Normal-to-Abnormal NHC Rearrangement of Al(III) , Ga(III) , and In(III) Trialkyl Complexes: Scope, Mechanism, Reactivity Studies, and H2 Activation.

The present contribution reports experimental and theoretical mechanistic investigations on a normal-to-abnormal (C2-to-C4-bonded) NHC rearrangement processes occurring with bulky group 13 metal NHC adducts, including the scope of such a reactivity for Al compounds. The sterically congested adducts (nItBu)MMe3 (nItBu=1,3-di-tert-butylimidazol-2-ylidene; M=Al, Ga, In; 1 a-c) readily rearrange to quantitatively afford the corresponding C4-bonded complexes (aItBu)MMe3 (4 a-c), a reaction that may be promoted by THF. Thorough experimental data and DFT calculations were performed on the nNHC-to-aNHC process converting the Al-nNHC (1 a) to its aNHC analogue 4 a. A nItBu/aItBu isomerization is proposed to account for the formation of the thermodynamic product 4 a through reaction of transient aItBu with THF-AlMe3 . The reaction of benzophenone with (nItBu)AlMe3 afforded the zwitterionic species (aItBu)(CPh2 -O-AlMe3 ) (6), reflecting the unusual reactivity that such bulky adducts may display. Interestingly, the nItBu/Al(iBu)3 Lewis pair behaves like a frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) since it readily reacts with H2 under mild conditions. This may open the way to future reactivity developments involving commonly used trialkylaluminum precursors.