Catalytic Activity of Cationic and Neutral Silver(I)-XPhos Complexes with Nitrogen Ligands or Tolylsulfonate for Mannich and Aza-Diels-Alder Coupling Reactions.

Cationic and neutral silver(I)-L complexes (L=Buchwald-type biaryl phosphanes) with nitrogen co-ligands or organosulfonate counter ions have been synthesised and characterised through their structural and spectroscopic properties. At room temperature, both cationic and neutral silver(I)-L complexes are extremely active catalysts in the promotion of the single and double A(3) coupling of terminal (di)alkynes, pyrrolidine and formaldehyde. In addition, the aza-Diels-Alder two- and three-component coupling reactions of Danishefsky's diene with an imine or amine and aldehyde are efficiently catalysed by these cationic or neutral silver(I)-L complexes. The solvent influences the catalytic performance due to limited complex solubility or solvent decomposition and reactivity. The isolation of new silver(I)-L complexes with reagents as ligands lends support to mechanistic proposals for such catalytic processes. The activity, stability and metal-distal arene interaction of these silver(I)-L catalysts have been compared with those of analogous cationic gold(I) and copper(I) complexes.