A Hemilabile NHC-Gold Complex and its Application to the Redox Neutral 1,2-Oxyarylation of Feedstock Alkenes.

We describe a AuI complex of a hemi-labile (C^N) N-heterocyclic carbene ligand that is able to mediate oxidative addition of aryl iodides. Detailed computational and experimental investigations have been undertaken to verify and rationalize the oxidative addition process. Application of this initiation mode has resulted in the first examples of "exogenous oxidant-free" AuI /AuIII catalyzed 1,2-oxyarylations of ethylene and propylene. These demanding yet powerful processes establish these commodity chemicals as nucleophilic-electrophilic building blocks in catalytic reaction design.

Migratory Insertion of CO into a Au-C Bond.

A MeDalPhos-ligated gold(III) metallafluorene complex, generated via C-C oxidative addition of biphenylene, reacts with CO to produce 9-fluorenone. Experimental and computational studies show that this proceeds via a hitherto unknown migratory insertion of CO into a Au(III)-C bond. This process is more energetically challenging compared to other M-C bonds, but once achieved, the product is comparatively stable with respect to retro-carbonylation. Exploiting migratory insertion of CO into Au-C bonds may extend the range of products that are accessible using gold chemistry.

A Systematic Study of the Effects of Complex Structure on Aryl Iodide Oxidative Addition at Bipyridyl-Ligated Gold(I) Centers.

A combined theoretical and experimental approach has been used to study the unusual mechanism of oxidative addition of aryl iodides to [bipyAu(C2 H4 )]+ complexes. The modular nature of this system allowed a systematic assessment of the effects of complex structure. Computational comparisons between cationic gold and the isolobal (neutral) Pd0 and Pt0 complexes revealed similar mechanistic features, but with oxidative addition being significantly favored for the group 10 metals. Further differences between Au and Pd were seen in experimental studies: studying reaction rates as a function of electronic and steric properties showed that ligands bearing more electron-poor functionality increase the rate of oxidative addition; in a complementary way, electron-rich aryl iodides give faster rates. This divergence in mechanism compared to Pd suggests that Ar-X oxidative addition with Au can underpin a broad range of new or complementary transformations.

Oxidative Addition of Alkenyl and Alkynyl Iodides to a AuI Complex.

The first isolated examples of intermolecular oxidative addition of alkenyl and alkynyl iodides to AuI are reported. Using a 5,5'-difluoro-2,2'-bipyridyl ligated complex, oxidative addition of geometrically defined alkenyl iodides occurs readily, reversibly and stereospecifically to give alkenyl-AuIII complexes. Conversely, reversible alkynyl iodide oxidative addition generates bimetallic complexes containing both AuIII and AuI centers. Stoichiometric studies show that both new initiation modes can form the basis for the development of C-C bond forming cross-couplings.

Hydrofunctionalisation of an Aromatic Triphosphabenzene.

The aromatic heterocycle 2,4,6-tri-tert-butyl-1,3,5-triphosphabenzene reacts with a series of silanes, germanes and stannanes, with weaker E-H bonds reacting in an increasingly facile manner. All react by 1,4-addition to give bicyclic products with diastereomeric ratios varying with the substrate. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that activation of the E-H bond occurs across the 1,4-C/P axis of the triphosphabenzene, with the small energetic differences with respect to the stereochemistry of the addition offering insight into the experimentally observed diastereomeric ratios.

A Transient Vinylphosphinidene via a Phosphirene-Phosphinidene Rearrangement.

A room-temperature-stable crystalline 2H-phosphirene (1) was prepared by treatment of an electrophilic diamidocarbene with tert-butylphosphaalkyne. Compound 1 is shown to react as a vinylphosphinidene generated via phosphirene-phosphinidene rearrangement. Thermolysis is shown to affect C-N bond scission while reactions with C6Cl4O2 or (tht)AuCl afford formal oxidation of the phosphindene center and the phosphinidene-insertion into an aromatic C-C bond of a mesityl group, respectively. The latter reaction is the first example of a phosphorus analog of the Büchner ring expansion reaction.

Oxidative Addition, Transmetalation, and Reductive Elimination at a 2,2'-Bipyridyl-Ligated Gold Center.

