Ligation Design and Selectivity Control of Ate Complexes

Abstract

As a new type of zincate, we designed “highly coordinated” zincates, Me₃Zn (R) Li₂ (R = Me, CN, SCN). On the basis of their excellent chemical yields and chemoselectivities, these species were considered to be differentiated from ordinary triorganozincates, R₃ZnLi. We discuss the structure of the newly designed zincates using spectroscopic studies. All results strongly support the fact that these newly designed zincates are new category of zincate species.
We also designed various dialkylzinc hydride “ate” complexes and investigated the reactivities of these zincates toward benzophenone. The results clearly reveal that dimethylzinc hydrides are the most powerful and selective zincate for the reduction of the carbonyl group.