Metal basicity as a synthetic tool in organometallic chemistry

Abstract

Transition metal complexes of the type C5R5MLL' and C6R6M'LL' (R = H, Me; M = Co, Rh; M' = Ru, Os; L = L' = PR3, P(OR)3 and L = PR3, L' = CO, CNR, C2H3R, C2R2 etc.) behave like metal bases and react with an electrophile to form a new metal-to-element bond. After having studied the reactivity of the bis(phosphine) and bis(phosphite) complexes, we have recently focussed our attention on reactions of the mono(phosphine) compounds containing isonitriles, olefins or alkynes as the ligand L'.