The reactivity of complexes of nickel(O) and platinum(O) containing benzyne and related small-ring alkynes1

Abstract

Martin Bennett (left) was born in Harrow, near London, England in August 1935. He graduated from Imperial College of Science, London in 1957 and obtained his PhD from the same institution in 1960 under the direction of the late Professor Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson. After postdoctoral studies at the University of Southern California with Professor Arthur Adamson and at University College London with the late Professor Sir Ronald Nyholm in the period 1960-1963, lie was appointed Lecturer in Chemistry at University College London. In 1967 he moved to the Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, where he is now Professor of Inorganic Chemistry. His research interests lie mainly in organo-transition metal chemistry and the activation of organic and inorganic molecules by transition metal compounds. Jointly with Professor Helmut Werner (University of Würzburg) he received a Max-Planck prize in 1994 and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, London in 1995. Eric Wenger (right) was born in Geneva, Switzerland in September 1961. He received his PhD from the University of Geneva in 1990 under the supervision of Professor E. Peter Kündig and joined the group of Professor Martin Bennett for postdoctoral work with a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation in 1991. He became Research Fellow at the Research School of Chemistry in 1995 and, in 1997, was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship by the Australian Research Council. The preparation and reactivities of cyclohexyne and aryne complexes of platinum(O) and nickel(O) are reviewed. These complexes undergo insertions with unsaturated molecules such as alkenes, alkynes, isocyanides, CO and CO2. In the case of the nickel-benzyne complexes, consecutive inser-lions are observed with alkynes, leading to substituted naphthalenes with good regioselectivities. A possible mechanism for these double insertions, based on a combination of steric and electronic factors, is discussed in detail. Show more