Migratory insertion of alkenes into metal-oxygen and metal-nitrogen bonds.

The insertion of an unsaturated ligand into a M-C or M-H bond proceeds through migratory insertion, a fundamental organometallic reaction. Recent literature documents evidence of the migratory insertion of alkenes into an M-O and M-N bonds for alkene alkoxylation and alkene amination reactions, respectively. Herein we provide an overview of the literature and a perspective on how these recent experiments relate to classic experiments on C-O and C-N bond formation with alkene complexes of the late transition metals.