Intermolecular Oxidative Addition of Aryl Halides to Platinum(II) Alkyl Complexes Kristof M. Altus, Eric G. Bowes, D. Dawson Beattie and Jennifer A. Love* Department of Chemistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z1, Canada. ABSTRACT: We report the first well-defined example of inter- computational study, we demonstrate the feasibility of concerted molecular aryl halide oxidative addition (OA) to Pt(II). Complexes Csp2-X OA to electron-rich Pt(II) complexes and extend this reac- of the type (IMes)PtMe2(L) and (IMes’)PtMe(L) (L = SMe2, pyri- tivity to several other L2PtMe2 complexes featuring common lig- dine; IMes = N,N-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene; ands. IMes’ = cyclometalated IMes) undergo intermolecular OA of phe- nyl iodide (PhI) at 60 °C, producing toluene via reductive elimina- Scheme 1. Proposed catalytic cycle for methane functional- tion from a proposed Pt(IV)-phenyl species. Isolation of a model ization. Pt(IV) OA product provides evidence for a Pt(II)/(IV) pathway. The OA of PhI is not limited to Pt(II)-IMes complexes;analogous reactions also proceed with phosphine-ligated Pt(II) dialkyl com- plexes, demonstrating that this reaction is feasible for a variety of electron-rich Pt(II) complexes bearing labile ligands. Oxidative addition (OA) is a fundamental reaction that is a criti- cal step in catalytic processes such as Suzuki-Miyaura coupling,1 Buchwald-Hartwig amination,2 olefin hydrogenation,3 and the Monsanto process.4 The OA of a variety of oxidants to low valent metals is well established; the aforementioned processes often rely on OA of carbon-(pseudo)halide (C-X) bonds to M(0) or M(I) spe- cies.5 The OA of alkyl halides to group 10 M(II) species has been well studied stoichiometrically and catalytically.4,6–16 Despite the increasing prevalence of M(II)/M(IV) (M = Ni, Pd) catalytic pro- cesses invoking Csp2-X OA in the literature,17 few well-defined examples of such reactivity have been reported.18–23 While many 3 Pt(II) complexes undergo facile SN2-type Csp -X OA, these com- plexes are inactive toward intermolecular Csp2-X OA which typi- 24 cally occurs in a concerted fashion. With the exception of a 2 25 We initially hypothesised that intermolecular Csp -X OA would poorly defined example from 1967, efforts to achieve intermolec- be possible at sufficiently electron rich Pt(II) centres. As such, we ular C(aryl)-X oxidative addition have necessitated incorporation aimed to prepare a series of Pt(II) dialkyl complexes using N-het- of the oxidant into the ligand scaffold (intramolecular OA).16,22,26– 32 erocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands. Complexes bearing an NHC in addition to SMe2 (1a) or pyridine (1b) donors were readily pre- 33–36 As part of our ongoing efforts in Pt(II)/(IV) catalysis, we pared from Pt2Me4(µ-SMe2)2 and PtMe2COD, respectively. Heat- were interested in exploring the potential of aryl halides as oxidants ing 1a,b at 60 °C in the presence of one equivalent of PhI generated in a proposed process for methane functionalization (Scheme 1). toluene and new Pt(II) complexes 2a,b and 3a,b (Scheme 2). Deu- Our initial efforts in this area were reliant on a strategy developed terium labelling experiments with PhI-d5 revealed exclusive for- 2 by Puddephatt and coworkers, wherein Csp -X activation is facili- mation of toluene-d5, indicating that the phenyl group in the ob- tated by tethering an aryl halide to the ancillary ligand scaffold.22,26– served toluene was derived from PhI. 31,37 This approach provides well-defined Pt(IV) intermediates from In-situ 1H NMR spectroscopic analysis of the reaction mixtures which C-C reductive elimination (RE) can be induced, but tethering of 1a,b with PhI resulted in the detection of toluene and a single the aryl group prevents product dissociation and facilitates decom- 38 2 new Pt-CH3 signal in each case. The Pt-CH3 coupling constants position via ligand C-H activation. As intermolecular Csp -X ac- 2 2 (2a; JPt-H = 80 Hz, 2b; JPt-H = 84 Hz) are consistent for methyl and tivation would obviate this problem, it became crucial to develop a NHC ligands being in a cis configuration. Additionally, the detec- Pt(II) system capable of intermolecular oxidative addition of aryl tion of methane in the 1H NMR suggested that a C-H activation halides. In this work we describe a N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) event occurred, which was confirmed by the presence of diastereo- ligated dimethyl Pt(II) complex capable of intermolecular oxidative topic methylene addition of PhX (X= I, Br). Through a combined experimental and 1 Scheme 2. Reaction of complexes 1a,b with PhI