The application of bimolecular reductive elimination to the activation of iron catalysts for alkene–diene cycloaddition is described. Key to this approach was the synthesis, characterization, electronic structure determination, and ultimately solution stability of a family of pyridine(diimine) iron methyl complexes with diverse steric properties and electronic ground states. Both the aryl-substituted, (MePDI)FeCH3 and (EtPDI)FeCH3 (RPDI = 2,6-(2,6-R2-C6H3NCMe)2C5H3N), and the alkyl-substituted examples, (CyAPDI)FeCH3 (CyAPDI = 2,6-(C6H11NCMe)2C5H3N), have molecular structures significantly distorted from planarity and S = 3/2 ground states. The related N-arylated derivative bearing 2,6-di-isopropyl aryl substituents, (iPrPDI)FeCH3, has an idealized planar geometry and exhibits spin crossover behavior from S = 1/2 to S = 3/2 states. At 23 °C under an N2 atmosphere, both (MePDI)FeCH3 and (EtPDI)FeCH3 underwent reductive elimination of ethane to form the iron dinitrogen precatalysts, [(MePDI)Fe(N2)]2(μ-N2) and [(EtPDI)Fe(N2)]2(μ-N2), respectively, while (iPrPDI)FeCH3 proved inert to C–C bond formation. By contrast, addition of butadiene to all three iron methyl complexes induced ethane formation and generated the corresponding iron butadiene complexes, (RPDI)Fe(η4-C4H6) (R = Me, Et, iPr), known precatalysts for the [2+2] cycloaddition of olefins and dienes. Kinetic, crossover experiments, and structural studies were combined with magnetic measurements and Mössbauer spectroscopy to elucidate the electronic and steric features of the iron complexes that enable this unusual reductive elimination and precatalyst activation pathway. Transmetalation of methyl groups between iron centers was fast at ambient temperature and independent of steric environment or spin state, while the intermediate dimer underwent the sterically controlled rate-determining reaction with either N2 or butadiene to access a catalytically active iron compound.
The selective, intermolecular homodimerization and cross-cycloaddition of vinylsilanes with unbiased 1,3-dienes, catalyzed by a pyridine-2,6-diimine (PDI) iron complex are described. In the absence of a diene coupling partner, vinylsilane hydroalkenylation products were obtained chemoselectively with unusual head-to-head regioselectivity (up to >98% purity, 98:2 E/ Z). In the presence of a 4-or 2-substituted diene coupling partner, under otherwise identical reaction conditions, formation of valueadded [2+2]-and [4+2]-cycloadducts, respectively, was observed. The chemoselectivity profile was distinct from that observed for analogous α-olefin dimerization and cross-reactions with 1,3-dienes. Mechanistic studies conducted with well-defined, singlecomponent precatalysts ( Me PDI)Fe(L 2 ) (where Me PDI = 2,6-(2,6-Me 2 -C 6 H 3 NCMe) 2 C 5 H 3 N; L 2 = butadiene or 2(N 2 )) provided insights into the kinetic and thermodynamic factors contributing to the substrate-controlled regioselectivity for both the homodimerization and cross-cycloadditions. Diamagnetic iron diene and paramagnetic iron olefin complexes were identified as catalyst resting states, were characterized by in situ nuclear magnetic resonance and Mossbauer spectroscopic studies, and were corroborated with density functional theory calculations. Stoichiometric reactions and computational models provided evidence for a common mechanistic regime where competing steric and electronic requirements dictate the regioselectivity of oxidative cyclization. Although distinct chemoselectivity profiles were observed in cross-cycloadditions with the vinylsilane congeners of α-olefins, these products arose from metallacycles with the same connectivity. The silyl substituents ultimately governed the relative rates of β-H elimination and C−C reductive elimination to dictate final product formation.
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