Three-coordinate bipyridyl complexes of gold, [(κ-bipy)Au(η-CH)][NTf], are readily accessed by direct reaction of 2,2'-bipyridine (bipy), or its derivatives, with the homoleptic gold ethylene complex [Au(CH)][NTf]. The cheap and readily available bipyridyl ligands facilitate oxidative addition of aryl iodides to the Au(I) center to give [(κ-bipy)Au(Ar)I][NTf], 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.

Dialumenes are neutral Al I compounds with Al = Al multiple bonds.Wereport the isolation of an amidophosphinesupported dialumene.O ur X-ray crystallographic,s pectroscopic,a nd computational DFT analyses reveal al ong and extreme trans-bent Al=Al bond with alow dissociation energy and bond order.Insolution, the dialumene can dissociate into monomeric Al I species.Reactivity studies reveal two modes of reaction:asdialumene or as aluminyl monomers.

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 CClO 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.

Aluminum hydrides, once a simple class of stoichiometric reductants, are now emerging as powerful catalysts for organic transformations such as the hydroboration or hydrogenation of unsaturated bonds. The coordination chemistry of aluminum hydrides supported by P donors is relatively underexplored. Here, we report aluminum dihydride and dimethyl complexes supported by amidophosphine ligands and study their coordination behavior in solution and in the solid state. All complexes exist as κ 2 -N,P complexes in the solid state. However, we find that for amidophosphine ligands bearing bulky aminophosphine donors, aluminum dihydride and dimethyl complexes undergo a “ligand-slip” rearrangement in solution to generate κ 2 -N,N complexes. Thus, importantly for catalytic activity, we find that the coordination behavior of the P donor can be modulated by controlling its steric bulk. We show that the reported aluminum hydrides catalyze the hydroboration of alkynes by HBPin and that the variable coordination mode exhibited by the amidophosphine ligand modulates the catalytic activity.

Oxidative addition and reductive elimination are defining reactions of transition-metal organometallic chemistry. In main-group chemistry, oxidative addition is now wellestablished but reductive elimination reactions are not yet general in the same way. Herein, we report dihydrodialanes supported by amidophosphine ligands. The ligand serves as a stereochemical reporter for reversible reductive elimination/ oxidative addition chemistry involving Al I and Al III intermediates.