State Key Laboratory of Organometallic Chemistry, Center for Excellence in Molecular Synthesis, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, P. R. China.
Acc Chem Res. 2018 Feb 20;51(2):557-566. doi: 10.1021/acs.accounts.7b00605. Epub 2018 Jan 30.
Research into transition metal complexes bearing multiply bonded main-group ligands has developed into a thriving and fruitful field over the past half century. These complexes, featuring terminal M═E/M≡E (M = transition metal; E = main-group element) multiple bonds, exhibit unique structural properties as well as rich reactivity, which render them attractive targets for inorganic/organometallic chemists as well as indispensable tools for organic/catalytic chemists. This fact has been highlighted by their widespread applications in organic synthesis, for example, as olefin metathesis catalysts. In the ongoing renaissance of transition metal-ligand multiple-bonding chemistry, there have been reports of M═E/M≡E interactions for the majority of the metallic elements of the periodic table, even some actinide metals. In stark contrast, the largest subgroup of the periodic table, rare-earth metals (Ln = Sc, Y, and lanthanides), have been excluded from this upsurge. Indeed, the synthesis of terminal Ln═E/Ln≡E multiple-bonding species lagged behind that of the transition metal and actinide congeners for decades. Although these species had been pursued since the discovery of a rare-earth metal bridging imide in 1991, such a terminal (nonpincer/bridging hapticities) Ln═E/Ln≡E bond species was not obtained until 2010. The scarcity is mainly attributed to the energy mismatch between the frontier orbitals of the metal and the ligand atoms. This renders the putative terminal Ln═E/Ln≡E bonds extremely reactive, thus resulting in the formation of aggregates and/or reaction with the ligand/environment, quenching the multiple-bond character. In 2010, the stalemate was broken by the isolation and structural characterization of the first rare-earth metal terminal imide-a scandium terminal imide-by our group. The double-bond character of the Sc═N bond was unequivocally confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Theoretical investigations revealed the presence of two p-d π bonds between the scandium ion and the nitrogen atom of the imido ligand and showed that the dianionic [NR] imido ligand acts as a 2σ,4π electron donor. Subsequent studies of the scandium terminal imides revealed highly versatile and intriguing reactivity of the Sc═N bond. This included cycloaddition toward various unsaturated bonds, C-H/Si-H/B-H bond activations and catalytic hydrosilylation, dehydrofluorination of fluoro-substituted benzenes/alkanes, CO and H activations, activation of elemental selenium, coordination with other transition metal halides, etc. Since our initial success in 2010, and with contributions from us and across the community, this young, vibrant research field has rapidly flourished into one of the most active frontiers of rare-earth metal chemistry. The prospect of extending Ln═N chemistry to other rare-earth metals and/or different metal oxidation states, as well as exploiting their stoichiometric and catalytic reactivities, continues to attract research effort. Herein we present an account of our investigations into scandium terminal imido chemistry as a timely summary, in the hope that our studies will be of interest to this readership.
过去半个世纪以来,研究含有多重键主族配体的过渡金属配合物已经发展成为一个繁荣而富有成果的领域。这些具有终端 M═E/M≡E(M = 过渡金属;E = 主族元素)多重键的配合物具有独特的结构性质和丰富的反应性,这使得它们成为无机/有机金属化学家以及有机/催化化学家不可或缺的工具。这一事实在有机合成中的广泛应用中得到了强调,例如作为烯烃复分解催化剂。在过渡金属-配体多重键化学的持续复兴中,已经报道了大多数元素周期表中的金属元素的 M═E/M≡E 相互作用,甚至包括一些锕系金属元素。相比之下,元素周期表中最大的亚族,即镧系金属(Ln = Sc、Y 和镧系元素),被排除在这一热潮之外。事实上,终端 Ln═E/Ln≡E 多重键配合物的合成落后于过渡金属和锕系元素同系物数十年。尽管自 1991 年发现稀土金属桥连亚胺以来就一直在研究这些物种,但直到 2010 年才获得这种终端(非钳位/桥接配体)Ln═E/Ln≡E 键物种。这种稀缺性主要归因于金属和配体原子的前线轨道之间的能量不匹配。这使得假定的终端 Ln═E/Ln≡E 键极其反应性,从而导致形成聚集体和/或与配体/环境反应,猝灭多重键特性。2010 年,我们小组通过分离和结构表征第一种稀土金属终端亚胺-钪终端亚胺-打破了僵局。通过单晶 X 射线衍射,明确证实了 Sc═N 键的双键性质。理论研究表明,在钪离子和亚胺配体的氮原子之间存在两个 p-dπ键,并且显示出二价[NR]亚胺配体作为 2σ,4π 电子供体。随后对钪端亚胺的研究揭示了 Sc═N 键的高度多功能和有趣的反应性。这包括对各种不饱和键的环加成、C-H/Si-H/B-H 键的活化和催化硅氢化、氟取代苯/烷烃的脱氢氟化、CO 和 H 的活化、硒的活化、与其他过渡金属卤化物的配位等。自 2010 年我们的初步成功以来,并且在我们和整个社区的贡献下,这个年轻而充满活力的研究领域已经迅速发展成为稀土金属化学最活跃的前沿领域之一。将 Ln═N 化学扩展到其他稀土金属和/或不同的金属氧化态,以及利用它们的化学计量和催化反应性的前景继续吸引着研究工作。在此,我们介绍了我们对钪端亚胺化学的研究,作为一个及时的总结,希望我们的研究能引起读者的兴趣。