Expansion of the Ligand Knowledge Base for Chelating P,P-Donor Ligands (LKB-PP).

We have expanded the ligand knowledge base for bidentate P,P- and P,N-donor ligands (LKB-PP, Organometallics2008, 31, 1372-1383) by 208 ligands and introduced an additional steric descriptor (nHe8). This expanded knowledge base now captures information on 334 bidentate ligands and has been processed with principal component analysis (PCA) of the descriptors to produce a detailed map of bidentate ligand space, which better captures ligand variation and has been used for the analysis of ligand properties.

Counterintuitive kinetics in Tsuji-Trost allylation: ion-pair partitioning and implications for asymmetric catalysis.

The kinetics of Pd-catalyzed Tsuji-Trost allylation employing simple phosphine ligands (L = Ar3P, etc.) are consistent with turnover-limiting nucleophilic attack of an electrophilic [L2Pd(allyl)]+ catalytic intermediate. Counter-intuitively, when L is made more electron donating, which renders [L2Pd(allyl)]+ less electrophilic (by up to an order of magnitude), higher rates of turnover are observed. In the presence of catalytic NaBAr'F, large rate differentials arise by attenuation of ion-pair return (via generation of [L2Pd(allyl)]+ [BAr'F]-) a process that also increases the asymmetric induction from 28 to 78% ee in an archetypal asymmetric allylation employing BINAP (L*) as ligand. There is substantial potential for analogous application of [M]n+([BAr'F]-)n cocatalysis in other transition metal catalyzed processes involving an ionic reactant or reagent and an ionogenic catalytic cycle.

Intermolecular insertion of an N,N-heterocyclic carbene into a nonacidic C-H bond: Kinetics, mechanism and catalysis by (K-HMDS)2 (HMDS = Hexamethyldisilazide).

The reaction of 2-[13C]-1-ethyl-3-isopropyl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidin-1-ium hexafluorophosphate ([13C1]-1-PF6) with a slight excess (1.03 equiv) of dimeric potassium hexamethyldisilazide ("(K-HMDS)2") in toluene generates 2-[13C]-3-ethyl-1-isopropyl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimid-2-ylidene ([13C1]-2). The hindered meta-stable N,N-heterocyclic carbene [13C1]-2 thus generated undergoes a slow but quantitative reaction with toluene (the solvent) to generate the aminal 2-[13C]-2-benzyl-3-ethyl-1-isopropylhexahydropyrimidine ([13C1]-14) through formal C-H insertion of C2 (the "carbene carbon") at the toluene methyl group. Despite a significant pKa mismatch (Delta pKa 1+ and toluene estimated to be ca. 16 in DMSO) the reaction shows all the characteristics of a deprotonation mechanism, the reaction rate being strongly dependent on the toluene para substituent (rho = 4.8(+/-0.3)), and displaying substantial and rate-limiting primary (k(H)/k(D) = 4.2(+/-0.6)) and secondary (k(H)/k(D) = 1.18(+/-0.08)) kinetic isotope effects on the deuteration of the toluene methyl group. The reaction is catalysed by K-HMDS, but proceeds without cross over between toluene methyl protons and does not involve an HMDS anion acting as base to generate a benzyl anion. Detailed analysis of the reaction kinetics/kinetic isotope effects demonstrates that a pseudo-first-order decay in 2 arises from a first-order dependence on 2, a first-order dependence on toluene (in large excess) and, in the catalytic manifold, a complex noninteger dependence on the K-HMDS dimer. The rate is not satisfactorily predicted by equations based on the Brønsted salt-effect catalysis law. However, the rate can be satisfactorily predicted by a mole-fraction-weighted net rate constant: -d[2]/dt = ({x2 k(uncat)} + {(1-x2) k(cat)})[2]1[toluene]1, in which x2 is determined by a standard bimolecular complexation equilibrium term. The association constant (Ka) for rapid equilibrium-complexation of 2 with (K-HMDS)2 to form [2(K-HMDS)2] is extracted by nonlinear regression of the 13C NMR shift of C2 in [13C1]-2 versus [(K-HMDS)2] yielding: Ka = 62(+/-7) M(-1); delta(C(2)) in 2=237.0 ppm; delta(C(2)) in [2(K-HMDS)2] = 226.8 ppm. It is thus concluded that there is discrete, albeit inefficient, molecular catalysis through the 1:1 carbene/(K-HMDS)2 complex [2(K-HMDS)2], which is found to react with toluene more rapidly than free 2 by a factor of 3.4 (=k(cat)/k(uncat)). The greater reactivity of the complex [2(K-HMDS)2] over the free carbene (2) may arise from local Brønsted salt-effect catalysis by the (K-HMDS)2 liberated in the solvent cage upon reaction with toluene.