Recent topics of the metallacycles composed of the heavier group 14 elements

This Letter reviews recent advance of metallacycles with chelating Si-, Ge-, and Sn-ligands. Dehydrogenative bond-forming reactions of organosilanes, -germanes, and -stannanes promoted by Pd and Pt complexes afford four- and five-membered metallacycles composed of heavier group 14 elements. It has a couple of advantages such as easier preparation of the starting compounds and reaction procedure than the common metathesis reactions of dianions with transition metal dihalide complexes. These metallacycles are regarded as possible intermediates in catalytic dehydrocoupling polymerizations or as convenient precursors to form discrete oligomers.     

One‐Pot Tandem Diastereoselective and Enantioselective Synthesis of Functionalized Oxindole‐Fused Spiropyrazolidine Frameworks

A highly efficient palladium(0)‐catalyzed asymmetric [3+2] cycloaddition using 3‐diazooxindoles serving as dipolarophiles affords functionalized pyrazolidine derivatives in an atom‐economical way. In addition, by trapping the pyrazolidine derivatives with maleimides, the corresponding spiropyrazolidine oxindoles containing multiple stereogenic centers have been obtained in high yields along with moderate to good levels of diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity under mild conditions. Thus, a novel three‐component one‐pot tandem reaction has been developed.