Stoichiometric Reactions between the Rhodium/Iridium Complexes and 2-Vinylbenzaldehyde Derivatives: Synthesis and Characterization of Rhodaindanone and Iridaindanone Complexes

Utilizing rhodium complexes to catalyze 2-vinylbenzaldehyde derivatives has proven to be a valuable strategy in constructing indanone moieties. In this study, the stoichiometric reactions of Wilkinson's catalyst RhCl(PPh3)3 with 2-vinylbenzaldehyde derivatives were investigated, leading to the formation of rhodaindanone complexes (2). Notably, the transformation of of rhoda-1-indanone (2 a) to rhoda-2-indanone (3) was achieved for the first time. In comparision, the reactivity of IrCl(PPh3)3 and Ir(CO)(CH3CN)(PPh3)2 & sdot; BF4 towards 2-vinylbenzaldehyde derivatives affords irida-2-indanone complexes (4) and fused iridacycles (5), respectively. These newly prepared coumpounds represent the first metellacycles resulting from the reactions between 2-vinylbenzaldehyde derivatives and rhodium/iridium complexes and may provide further insights into the catalytic processes involving 2-vinylbenzaldehyde derivatives for synthesizing indanone compounds. The stoichiometric reactions between the 2-vinylbenzaldehyde derivatives and rhodium/iridium complexes were investigated and several rare examples of metallaindanones were isolated. Moreover, the transformation of rhoda-1-indanone to rhoda-2-indanone was realized for the first time. image