Formylation or methylation: what determines the chemoselectivity of the reaction of amine, CO, and hydrosilane catalyzed by 1,3,2-diazaphospholene?

DFT computations have been performed to gain insight into the mechanisms of formylation/methylation of amines ( methylaniline ()/2,2,4,4-tetramethylpiperidine ()) with CO and hydrosilane ([Si]H, [Si] = PhSi), catalyzed by 1,3,2-diazaphospholene (H). Different from the generally proposed sequential mechanism for the methylation of amine with CO, methylation proceeds formylation, followed by further reduction of formamide to give an -methylated amine, the study characterized a competition mechanism between formylation and methylation. The chemoselectivity originates from the competition between the amine and H hydride to attack the formyloxy carbon of Si (the insertion product of CO into [Si]H). When the attack of an amine () wins, the transformation affords formamide () but would otherwise () result in an -methylated amine (). The reduction of formamide by [Si]H or H is highly unfavorable kinetically, thus we call attention to the sequential mechanism for understanding the methylation of amine with CO. In addition, the study has the following key mechanistic findings. The activation of CO by H establishes an equilibrium: H + CO ⇄ OCHO ⇄ + HCO. The ions play catalytic roles to promote formylation HCO or methylation . In formylation, HCO initiates the reaction, giving and silanol byproducts. However, after the initiation, the silanol byproducts acting as hydrogen transfer shuttles are more effective than HCO to promote formylation. In methylation, promotes the generation of the key species, formaldehyde and a carbocation species ( ). Our experimental study corroborates our computed mechanisms.