Three-coordinate bipyridyl complexes of gold, [(κ2-bipy)Au(η2-C2H4)][NTf2], are readily accessed by direct reaction of 2,2'-bipyridine (bipy), or its derivatives, with the homoleptic gold ethylene complex [Au(C2H4)3][NTf2]. The cheap and readily available bipyridyl ligands facilitate oxidative addition of aryl iodides to the Au(I) center to give [(κ2-bipy)Au(Ar)I][NTf2], which undergo first aryl-zinc transmetalation and second C-C reductive elimination to produce biaryl products. The products of each distinct step have been characterized. Computational techniques are used to probe the mechanism of the oxidative addition step, offering insight into both the origin of the reversibility of this process and the observation that electron-rich aryl iodides add faster than electron-poor substrates. Thus, for the first time, all steps that are characteristic of a conventional intermolecular Pd(0)-catalyzed biaryl synthesis are demonstrated from a common monometallic Au complex and in the absence of directing groups.

Oxidative 1,2-Difunctionalization of Ethylene via Gold-Catalyzed Oxyarylation.

Under the conditions of oxidative gold catalysis, exposure of ethylene to aryl silanes and alcohols generates products of 1,2-oxyarylation. This provides a rare example of a process that allows catalytic differential 1,2-difunctionalization of this feedstock chemical.

Au-Catalyzed Biaryl Coupling To Generate 5- to 9-Membered Rings: Turnover-Limiting Reductive Elimination versus π-Complexation.

The intramolecular gold-catalyzed arylation of arenes by aryl-trimethylsilanes has been investigated from both mechanistic and preparative aspects. The reaction generates 5- to 9-membered rings, and of the 44 examples studied, 10 include a heteroatom (N, O). Tethering of the arene to the arylsilane provides not only a tool to probe the impact of the conformational flexibility of Ar-Au-Ar intermediates, via systematic modulation of the length of aryl-aryl linkage, but also the ability to arylate neutral and electron-poor arenes-substrates that do not react at all in the intermolecular process. Rendering the arylation intramolecular also results in phenomenologically simpler reaction kinetics, and overall these features have facilitated a detailed study of linear free energy relationships, kinetic isotope effects, and the first quantitative experimental data on the effects of aryl electron demand and conformational freedom on the rate of reductive elimination from diaryl-gold(III) species. The turnover-limiting step for the formation of a series of fluorene derivatives is sensitive to the reactivity of the arene and changes from reductive elimination to π-complexation for arenes bearing strongly electron-withdrawing substituents (σ > 0.43). Reductive elimination is accelerated by electron-donating substituents (ρ = -2.0) on one or both rings, with the individual σ-values being additive in nature. Longer and more flexible tethers between the two aryl rings result in faster reductive elimination from Ar-Au(X)-Ar and lead to the π-complexation of the arene by Ar-AuX2 becoming the turnover-limiting step.

Probing the Structure, Dynamics, and Bonding of Coinage Metal Complexes of White Phosphorus.

A series of cationic white phosphorus complexes of the coinage metals Au and Cu have been synthesised and characterised both in the solid state and in solution. All complexes feature a P4 unit coordinated through an edge P-P vector (η(2)-like), although the degree of activation (as measured by the coordinated P-P bond length) is greater in the gold species. All of the cations are fluxional on the NMR timescale at room temperature, but in the case of the gold systems fluxionality is frozen out at -90 °C. Electronic structure calculations suggest that this fluxionality proceeds via an η(1)-coordinated M-P4 intermediate.

Hydroboration of Phosphaalkynes by HB(C6 F5 )2.

The hydroboration of phosphaalkynes with Piers' borane (HB(C6 F5 )2 ) generated unusual phosphaalkenylboranes [RCH=PB(C6 F5 )2 ]2 that persisted as dimers in both solution and the solid state. These P2 B2 heterocycles underwent ring opening when subjected to nucleophiles, such as pyridine and tert-butylisocyanide, to yield monomeric phosphaalkenylborane adducts RCH=PB(C6 F5 )2 (L). DFT calculations were performed to probe the nature of the interaction of phosphaalkynes with boranes.

Gold-catalyzed oxidative coupling of arylsilanes and arenes: origin of selectivity and improved precatalyst.

