Variety of alkane C-H bonds can be activated
JOSEPH HAGGIN · Chemical & Engineering News · 1987
Direct intermolecular insertion of a soluble metal transition complex into alkane C-H bonds was discovered independently in 1982 by chemistry professors Robert G. Bergman at the University of California, Berkeley, and William A. G. Graham at the University of Alberta. Since then, considerable progress has been made in enlarging the scope of this chemistry. Now a wide variety of alkanes, including linear hydrocarbons, alkenes, arènes, and chlorocarbons can be activated, Bergman told the Division of Colloid & Surface Chemistry at the American Chemical Society's national meeting in New Orleans. In fact, all types of C-H bonds to which the iridium center of the original complex can be exposed undergo insertion. The exceptions are tertiary and acetylenic bonds. Even strained hydrocarbons, such as cyclopropane, undergo C-H insertion rather than insertion into the weaker C-C bonds. In addition to the iridium reaction, complexes containing rhodium, rhenium, platinum, and iron have been shown to undergo intermolecular C-H insertion. ...