Application of physical organic methods to the investigation of organometallic reaction mechanisms.

For the past 75 years, physical organic chemistry has been the foundation for the elucidation of mechanisms, and the understanding of structure/activity relationships, in organic chemistry. The rational design of experiments and the critical analysis of data have been the hallmarks of this field. In this Perspective, we revisit some of the studies carried out during the past 30 years in which our group has used the tools of physical organic chemistry to investigate the mechanisms of a variety of organometallic reactions. The Perspective covers a broad spectrum of metal-mediated reactions including organic reductions, alkene, carbon monoxide and nitric oxide migratory insertion reactions, C-H bond activation, and the reactions of metal-heteroatom bonds with organic molecules. These studies, along with similar ones carried out in other groups, have demonstrated that the principles and methods of physical organic chemistry have adapted well to the study of organometallic reaction mechanisms. The understanding obtained in this way has aided the development of useful metal-mediated reactions in a wide range of areas, especially in industrial catalysis and in applications to problems in organic synthesis.