Novel eta 3 -1-silaallyl tungsten complexes via Si-H bond activation of hydrovinylsilanes: structure and reactivity toward methanol

Reactions of cis-Cp*(CO)2W(MeCN)Me (1) with HSiMe2(CH=CR2) (R = H, Me) afford the novel eta3-1-silaallyl complexes Cp*(CO)2W(eta3-Me2SiCHCR2) [R = H (2), Me (3)] accompanied by liberation of MeCN and CH4 via thermal Si-H bond activation. eta3-Coordination and exo conformation of the 1-silaallyl ligand in 3 are shown by X-ray crystal analysis, which reveals the partial double bond character of the Si-C bond (1.800(4) A) in the silaallyl moiety. Complexes 2 and 3 show extremely high reactivity toward MeOH to give the hydrido-(methoxysilyl)alkene complex trans-Cp*(CO)2WH(eta2-MeOMe2SiCH=CH2) (4) and the four-membered metallacycle Cp*(CO)2WCH(CHMe2)SiMe2OMe (6), respectively.     

Intramolecular charge-transfer fluorescence of 1-phenyltridecamethylbicyclo[2.2.2]octasilane

1-Phenyltridecamethylbicyclo[2.2.2]octasilane (1) is prepared by the reaction of the corresponding 1-chlorotridecamethylbicyclo[2.2.2]octasilane with phenyllithium in the presence of N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine and the molecular structure of is determined by X-ray crystallography. Phenyloligosilane shows dual fluorescence even in non-polar hexane though the TICT-like mechanism is not applicable.     

Synthesis of optically active bihelicenols

All six stereoisomers of dimethyl 5,5′-dihydroxy-1,1′,12,12′-tetramethyl-[6,6′]bi(benzo[c]phenanthrenyl)-8,8′-dicarboxylate (bihelicenol) were synthesized by the oxidative coupling of methyl 8-hydroxy-1,12-dimethylbenzo[c]phenanthrene-5-carboxylate (helicenol), and their structures were determined by X-ray analysis.     

A novel and efficient chiral palladium-phosphinooxazolidine catalyst for the enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction

An efficient ruthenium-catalyzed transfer dehydrogenation of amines to imines was acheived under mild conditions using 2,6-dimethoxy benzoquinone (2) or cat. 2/MnO2 as oxidant.     

Insertion of a stable dialkylsilylene into silicon-chlorine bonds

The reactions of a stable dialkylsilylene with chlorosilanes such as tetrachlorosilane, dimethyldichlorosilane, and dichlorosilane occurred smoothly at room temperature in hydrocarbon solvents to give the corresponding Si-Cl bond insertion products. In the reaction of the silylene with dichlorosilane, only the Si-Cl bond insertion product was obtained, while a similar reaction with dimethylchlorosilane gave only the Si-H insertion product, emphasizing the remarkable difference in the steric requirements between these two insertion reactions. No reaction took place during the treatment of the silylene with trimethylchlorosilane. The Si-Cl insertion reactions are expected to be applied in the synthesis of new organosilicon frameworks that cannot be obtained by conventional methods.     

trans-RuH(eta1-BH4)(binap)(1,2-diamine): a catalyst for asymmetric hydrogenation of simple ketones under base-free conditions

Reaction of a chiral RuCl2(diphosphine)(1,2-diamine) complex and NaBH4 forms trans-RuH(eta1-BH4)(diphosphine)(1,2-diamine) quantitatively. The TolBINAP/DPEN Ru complex has been characterized by single crystal X-ray analysis as well as NMR and IR spectra. The new Ru complexes allow for asymmetric hydrogenation of simple ketones in 2-propanol without an additional strong base. Various base-sensitive ketones are convertible to chiral alcohols in a high enantiomeric purity with a substrate/catalyst ratio of up to 100 000 under mild conditions. Configurationally unstable 2-isopropyl- and 2-methoxycyclohexanone can be kinetically resolved with a high enantiomer discrimination. This procedure overcomes the drawback of an earlier method using RuCl2(diphosphine)(diamine) and an alkaline base, which sometimes causes undesired reactions such as ester exchange, epoxy-ring opening, beta-elimination, and polymerization of ketonic substrates.