Dirhodium(II) tetraacetate catalysed reactions of diazo thioamides: isolation and cycloaddition of anhydro-4-hydroxy-1,3-thiazolium hydroxides (thioisomünchnones), an approach to analogues of dehydrogliotoxin

Dirhodium(II) tetraacetate catalysed reaction of the indoline diazo thioamide 8 gives the thioisomünchnone 9, a stable characterisable solid. This masked thiocarbonyl ylide undergoes 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with N-methylmaleimide and maleic anhydride to give the exo-cycloadducts 10 and 11, characterised by X-ray crystallography. The thioisomünchnone 18, derived from diazo thioamide 17, is an extremely stable crystalline mesoionic system which can be characterised by X-ray crystallography but fails to undergo intramolecular cycloaddition. The related thioisomünchnone 19 can be generated by reaction of indoline-2-thione 7 with bromoacetyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine, and undergoes cycloaddition to give adducts 20 and 21.     

New Functionalised Phosphorus (III) Ligands

Abstract

Whereas the number of functionalised tertiary phosphines, and to a lesser extent phosphites, has flourished in recent years, related systems bearing one (or more) P-N bonds are poorly developed. Here we describe a facile synthetic route to some new, potentially hemilabile, P,O-hybrids. These ligands are of particular interest for use in catalysis[1] and also as suitable precursors for further functionalisation.     

Causal loop diagrams as a de-escalation technique

Escalation of commitment, the tendency of decision makers to keep on investing in losing courses of action, has been shown to be a costly decision bias that affects many areas of decision making. Even though escalation is a widely studied phenomenon, there has been comparatively little research on how to avoid this bias. The present study focuses on de-escalation of commitment and proposes that causal loop diagrams (CLDs) can help to decrease escalating commitment to a failing course of action. By means of an experiment, this study shows that using a CLD decreases escalation tendencies.     

The intramolecular beta-fluorine...ammonium interaction in 4- and 8-membered rings

The structures of 3-fluoroazetidinium hydrochloride and 3-fluoro-1,5-diazacyclooctane hydrobromide are explored both by X-ray diffraction analysis and DFT calculations, and the conformations of these molecules are shown to be significantly influenced by the through space C-F...N+ interaction.     

Total synthesis of stephanotic acid methyl ester

[structure: see text]The methyl ester of the naturally occurring macrocyclic pentapeptide stephanotic acid, containing an unusual beta-substituted alpha-amino acid with a tryptophan C-6 to leucine beta-carbon link, has been synthesized. The key steps include the formation of this amino acid through a thioxo-oxazolidine intermediate and a Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction using a phosphonoglycine, derived by a dirhodium(II)-catalyzed N-H insertion reaction, to give a dehydroamino acid and subsequent rhodium(I)-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation to introduce the modified tryptophan residue.     

Preparation and structures of 1,2-dihydro-1,2-diphosphaacenaphthylenes and rigid backbone stabilized triphosphenium cation

The effect of the special peri-geometry of rigid naphthalene-1,8-diyl backbone in phosphenium formation reaction was investigated. 1,8-Bis(diphenylphosphino) naphthalene and P2I4 afforded triphosphenium iodide in a clean reaction. The reaction of 1,8-bis(dimethylaminophosphino) naphthalene with P2I4 is complex, it afforded four products, all containing the 1,2-dihydro-1,2-diphosphaacenaphthylene motif and heterophosphonium functionalities. Two examples of the rare structural motif of two acenaphthylene units connected head to head and thus a contiguous chain of four phosphorus atoms were also isolated, one compound showing diastereomerization in the solution. All new compounds were fully characterised including single crystal X-ray diffraction.     

The synthesis, characterisation and reactivity of 2-phosphanylethylcyclopentadienyl complexes of cobalt, rhodium and iridium

2-Phosphanylethylcyclopentadienyl lithium compounds, Li[C(5)R'(4)(CH(2))(2)PR(2)] (R = Et, R' = H or Me, R = Ph, R' = Me), have been prepared from the reaction of spirohydrocarbons C(5)R'(4)(C(2)H(4)) with LiPR(2). C(5)Et(4)HSiMe(2)CH(2)PMe(2), was prepared from reaction of Li[C(5)Et(4)] with Me(2)SiCl(2) followed by Me(2)PCH(2)Li. The lithium salts were reacted with [RhCl(CO)(2)](2), [IrCl(CO)(3)] or [Co(2)(CO)(8)] to give [M(C(5)R'(4)(CH(2))(2)PR(2))(CO)] (M = Rh, R = Et, R' = H or Me, R = Ph, R' = Me; M = Ir or Co, R = Et, R' = Me), which have been fully characterised, in many cases crystallographically as monomers with coordination of the phosphorus atom and the cyclopentadienyl ring. The values of nu(CO) for these complexes are usually lower than those for the analogous complexes without the bridge between the cyclopentadienyl ring and the phosphine, the exception being [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)] (Cp' = C(5)Me(4)), the most electron rich of the complexes. [Rh(C(5)Et(4)SiMe(2)CH(2)PMe(2))(CO)] may be a dimer. [Co(2)(CO)(8)] reacts with C(5)H(5)(CH(2))(2)PEt(2) or C(5)Et(4)HSiMe(2)CH(2)PMe(2) (L) to give binuclear complexes of the form [Co(2)(CO)(6)L(2)] with almost linear PCoCoP skeletons. [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)] and [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PPh(2))(CO)] are active for methanol carbonylation at 150 degrees C and 27 bar CO, with the rate using [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PPh(2))(CO)] (0.81 mol dm(-3) h(-1)) being higher than that for [RhI(2)(CO)(2)](-) (0.64 mol dm(-3) h(-1)). The most electron rich complex, [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)] (0.38 mol dm(-3) h(-1)) gave a comparable rate to [Cp*Rh(PEt(3))(CO)] (0.30 mol dm(-3) h(-1)), which was unstable towards oxidation of the phosphine. [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))I(2)], which is inactive for methanol carbonylation, was isolated after the methanol carbonylation reaction using [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)]. Neither of [M(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)] (M = Co or Ir) was active for methanol carbonylation under these conditions, nor under many other conditions investigated, except that [Ir(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)] showed some activity at higher temperature (190 degrees C), probably as a result of degradation to [IrI(2)(CO)(2)](-). [M(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)] react with MeI to give [M(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(C(O)Me)I] (M = Co or Rh) or [Ir(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))Me(CO)]I. The rates of oxidative addition of MeI to [Rh(C(5)H(4)(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)] and [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PPh(2))(CO)] are 62 and 1770 times faster than to [Cp*Rh(CO)(2)]. Methyl migration is slower, however. High pressure NMR studies show that [Co(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)] and [Cp*Rh(PEt(3))(CO)] are unstable towards phosphine oxidation and/or quaternisation under methanol carbonylation conditions, but that [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(CO)] does not exhibit phosphine degradation, eventually producing inactive [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))I(2)] at least under conditions of poor gas mixing. The observation of [Rh(Cp'(CH(2))(2)PEt(2))(C(O)Me)I] under methanol carbonylation conditions suggests that the rhodium centre has become so electron rich that reductive elimination of ethanoyl iodide has become rate determining for methanol carbonylation. In addition to the high electron density at rhodium.