A Cationic High-Valent Cp*CoIII Complex for the Catalytic Generation of Nucleophilic Organometallic Species: Directed CH Bond Activation

                                                                                                                     (Reported by Lu Dai) 

A cationic high-valent cobalt complex catalyzed addition reactions of aryl C-H bonds to polar electrophiles were described. The Cp*Co^III complex 1a catalytically generated the nucleophilic species in situ without any additional reagents and enabled the directed C-H bond addition of 2-aryl pyridines to imines, enones, and α, β-unsaturated N-acyl pyrroles as ester and amide surrogates. A proposed mechanism was given.

Tatsuhiko Yoshino, Hideya Ikemoto, Shigeki Matsunaga, Motomu Kanai. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 2207-2211.