Polar molecules catalyze CO insertion into metal-alkyl bonds through the displacement of an agostic C-H bond.

ABSTRACT: The insertion of CO into metal-alkyl bonds is the key C-C bond-forming step in many of the most important organic reactions catalyzed by transition metal complexes. Polar organic molecules (e.g., tetrahydrofuran) have long been known to promote CO insertion reactions, but the mechanism of their action has been the subject of unresolved speculation for over five decades. Comprehensive computational studies [density functional theory (DFT)] on the prototypical system Mn(CO)₅(arylmethyl) reveal that the polar molecules do not promote the actual alkyl migration step. Instead, CO insertion (i.e. alkyl migration) occurs rapidly and reversibly to give an acyl complex with a sigma-bound (agostic) C-H bond that is not easily displaced by typical ligands (e.g. phosphines or CO). The agost

SUBMITTER: Zhou T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6397546 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature