Selective and catalytic carbon dioxide and heteroallene activation mediated by cerium N-heterocyclic carbene complexes

Arnold, Polly L. and Kerr, Ryan W. F. and Weetman, Catherine and Docherty, Scott R. and Rieb, Julia and Cruickshank, Faye L. and Wang, Kai and Jandl, Christian and McMullon, Max W. and Pöthig, Alexander and Kühn, Fritz E. and Smith, Andrew D. (2018) Selective and catalytic carbon dioxide and heteroallene activation mediated by cerium N-heterocyclic carbene complexes. Chemical Science, 9 (42). pp. 8035-8045. ISSN 2041-6520 (https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC03312A)

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Abstract

A series of rare earth complexes of the form Ln(LR)3 supported by bidentate ortho-aryloxide–NHC ligands are reported (LR = 2-O-3,5-tBu2-C6H2(1-C{N(CH)2N(R)})); R = iPr, tBu, Mes; Ln = Ce, Sm, Eu). The cerium complexes cleanly and quantitatively insert carbon dioxide exclusively into all three cerium carbene bonds, forming Ce(LR·CO2)3. The insertion is reversible only for the mesityl-substituted complex Ce(LMes)3. Analysis of the capacity of Ce(LR)3 to insert a range of heteroallenes that are isoelectronic with CO2 reveals the solvent and ligand size dependence of the selectivity. This is important because only the complexes capable of reversible CO2-insertion are competent catalysts for catalytic conversions of CO2. Preliminary studies show that only Ce(LMes·CO2)3 catalyses the formation of propylene carbonate from propylene oxide under 1 atm of CO2 pressure. The mono-ligand complexes can be isolated from reactions using LiCe(NiPr2)4 as a starting material; LiBr adducts [Ce(LR)(NiPr2)Br·LiBr(THF)]2 (R = Me, iPr) are reported, along with a hexanuclear N-heterocyclic dicarbene [Li2Ce3(OArCMe–H)3(NiPr2)5(THF)2]2 by-product. The analogous para-aryloxide–NHC proligand (p-LMes = 4-O-2,6-tBu2-C6H2(1-C{N(CH)2NMes}))) has been made for comparison, but the rare earth tris-ligand complexes Ln(p-LMes)3(THF)2 (Ln = Y, Ce) are too reactive for straightforward Lewis pair separated chemistry to be usefully carried out.

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