Conspectus
Chemical reduction of transition metals provides the corresponding
low-valent transition metal species as a key step for generating catalytically
active species in metal-assisted organic transformations and is a
fundamental unit reaction for preparing organometallic complexes.
A variety of metal-based reductants, such as metal powders and organometallic
reagents of alkali and alkaline-earth metals, have been developed
to date to access low-valent metal species. During the reduction,
however, reductant-derived metal salts are formed as reaction waste,
some of which often interact with the reactive low-valent metal center,
thereby disrupting the catalytic performance and hampering the isolation
of organometallic complexes as a result of salt coordination to the
coordinatively unsaturated vacant and active sites and the formation
of thermally unstable ate complexes. In this Account, we emphasize
the synthetic utility and versatility of organic reductants containing
two trimethylsilyl groups, i.e., 1,4-bis(trimethylsilyl)cyclohexa-2,5-diene
(1a) and its methyl derivative (1b), 1,4-bis(trimethylsilyl)dihydropyrazine
(2a) and its dimethyl (2b) and tetramethyl
(2c) derivatives, and 1,1′-bis(trimethylsilyl)-4,4′-bipyridinylidene
(3), leading to the reduction of various kinds of metal
compounds in a salt-free fashion by release of two electrons together
with the coproduction of easily removable (hetero)aromatics and trimethylsilyl
derivatives from these organic reductants 1–3. When homoleptic chlorides of group 5 and 6 metals are treated
with 1a and 1b, in situ-generated highly
reactive low-valent metal species react with redox-active molecules
such as ethylene, α-diimines, and α-diketones to produce
metallacyclopentane, (ene–diamido)metal, and (ene–diolato)metal
complexes, respectively. The advantage of the salt-free protocol is
further exemplified in the low-valent titanocene-catalyzed Reformatsky-type
reaction when 2c is used as a reductant: the yield of
the product using the organosilicon reductant is higher than that
when manganese powder is used as the reductant for the catalytic Reformatsky-type
reaction of ethyl 2-bromoisobutyrate and its derivatives with various
aldehydes. Moreover, when halides, carboxylates, and acetylacetonate
compounds of late transition metals and main-group elements are treated
with the organosilicon reductant 2c, metal(0) particles
are smoothly precipitated under mild conditions. Among them, metallic
nickel(0) nanoparticles are applicable to reductive biaryl formation
and reductive cross-coupling of aryl halides/aryl aldehydes. In addition,
reduction of the heterogeneous catalysts on a solid supporting matrix
was also achieved by this salt-free reduction method; volatile byproducts
are easily removed from the catalyst surface without suppressing the
catalytic performance. Thus, the salt-free reduction strategy is a
very powerful synthetic method that can be extended to various metals
throughout the periodic table.