A general study of [(eta5-Cp')2Ti(eta2-Me3SiC2SiMe3)]-catalyzed hydroamination of terminal alkynes: regioselective formation of Markovnikov and anti-Markovnikov products and mechanistic explanation (Cp'=C5H5, C5H4Et, C5Me5)

A general study of the regioselective hydroamination of terminal alkynes in the presence of (eta5-Cp)2Ti(eta2-Me3SiC2SiMe3)] (1), (eta5-CpEt)2Ti(eta2-Me3SiC2SiMe3)] (CpEt=ethylcyclopentadienyl) (2), and (eta5-Cp*)2Ti(eta2-Me3SiC2SiMe3)] (Cp*=pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) (3) is presented. While aliphatic amines give mainly the anti-Markovnikov products, anilines and aryl hydrazines yield the Markovnikov isomer as main products. Interestingly, using aliphatic amines such as n-butylamine and benzylamine the different catalysts lead to a significant change in the observed regioselectivity. Here, for the first time a highly selective switch from the Markovnikov to the anti-Markovnikov product is observed simply by changing the catalyst. Detailed theoretical calculations for the reaction of propyne with different substituted anilines and tert-butylamine in the presence of (eta5-C5H5)Ti(=NR)(NHR)] (R=4-C6H4X; X=H, F, Cl, CH3, 2,6-dimethylphenyl) reveal that the experimentally observed regioselectivity is determined by the relative stability of the corresponding pi-complexes 10. While electrostatic stabilization favors the Markovnikov performance for aniline, the steric repulsive destabilization disfavors the Markovnikov performance for tert-butylamine.