Ruthenium-catalyzed hydroarylation of methylenecyclopropanes through C-H bond cleavage: scope and mechanism.

Intermolecular hydroarylation reactions of highly strained methylenecyclopropanes 2-phenylmethylenecyclopropane (1), 2,2-diphenylmethylenecyclopropane (2), methylenespiropentane (3), bicyclopropylidene (4), (dicyclopropylmethylene)cyclopropane (5), and benzhydrylidenecyclopropane (6) through C-H bond functionalization of 2-phenylpyridine (7 a) and other arenes with directing groups were studied. The reaction was very sensitive to the substitution on the methylenecyclopropanes. Although these transformations involved (cyclopropylcarbinyl)-metal intermediates, substrates 1 and 4 furnished anti-Markovnikov hydroarylation products with complete conservation of all cyclopropane rings in 11-93 % yield, whereas starting materials 3 and 5 were inert toward hydroarylation. Methylenecyclopropane 6 formed the products of formal hydroarylation reactions of the longest distal C-C bond in the methylenecyclopropane moiety in high yield, and hydrocarbon 2 afforded mixtures of hydroarylated products in low yields with a predominance of compounds that retained the cyclopropane unit. As byproducts, Diels-Alder cycloadducts and self-reorganization products were obtained in several cases from substrates 1-3 and 5. The structures of the most important new products have been unambiguously determined by X-ray diffraction analyses. On the basis of the results of hydroarylation experiments with isotopically labeled 7 a-[D(5)], a plausible mechanistic rationale and a catalytic cycle for these unusual ruthenium-catalyzed hydroarylation reactions have been proposed. Arene-tethered ruthenium-phosphane complex 53, either isolated from the reaction mixture or independently prepared, did not show any catalytic activity.