The mechanism of gold-catalyzed coupling of arenes with aryltrimethylsilanes has been investigated, employing an improved precatalyst (thtAuBr3) to facilitate kinetic analysis. In combination with linear free-energy relationships, kinetic isotope effects, and stoichiometric experiments, the data support a mechanism involving an Au(I)/Au(III) redox cycle in which sequential electrophilic aromatic substitution of the arylsilane and the arene by Au(III) precedes product-forming reductive elimination and subsequent cycle-closing reoxidation of the metal. Despite the fundamental mechanistic similarities between the two auration events, high selectivity is observed for heterocoupling (C-Si then C-H auration) over homocoupling of either the arylsilane or the arene (C-Si then C-Si, or C-H then C-H auration); this chemoselectivity originates from differences in the product-determining elementary steps of each electrophilic substitution. The turnover-limiting step of the reaction involves associative substitution en route to an arene π-complex. The ramifications of this insight for implementation of the methodology are discussed.

Hydrogen activation by an aromatic triphosphabenzene.

Aromatic hydrogenation is a challenging transformation typically requiring alkali or transition metal reagents and/or harsh conditions to facilitate the process. In sharp contrast, the aromatic heterocycle 2,4,6-tri-tert-butyl-1,3,5-triphosphabenzene is shown to be reduced under 4 atm of H2 to give [3.1.0]bicylo reduction products, with the structure of the major isomer being confirmed by X-ray crystallography. NMR studies show this reaction proceeds via a reversible 1,4-H2 addition to generate an intermediate species, which undergoes an irreversible suprafacial hydride shift concurrent with P-P bond formation to give the isolated products. Further, para-hydrogen experiments confirmed the addition of H2 to triphosphabenzene is a bimolecular process. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that facile distortion of the planar triphosphabenzene toward a boat-conformation provides a suprafacial combination of vacant acceptor and donor orbitals that permits this direct and uncatalyzed reduction of the aromatic molecule.

The effects of day-to-day variability of physiological data on operator functional state classification.

The application of pattern classification techniques to physiological data has undergone rapid expansion. Tasks as varied as the diagnosis of disease from magnetic resonance images, brain-computer interfaces for the disabled, and the decoding of brain functioning based on electrical activity have been accomplished quite successfully with pattern classification. These classifiers have been further applied in complex cognitive tasks to improve performance, in one example as an input to adaptive automation. In order to produce generalizable results and facilitate the development of practical systems, these techniques should be stable across repeated sessions. This paper describes the application of three popular pattern classification techniques to EEG data obtained from asymptotically trained subjects performing a complex multitask across five days in one month. All three classifiers performed well above chance levels. The performance of all three was significantly negatively impacted by classifying across days; however two modifications are presented that substantially reduce misclassifications. The results demonstrate that with proper methods, pattern classification is stable enough across days and weeks to be a valid, useful approach.

Gold-catalysed oxyarylation of styrenes and mono- and gem-disubstituted olefins facilitated by an iodine(III) oxidant.

1-Hydroxy-1,2-benziodoxol-3(1H)-one (IBA) is an efficient terminal oxidant for gold-catalysed, three-component oxyarylation reactions. The use of this iodine(III) reagent expands the scope of oxyarylation to include styrenes and gem-disubstituted olefins, substrates that are incompatible with the previously reported Selectfluor-based methodology. Diverse arylsilane coupling partners can be employed, and in benzotrifluoride, homocoupling is substantially reduced. In addition, the IBA-derived co-products can be recovered and recycled.

Coordination chemistry of N-heterocyclic stannylenes: a combined synthetic and Mössbauer spectroscopy study.

