Acid-catalyzed oxidative addition of a C-H bond to a square planar d8 iridium complex.

While the addition of C-H bonds to three-coordinate Ir(I) fragments is a central theme in the field of C-H bond activation, addition to square planar four-coordinate complexes is far less precedented. The dearth of such reactions may be attributed, at least in part, to kinetic factors elucidated in seminal work by Hoffmann. C-H additions to square planar carbonyl complexes in particular are unprecedented, in contrast to the extensive chemistry of oxidative addition of other substrates (e.g., H2, HX) to Vaska's Complex and related species. We report that Bronsted acids will catalyze the addition of the alkynyl C-H bond of phenylacetylene to the pincer complex (PCP)Ir(CO). The reaction occurs to give exclusively the trans-C-H addition product. Our proposed mechanism, based on kinetics and DFT calculations, involves initial protonation of (PCP)Ir(CO) to generate a highly active five-coordinate cationic intermediate, which forms a phenylacetylene adduct that is then deprotonated to give product.

Catalytic synthesis of n-alkyl arenes through alkyl group cross-metathesis.

n-Alkyl arenes were prepared in a one-pot tandem dehydrogenation/olefin metathesis/hydrogenation sequence directly from alkanes and ethylbenzene. Excellent selectivity was observed when ((tBu)PCP)IrH2 was paired with tungsten monoaryloxide pyrrolide complexes such as W(NAr)(C3H6)(pyr)(OHIPT) (1a) [Ar = 2,6-i-Pr2C6H3; pyr = pyrrolide; OHIPT = 2,6-(2,4,6-i-Pr3C6H2)2C6H3O]. Complex 1a was also especially active in n-octane self-metathesis, providing the highest product concentrations reported to date. The thermal stability of selected olefin metathesis catalysts allowed elevated temperatures and extended reaction times to be employed.