands. The extensive use of commercial building blocks and standard SPPS makes this methodology well suited for the generation of solid-phase combinatorial libraries of novel ligands. Furthermore, it is possible to generate several different phosphine ligand libraries for every peptide scaffold library synthesised, by functionalising the scaffold libraries with different phosphine moieties. The synthesised ligands were characterised on solid support by conventional (31)P NMR spectroscopy and, cleaved from the support, as their phosphine oxides by HPLC, (1)H NMR, (31)P NMR and high resolution ESMS. Palladium(II) allyl complexes were generated from the resin bound ligands and to demonstrate their catalytic properties, palladium catalysed asymmetric allylic substitution reactions were performed. Good yields and moderate enantioselectivity was obtained for the selected combination of catalysts and substrate, but most importantly the concept of this new methodology was proven. Screening of ligand libraries should afford more selective catalysts.     

The coupling of butylvinyltellurides with organometallic reagents catalysed by nickel complexes

Vinylic tellurides couple efficiently with sp, sp² and sp³ hybridised organometallic compounds (Li, MgX and Zn species) in the presence of dichloro-bis(triphenylphosphine)nickel(II) as catalyst.     

Markovnikov hydroformylation catalyzed by ROPAC in the presence of phosphine and phosphine oxide ligands

Rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-octene in the presence of different phosphine and phosphine oxide ligands has been investigated. The molecular structure of new phosphine ligand, fluorenylidine methyl phenyl diphenylphosphine, was determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Parameters such as different ligands, molar ratio of ligand to rhodium complex, ratio of olefin to rhodium complex, pressure of CO : H₂ mixture, and time of the reaction were studied. The linear aldehyde was the main product when the phosphine ligands were used as auxiliary ligands while the selectivity was changed to the branched products when the related phosphine oxide ligands were used. Under optimized reaction conditions, in the presence of [Rh(acac)(CO)(Ph₃P)]-di(1-naphthyl)phenyl phosphine oxide, conversion of 1-octene reached 97% with 87% selectivity of branched aldehyde.     

Metallomacrocycles That Incorporate Cofacially Aligned Diimide Units

Pyromellitic diimide and naphthalene diimide moieties were incorporated into hemilabile phosphanylalkyl thioether ligands. These ligands reacted with [Cu(CH₃CN)₄]PF₆ and [Rh(NBD)Cl]₂ (NBD=norbornadiene) by the weak‐link approach to form condensed intermediates. Upon reaction of each diimide ligand with these transition‐metal precursors, the two diimide units became cofacially aligned within a supramolecular macrocyclic architecture. The introduction of ancillary ligands to each of these condensed intermediates caused the weak thioether–metal bonds to break, thus generating a large macrocycle in which the distance between diimide units is significantly larger than for the condensed intermediates. The two Rh^I cationic condensed intermediates were characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction studies, and the electrochemical activity of these macrocycles was demonstrated with the naphthalene diimide–Cu^I macrocycles.     

Synthesis of Differently Substituted N- and P-Aminodiphosphinoamine PNPN-H Ligands

Abstract

On the basis of the known aminodiphosphinoamine ligand Ph₂PN(i-Pr)P(Ph) N(i-Pr)-H (3a), differently substituted aminodiphosphinoamine PNPN-H ligands (3) were prepared. By using different synthetic methods, the N-substituted ligands Ph₂PN (i-Pr)P(Ph)N(c-Hex)-H (3b), Ph₂PN(c-Hex)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3g), and Ph₂PN(i-Pr)P(Ph) N[(CH₂)₃Si(OEt)₃]-H (3c), in addition to the formerly described Ph₂PN(n-Hex)P (Ph)N (i-Pr)-H (3h), Ph₂PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(Et)-H (3d), Ph₂PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(Me)-H (3e), and Ph₂PN(c-Hex)P(Ph)N(c-Hex)-H (3f), were obtained. In addition, Ph₂PN(i-Pr)P(Me)N(i-Pr)-H (3i), (cyclopentyl)₂PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3j), (-O-CH₂-CH₂-O-)PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3k), and (1-Ad)₂PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3l) were prepared with different P-substitutions. All compounds were characterized and the molecular structures of the intermediates Ph₂PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)Cl (1a) and (cyclopentyl)₂PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)Cl (1e) and the ligand (1-Ad)₂PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3l) were investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements to view the free supplemental file.     

Catalytic activity of 1‐methylimidazole‐based phosphine ligands in the palladium‐catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction

The catalytic activities of three N‐methylimidazole‐based phosphine ligands in the Suzuki coupling reaction were tested using PdCl₂ as the catalyst. The results showed all three phosphine ligands exhibited excellent activity towards the Suzuki reaction, and the catalytic activity decreased with increasing number of imidazole groups. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.