Issue 28, 2016

Cationic 5-phosphonio-substituted N-heterocyclic carbenes

Abstract

2-Phosphanyl-substituted imidazolium salts 2-PR2(4,5-Cl-Im)[OTf] (9a,b[OTf]) (4,5-Cl-Im = 4,5-dichloro-1,3-bis(2,6-di-isopropylphenyl)-imidazolium) (a: R = Cy, b: R = Ph) are prepared from the reaction of R2PCl (R = Cy, Ph) with NHC 8 (4,5-dichloro-1,3-bis(2,6-di-isopropylphenyl)-imidazolin-2-ylidene) in the presence of Me3SiOTf. 5-Phospanyl-substituted imidazolium salts 5-PR2(2,4-Cl-Im)[OTf] (10a,b[OTf]) are obtained in quantitative yield when a slight excess of the NHC 8 is used. 5-Phosphonio-substituted imidazolium salts 5-PR2Me(2,4-Cl-Im)[OTf]2 (14a,b[OTf]2) and 5-PR2F(2,4-Cl-Im)[OTf]2 (16a,b[OTf]2) result from methylation reaction or oxidation of 10a,b[OTf] with XeF2 and subsequent fluoride abstraction. According to our quantum chemical studies the Cl1 atom at the 2-position at the imidazolium ring of dication 14b2+ carries a slightly positive charge and is therefore accessible for nucleophilic attack. Accordingly, the reaction of 14a,b[OTf]2 and 16a,b[OTf]2 with R3P (R = Cy, Ph) affords cationic 5-phosphonio-substituted NHCs 5-PR2Me(4-Cl-NHC)[OTf] (17a,b[OTf]) and 5-PR2F(4-Cl-NHC)[OTf] (18a,b[OTf]) via a SN2(Cl)-type reaction. A series of transition metal complexes such as [AuCl(5-PPh2Me(4-Cl-NHC))][OTf] (19[OTf]), [CuBr(5-PPh2Me(4-Cl-NHC))][OTf] (20[OTf]), [AuCl(5-PPh2F(4-Cl-NHC))[OTf] (21[OTf]) and [RhCl(cod)(5-PPh2Me(4-Cl-NHC))][OTf] (23[OTf]) are prepared to prove the coordination abilities of carbenes 17b[OTf] and 18b[OTf]. The isolation of a rare example of a tricationic bis-carbene silver complex [Ag(5-PPh2Me(4-Cl-NHC))2][OTf]3 (22[OTf]3) is achieved by reacting 14b[OTf] with Cy3P in the presence of AgOTf. NHC 17b[OTf] represents a very effective dehydrocoupling reagent for secondary (R2PH, R = Ph, Cy, iBu) and primary (RPH2, R = Ph, Cy) phosphanes to give diphosphanes of type R4P2 (R = Ph, Cy, iBu) and oligophosphanes R4P4, R5P5 (R = Ph, Cy), respectively. Methylation of 17b+ and subsequent deprotonation reaction with LDA affords the cationic NHO (N-heterocyclic olefin) 35+ of which the gold complex 36+ is readily accessible via the reaction with AuCl(tht).

Graphical abstract: Cationic 5-phosphonio-substituted N-heterocyclic carbenes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 May 2016
Accepted
03 Jun 2016
First published
23 Jun 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Dalton Trans., 2016,45, 11384-11396

Author version available

Cationic 5-phosphonio-substituted N-heterocyclic carbenes

K. Schwedtmann, R. Schoemaker, F. Hennersdorf, A. Bauzá, A. Frontera, R. Weiss and J. J. Weigand, Dalton Trans., 2016, 45, 11384 DOI: 10.1039/C6DT01871H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements