New Tungsten Alkylidyne Complexes as Catalysts for Alkyne Metathesis

Alkyne metathesis is one of the most useful methods for carbon-carbon triple bond formation. High-oxidation-state tungsten alkylidyne complexes are attractive for the development of efficient alkyne metathesis catalysts because of their high performance, well-defined structure and clarified mechanism. In this work, new tungsten neopentylidyne and benzylidyne complexes bearing fluoronated alkoxide groups and imidazolin-2-iminato or phosphoraneiminato ligands were synthesized and characterized. Their catalytic activities towards alkyne metathesis reactions were tested.