Electrophilic Tungsten(Ⅱ) Methylene Carbene Complexes: Adduct Formation, Methylene Transfer, and Catalysis of Aziridine Formation from Imines and Ethyl Diazoacetate

摘要

We believe that these catalytic reactions utilize a reactive, electrophilic carbene complex simply as a Lewis acid to activate imines toward nucleophilic attack by EDA. The discovery of this catalytic sequence suggests another plausible mechanistic pathway in other transition metal mediated carbene transfer reactions.