An enyne metathesis is an

organic reaction Organic reactions are chemical reactions involving organic compounds. The basic organic chemistry reaction types are addition reactions, elimination reactions, substitution reactions, pericyclic reactions, rearrangement reactions, Mechanistic Organ ...

taking place between an

alkyne \ce \ce Acetylene \ce \ce \ce Propyne \ce \ce \ce \ce 1-Butyne In organic chemistry, an alkyne is an unsaturated hydrocarbon containing at least one carbon—carbon triple bond. The simplest acyclic alkynes with only one triple bond and n ...

and an

alkene In organic chemistry, an alkene is a hydrocarbon containing a carbon–carbon double bond. Alkene is often used as synonym of olefin, that is, any hydrocarbon containing one or more double bonds.H. Stephen Stoker (2015): General, Organic, an ...

with a metal carbene

catalyst Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

forming a

butadiene 1,3-Butadiene () is the organic compound with the formula (CH2=CH)2. It is a colorless gas that is easily condensed to a liquid. It is important industrially as a precursor to synthetic rubber. The molecule can be viewed as the union of two viny ...

. This reaction is a variation of

olefin metathesis Olefin metathesis is an organic reaction that entails the redistribution of fragments of alkenes (olefins) by the scission and regeneration of carbon-carbon double bonds. Because of the relative simplicity of olefin metathesis, it often create ...

. The general scheme is given by ''scheme 1'': : When the reaction is intramolecular (in an

enyne In organic chemistry, an enyne is an organic compound containing a double bond (alkene) and a triple bond (alkyne). It is called a conjugated enyne when the double and triple bonds are conjugated. The term is a contraction of the terms alken ...

) it is called ring-closing enyne metathesis or RCEYM (''scheme 2''): : with Y representing

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

and n an integer. The reaction was first described in 1985 with the conversion of

biphenyl Biphenyl (also known as diphenyl, phenylbenzene, 1,1′-biphenyl, lemonene or BP) is an organic compound that forms colorless crystals. Particularly in older literature, compounds containing the functional group consisting of biphenyl less one ...

3.1 to a

phenanthrene Phenanthrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with formula C14H10, consisting of three fused benzene rings. It is a colorless, crystal-like solid, but can also appear yellow. Phenanthrene is used to make dyes, plastics and pesticides, e ...

in ''scheme 3'': : The carbene is a

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

carbonyl In organic chemistry, a carbonyl group is a functional group composed of a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom: C=O. It is common to several classes of organic compounds, as part of many larger functional groups. A compound containing a ...

when used in stoichiometric amounts (1 equivalent) yields 41% of the phenanthrene 3.2 and when used in catalytic amounts phenanthrene 3.3. The

stereoselectivity In chemistry, stereoselectivity is the property of a chemical reaction in which a single reactant forms an unequal mixture of stereoisomers during a non- stereospecific creation of a new stereocenter or during a non-stereospecific transformation of ...

of this reaction is large with the metal atom exclusively adding to one of the alkyne carbon atoms in the initial reaction step.

Reaction mechanism

The

reaction mechanism In chemistry, a reaction mechanism is the step by step sequence of elementary reactions by which overall chemical change occurs. A chemical mechanism is a theoretical conjecture that tries to describe in detail what takes place at each stage of ...

for this reaction is outlined in scheme 4: : In the first

catalytic cycle In chemistry, a catalytic cycle is a multistep reaction mechanism that involves a catalyst. The catalytic cycle is the main method for describing the role of catalysts in biochemistry, organometallic chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, materials s ...

the

group of enyne 4.1 forms a metallacyclobutene intermediate 4.3 with carbene 4.2 with R' and R' ' any organic group required to stabilized it. In the next step the metathesis step is reversed with formation of a new double bond and a new carbenic center in 4.4. The ring-closing step takes place when this center reacts with the alkene group to a metallacyclobutane 4.5 as in a regular

reaction. The butadiene group forms in the last step with expulsion of a new methylene carbene, initiating the next cycle but now with R' = H and R' ' = H. This is the proposed "yne-then-ene" mechanism. Evidence for an "ene-then-yne" pathway is beginning to emerge, especially for ruthenium based catalytic systems. The driving force for this conversion is the formation of a thermodynamically stable conjugated butadiene.

Scope

Enyne metathesis reactions are accelerated by

ethylene Ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon-carbon double bonds). Ethylene i ...

as is demonstrated in the reaction displayed in ''scheme 5'': : In this reaction with the

Hoveyda–Grubbs catalyst Grubbs catalysts are a series of transition metal carbene complexes used as catalysts for olefin metathesis. They are named after Robert H. Grubbs, the chemist who supervised their synthesis. Several generations of the catalyst have been develo ...

, ethylene converts the alkyne group to the corresponding

diene In organic chemistry a diene ( ) (diolefin ( ) or alkadiene) is a covalent compound that contains two double bonds, usually among carbon atoms. They thus contain two alk''ene'' units, with the standard prefix ''di'' of systematic nomenclature. ...

group before the reaction with the alkene group.

References

{{Organic reactions Carbon-carbon bond forming reactions Rearrangement reactions