Bond Activation by Metal-Carbene Complexes in the Gas Phase

"Bare" metal-carbene complexes, when generated in the gas phase and exposed to thermal reactions under (near) single-collision conditions, exhibit rather unique reactivities in addition to the well-known metathesis and cyclopropanation processes. For example, at room temperature the unligated [AuCH2](+) complex brings about efficient C-C coupling with methane to produce C2Hx (x = 4, 6), and the couple [TaCH2](+)/CO2 gives rise to the generation of the acetic acid equivalent CH2═C═O. Entirely unprecedented is the thermal extrusion of a carbon atom from halobenzenes (X = F, Cl, Br, I) by [MCH2](+) (M = La, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os) and its coupling with the methylene ligand to deliver C2H2 and [M(X)(C5H5)](+). Among the many noteworthy C-N bond-forming processes, the formation of CH3NH2 from [RhCH2](+)/NH3, the generation of CH2═NH2(+) from [MCH2](+)/NH3 (M = Pt, Au), and the production of [PtCH═NH2](+) from [PtCH2](+)/NH3 are of particular interest. The latter species are likely to be involved as intermediates in the platinum-mediated large-scale production of HCN from CH4/NH3 (the DEGUSSA process). In this context, a few examples are presented that point to the operation of co-operative effects even at a molecular level. For instance, in the coupling of CH4 with NH3 by the heteronuclear clusters [MPt](+) (M = coinage metal), platinum is crucial for the activation of methane, while the coinage metal M controls the branching ratio between the C-N bond-forming step and unwanted soot formation. For most of the gas-phase reactions described in this Account, detailed mechanistic insight has been derived from extensive computational work in conjunction with time-honored labeling and advanced mass-spectrometry-based experiments, and often a coherent description of the experimental findings has been achieved. As for some transition metals, in particular those from the third row, the metal-carbene complexes can be formed directly from methane, coupling of the so-generated [MCH2] species with an inert molecule such as CH4, CO2, or NH3 constitutes a route to activate and functionalize methane under ambient conditions. Clearly, while these gas-phase studies cannot be translated directly to formally related processes in solution or those that occur at a surface, they nevertheless provide a conceptual mechanistic understanding and permit researchers to probe directly the remarkable intrinsic features of these elusive molecules and, in a broader context, help to identify the active site of a catalyst, the so-called "aristocratic atoms".