Cobalt fluorocarbene complexes CpCo(═CFR(F))(PPh2Me) (Cp = η(5)-C5H5, R(F) = F or CF3) react with tetrafluoroethylene to give the metallacyclobutanes CpCo(κ(2)-CFR(F)CF2CF2-)(PPh2Me) in the first examples of cycloaddition reactions between perfluoroalkenes and metal perfluorocarbenes. The metallacyclic products undergo a variety of reactions upon activation of the C-F bonds, including Brønsted acid-catalyzed C-F/Co-C scrambling. Implications for metal-catalyzed metathesis and polymerization of perfluoroalkenes are discussed.

Four perfluoroalkyl cobalt(III) fluoride complexes have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, and powder X-ray diffraction. The remarkable cobalt fluoride (19)F NMR chemical shifts (-716 to -759 ppm) were studied computationally, and the contributing paramagnetic and diamagnetic factors were extracted. Additionally, the complexes were shown to be active in the catalytic fluorination of p-toluoyl chloride. Furthermore, two examples of cobalt(III) bis(perfluoroalkyl)complexes were synthesized and their reactivity studied. Interestingly, abstraction of a fluoride ion from these complexes led to selective formation of cobalt difluorocarbene complexes derived from the trifluoromethyl ligand. These electrophilic difluorocarbenes were shown to undergo insertion into the remaining perfluoroalkyl fragment, demonstrating the elongation of a perfluoroalkyl chain arising from a difluorocarbene insertion on a cobalt metal center. The reactions of both the fluoride and bis(perfluoroalkyl) complexes provide insight into the potential catalytic applications of these model systems to form small fluorinated molecules as well as fluoropolymers.

Unusual nucleophilic cobalt fluorocarbene complexes ([CoI]CFR; R = F, CF3) are described. Only a handful of fluorocarbenes of first-row transition metals have been reported, and these have exhibited electrophilic reactivity at the metal–carbene bonds. The title compounds are the first persistent/isolable cobalt fluorocarbenes and also rare examples of metal fluorocarbenes with relatively nucleophilic MC bonds (vs other metal fluorocarbene complexes), demonstrated by their reactions with H+ and Me+ and their unusual stability toward water. X-ray crystal structures reveal the shortest terminal cobalt–carbene bonds reported to date, and DFT studies provide details into the nature of these bonds.

The Ruppert-Prakash reagent (Me3SiCF3) is used to introduce difluorocarbene (CF2) and tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) ligands to cobalt(I) metal centres, whereby the TFE ligand is generated via [2+1] cycloaddition between [Co]=CF2 and CF2.

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