Elise Bernoud

Recent advances in metal free- and late transition metal-catalysed hydroamination of unactivated alkenes

This Perspective article outlines some of the recent advancements completed in the development of (chiral) metal-free and late-transition metal catalysts for the inter- and intramolecular hydroamination of unactivated alkenes, including allenes, 1,3-dienes and strained alkenes. Particular attention has been given to the description of the substrate scope and functional group tolerance of the noteworthy catalytic developments. The relevant literature from 2009 until 2014 has been covered.

Well-defined four-coordinate iron(II) complexes for intramolecular hydroamination of primary aliphatic alkenylamines.

Despite the growing interest in iron catalysis and hydroamination reactions, iron-catalyzed hydroamination of unprotected primary aliphatic amines and unactivated alkenes has not been reported to date. Herein, a novel well-defined four-coordinate β-diketiminatoiron(II) alkyl complex is shown to be an excellent precatalyst for the highly selective cyclohydroamination of primary aliphatic alkenylamines at mild temperatures (70-90 °C). Both empirical kinetic analyses and the reactivity of an isolated iron(II) amidoalkene dimer, [LFe(NHCH2 CPh2 CH2 CHCH2 )]2 favor a stepwise σ-insertive mechanism that entails migratory insertion of the pendant alkene into an iron-amido bond associated with a rate-determining aminolysis step.

Aryl sulfoxides from allyl sulfoxides via [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement and domino Pd-catalyzed generation/arylation of sulfenate anions.

Allylic sulfoxides, via [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement and oxidative addition of the resulting allylic sulfenate esters to Pd(0), are found to be excellent precursors of sulfenate anions. This hitherto unknown reactivity is applied in a new Pd(0)-catalyzed domino sequence involving sulfenate anion generation followed by arylation to afford aryl sulfoxides.

Neutral copper–phosphido-borane complexes: synthesis, characterization, and use as precatalysts in Csp–P bond formation

Copper-phosphido-borane complexes were synthesized and isolated for the first time. Their structures were experimentally and computationally investigated. They were shown to display catalytic activity in C(sp)-P bond formation.

Stoichiometric and catalytic synthesis of alkynylphosphines.

Alkynylphosphines or their borane complexes are available either through C–P bond forming reactions or through modification of the phosphorus or the alkynyl function of various alkynyl phosphorus derivatives. The latter strategy, and in particular the one involving phosphoryl reduction by alanes or silanes, is the method of choice for preparing primary and secondary alkynylphosphines, while the former strategy is usually employed for the synthesis of tertiary alkynylphosphines or their borane complexes. The classical C–P bond forming methods rely on the reaction between halophosphines or their borane complexes with terminal acetylenes in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of organometallic bases, which precludes the access to alkynylphosphines bearing sensitive functional groups. In less than a decade, efficient catalytic procedures, mostly involving copper complexes and either an electrophilic or a nucleophilic phosphorus reagent, have emerged. By proceeding under mild conditions, these new methods have allowed a significant broadening of the substituent scope and structure complexity.

Experimental and computational mechanistic studies of the β-diketiminatoiron(II)-catalysed hydroamination of alkenes tethered to primary amines

A comprehensive mechanistic study by means of complementary experimental and computational approaches of the exo-cyclohydroamination of primary aminoalkenes mediated by the recently reported β-diketiminatoiron(II) complex B is presented. Kinetic analysis of the cyclisation of 2,2-diphenylpent-4-en-1-amine (1 a) catalysed by B revealed a first-order dependence of the rate on both aminoalkene and catalyst concentrations and a primary kinetic isotope effect (KIE) (kH /kD ) of 2.7 (90 °C). Eyring analysis afforded ΔH≠ =22.2 kcal mol-1 , ΔS≠ =-13.4 cal mol-1  K-1 . Plausible mechanistic pathways for competitive avenues of direct intramolecular hydroamination and oxidative amination have been scrutinised computationally. A kinetically challenging proton-assisted concerted N-C/C-H bond-forming non-insertive pathway is seen not to be accessible in the presence of a distinctly faster σ-insertive pathway. This operative pathway involves 1) rapid and reversible syn-migratory 1,2-insertion of the alkene into the Fe-Namido σ bond at the monomer {N^N}FeII amido compound; 2) turnover-limiting Fe-C σ bond aminolysis at the thus generated transient {N^N}FeII alkyl intermediate and 3) regeneration of the catalytically competent {N^N}FeII amido complex, which favours its dimer, likely representing the catalyst resting state, through rapid cycloamine displacement by substrate. The collectively derived mechanistic picture is consonant with all empirical data obtained from stoichiometric, catalytic and kinetics experiments.