The N-heterocyclic stannylenes (NHSns), [(Dipp) N(CH(2))(n)N(Dipp)S n] (Dipp = 2,6- (i)Pr(2)C(6)H(3); n = 2, 1; n = 3, 5) and [((t)Bu) N(CHMe)(2)N((t)Bu)S n] (10) are competent ligands toward a variety of transition metal centers, as seen in the complexes [W(CO)(5)·1] (2), [(OC)(4)Fe(µ-1)(2)Fe(CO)(4)] (3), [(OC)(4)Fe(µ-1)Fe(CO)(4)] (4), [Fe(CO)(4)·5](n) (6, n = 1 or 2), [(OC)(4)Fe(µ-5)Fe(CO)(4)] (7), [Ph(3)PPt(µ-1)(2)PtPPh(3)] (8), [Fe(CO)(4)·10] (11), and [(η(5)-C(5)H(5))(OC)(2)Mn·10] (12). X-ray crystallographic studies show that the NHSns are structurally largely unperturbed binding to the metal, but in contrast to the parent NHCs, NHSns often adopt a bridging position across dinuclear metal units. The balance between terminal and bridging positions for the stannylene is evidently closely balanced as shown by the observation of both monomers and dimers for 6 in the solid state and in solution. (119)Sn and (57)Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy of the complexes shows the tin atoms in such complexes to be consistent with electron deficient Sn(II) centers.

A variable-temperature study of 1,2-bis(dimethylamino)-1,2-bis(2,6-dimethylanilino)diborane.

The title compound, C(20)H(32)B(2)N(4), is monoclinic at ambient temperature but triclinic (pseudo-monoclinic) below 150 K. The structures of the two phases, determined at 200 and 120 K, respectively, are very similar, the molecular symmetry being crystallographic C(2) and approximate (local) C(2), respectively. There is significant π conjugation within each N-B-N moiety, but none between them or between the N-B-N and arene moieties.

Homogeneous catalytic dehydrocoupling/dehydrogenation of amine-borane adducts by early transition metal, group 4 metallocene complexes.

The efficient catalytic dehydrocoupling of a range of amine-borane adducts, R'RNH x BH(3) (R' = R = Me 1a; R' = R = (i)Pr 1b; R' = Me, R = CH(2)Ph 1c) by a series of group 4 metallocene type precatalysts has been demonstrated. A reduction in catalytic activity was detected upon descending the group and also on substitution of the cyclopentadienyl (Cp) ligands with sterically bulky or electron-donating substituents. Precatalysts Cp(2)TiCl(2)/2(n)BuLi and Cp(2)Ti(PMe(3))(2), which are believed to act as precursors to [Cp(2)Ti], were found to promote the transformation of 1a to [Me(2)N-BH(2)](2) (3a) in a homogeneous catalytic process. Mechanistic studies identified the linear dimer Me(2)NH-BH(2)-NMe(2)-BH(3) (2a) as a reaction intermediate, which subsequently undergoes further catalytic dehydrogenation to form cyclic dimer 3a. Synthesis of the (2)H-isotopologues of 1a allowed the extraction of phenomenological kinetic isotope effects for 1a --> 2a and 2a --> 3a from initial rate data, which permitted the proposal of a catalytic cycle with plausible intermediates. Support for the presence of an active Ti(II) catalyst was provided by the lack of reactivity of Ti(III) complexes TiCl(3) and Cp(2)TiCl or Ti(0) in the form of THF soluble colloids or bulk Ti powder toward 1a or 1b. Modeling of the rates of consumption of 1a and formation of 3a during catalysis by Cp(2)Ti(PMe(3))(2) supported this conclusion and allowed the proposal of a two cycle, four step reaction mechanism. The proposed first cycle generates 2a in a two step process. In the second cycle, interaction of 2a with the same catalyst then results in a catalytic dehydrogenative ring closing reaction to form 3a, also in a two step process.

Synthesis and structural characterisation of stable cationic gold(I) alkene complexes.

Treatment of [AuCl(PBu(t)(3))] with AgSbF(6) in CH(2)Cl(2) at room temperature in the presence of the alkenes norbornene, norbornadiene, trans-cyclooctene, and also interestingly, isobutylene, leads to the formation of stable crystalline complexes [Au(PBu(t)(3))(alkene)][SbF(6)], characterised by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography.

New adventures in the molecular chemistry of phosphorus.

Teaching old dogs new tricks: Recent developments in low-coordinate phosphorus chemistry reveal the capacity of this element for surprises. For example, P for CR substitution in new phosphaalkynes was used to stabilize purported intermediates in an important synthetic transformation, and also to form new diphosphacyclobutadiene sandwich complexes (see scheme).