at 60 °C. (*) Indicates the presence of an additional isomer (see experimental section of SI for details). Percentages correspond to sum of yields of both isomers. Major isomers shown except for 3b.50 resonances characteristic of IMes cyclometallation at the ortho-me- On this basis, we tentatively propose a mechanism in which lig- thyl position (3a,b).39,40 and L dissociates to facilitate the concerted OA of PhI (Scheme 4a). The independent synthesis and full characterization (1H, 13C{1H} DFT calculations support this proposal, establishing that a con- NMR spectroscopy, ESI-MS) of all Pt(II) species presumed to have certed OA process is energetically feasible for both complexes 1a formed in the reaction of 1a,b with PhI corroborated our assign- and 1a’. Starting from 1a’, the dissociation of SMe2 results in the -1 ments. The conversion of PhI to toluene is consistent with a mech- formation of a weak PhI adduct 4’, 4.9 kcal·mol uphill in energy anism in which PhI OA is followed by Csp2-Csp3 RE to provide due to the relatively weak donor ability of PhI. These interactions 2a,b, but the mechanism by which 3a,b are formed is less clear. have previously been demonstrated through computational calcu- Cyclometalation of organoplatinum(II) NHC complexes via Csp3- lations.46–48 The oxidative addition barrier (G‡) was calculated to -1 H activation and subsequent reductive elimination of methane is be 14.9 kcal·mol relative to 1a’ in benzene, which is in general well established.39–43 Thus we reasoned that 3a,b was formed di- agreement with our experimental observations. The OA transition rectly from 1a,b or from the less electron-rich products, 2a,b. To state geometry 4’/5’TS is characterized by a ‘face-on’ approach of probe these possibilities, product mixtures containing 2a,b and the aryl halide to Pt and a single imaginary frequency correspond- 2 3a,b were heated for two hours at 100 °C. No changes in product ing to cleavage of the Ph-I bond. The Csp -I addition occurs in a ratios were observed. Heating an independently prepared sample of manner that positions the Ph group trans to a vacant coordination 2b at 100 °C for one hour did not afford any conversion to 3b, nor site in the resultant Pt(IV) complex 5’, which exhibits a square py- did heating in the presence of PhI. These results indicate that cy- ramidal geometry (5 = 0.04). Toluene reductive elimination from clometalated complexes are formed by an initial C-H activation Pt(IV) intermediate 5’ proceeds through transition state 5’TS with a process at 1a,b, followed by PhI OA and reductive elimination of barrier of 14.6 kcal∙mol-1, accounting for the lack of Pt(IV) inter- toluene. Gratifyingly, heating 1a,1b at 60 °C for two hours in C6H6 mediates detected experimentally. was found to provide cyclometalated complexes 1a’ and 1b’ in 71% and 78% yield, respectively (see SI for solid state structures). Scheme 3. Reactivity of cyclometalated 1a’,b’ with PhI. Comparison of τ4 values for 1a (0.057) and 1a’ (0.070) shows that both complexes adopt square planar geometries44 as expected for Pt(II) complexes. Cyclometallation results in minor distortions of the square plane for 1b (0.034) and 1b’ (0.061). The isolated complexes 1a’,b’ were heated at 60 °C for 1 hour in the presence of PhI, resulting in the formation of toluene in ex- cellent yields (80, 99% by 1H NMR spectroscopy, respectively). Phenyl bromide also reacts with 1a’ to form toluene in ~37% yield, but this reaction is slower (16 h) and requires an excess of PhBr to achieve appreciable conversion (further details in Figure S57). The reaction of PhI with SMe2 complex 1a’ provides toluene quantita- tively if longer reaction times are employed (2 h). The higher reac- tivity of pyridine derivative 1b’ compared to SMe2 complex 1a’ may be attributed to the ability of nitrogen to stabilize the Pt(IV) oxidation state, or to a higher barrier for SMe2 dissociation due to the soft nature of sulfur. To explore this, the reaction of 1a’ with PhI was performed in the presence of excess SMe2 at 60 °C. Added SMe2 was found to inhibit the reaction, affording toluene and 3a in only 4% yield over a one-hour period (c.f. 80% yield in the absence of added SMe2). Similar inhibition was observed when 1b and PhI Consistent with observed differences in reactivity between 1a were heated in the presence of excess pyridine (See SI for details). and 1a’, the Csp2-I OA pathway starting from non-cyclometallated These observations are consistent with a mechanism in which dis- 1a proceeds with a significantly higher OA barrier (G‡ = sociation of L creates a coordinative vacancy for interaction with 23.1 kcal·mol-1 relative to 1a) than 1a’.