Jürgen Pahl

Calcium Hydride Catalyzed Highly 1,2‐Selective Pyridine Hydrosilylation

Reaction of the calcium hydride complex (DIPPnacnac-CaH⋅THF)2 with pyridine is much faster and selective than that of the corresponding magnesium hydride complex (DIPPnacnac = [(2,6-iPr2 C6 H3 )NC(Me)]2 CH). With a range of pyridine, picoline and quinoline substrates, exclusive transfer of the hydride ligand to the 2-position is observed and also at higher temperatures no 1,2→1,4 isomerization is found. The heteroleptic product DIPPnacnac-Ca(1,2-dihydropyridide)⋅(pyridine) shows fast ligand exchange into homoleptic calcium complexes and therefore could not be isolated. Calcium hydride reduction of isoquinoline gave well-defined homoleptic products which could be characterized by X-ray diffraction: Ca(1,2-dihydroisoquinolide)2 ⋅(isoquinoline)4 and Ca3 (1,2-dihydroisoquinolide)6 ⋅(isoquinoline)6 . The striking selectivity difference in the dearomatization of pyridines by Mg or Ca complexes could be explained by DFT theory and was utilized in catalysis. Whereas hydroboration of pyridine with pinacol borane with a calcium hydride catalyst gave only minor conversion, the hydrosilylation of pyridine and quinolines with PhSiH3 yields exclusively 1,2-dihydropyridine and 1,2-dihydroquinoline silanes with 80-90 % conversion. Similar results can be achieved with the catalyst Ca[N(SiMe3 )2 ]2 ⋅(THF)2 . These calcium complexes represent the first catalysts for the 1,2-selective hydrosilylation of pyridines.

Self-Assembly of Magnesium Hydride Clusters Driven by Chameleon-Type Ligands

While magnesium hydride complexes are generally stabilized by hard, bulky N-donor ligands, softer ligands with a broad variety of coordination modes are shown to efficiently adapt themselves to the large variety of Mg2+ centers in a growing magnesium hydride cluster. A P,N-chelating ligand is introduced that displays coordination modes between that of enamide, aza-allyl, and phosphinomethanide. Slight changes in the ligand bite angle have dramatic consequences for the structure type. The hitherto largest neutral magnesium hydride clusters are isolated either in a nonanuclear sheet-structure (brucite-type) or a dodecanuclear ring structure.

A Soft Grip: Magnesium Complexes with a Phosphine‐Modified Phosphonium Diylidic Lewis Base

Simple strategies to obtain magnesium complexes with the soft chelating diylidic ligand [Ph2 PCHPPh2 (fluorenylidene)]- (dppmflu- ) were developed to evaluate the influence of the hard acid (cation) and soft base (anion) mismatch on the stability and reactivity of the formed derivatives. Deprotonation of the precursor Ph2 PCH2 PPh2 (flu) (dppmfluH) by an alkylmagnesium derivative or magnesium amide provided access to [{Mg(dppmflu)(μ-nBu)}2 ], [Mg(dppmflu){N(SiMe3 )2 }], and [{Mg(dppmflu)(μ-Me)}2 ], which were used as starting materials for further investigations. The reaction of [{Mg(dppmflu)(μ-nBu)}2 ] with PhSiH3 in the presence of THF allowed isolation of the magnesium hydride complex [{Mg(dppmflu)(μ-H)(thf)}2 ] without a stabilizing nitrogen donor ligand. Prolonged heating enforced ligand redistribution and [{Mg(dppmflu)(μ-H)(thf)}2 ] was converted to [Mg(dppmflu)2 ] and MgH2 . The homoleptic derivative [Mg(dppmflu)2 ], in which the magnesium center is in a very soft ligand environment, can open a THF molecule by frustrated Lewis pair reactivity to give [{Mg(dppmflu)(μ-OC4 H8 dppmflu)}2 ].

An unsymmetrical phosphonium diylide with a fluorenylidene subunit and its lithium complexes

The phosphonium ylide MePh2P(flu) (3) (flu = C13H8, fluorenylidene) was conveniently prepared by reaction of Ph2P(fluH) (1) (fluH = C13H9, fluorenyl) with iodomethane, followed by subsequent dehydrohalogenation of the resulting phosphonium salt [MePh2P(fluH)]I (2) by potassium tert-butoxide. Compound 3 was further deprotonated by n-butyllithium, yielding the corresponding lithium complex [Li{CH2PPh2(flu)}(tmeda)] (4) in presence of N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (tmeda). This mononuclear lithium compound contains the monoanionic chelating diylidic ligand. An exchange of the neutral bidentate tmeda by tridentate N,N,N′,N′′,N′′-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine (pmdta) enforces a change in coordination mode. Consequently, the diylide is monodentate in [Li{CH2PPh2(flu)}(pmdta)] (5). Compounds 1–5 were characterized by NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments. Graphical abstract