The use of group 6 metal-carbene complexes in inter- and intramolecular carbene transfer reactionshas been studied. Thus, pentacarbonyl[(aryl)(methoxy)carbene]chromium(0) and tungsten complexes,
10,efficiently dimerize at room temperature in the presence of diverse Pd(0) and Pd(II)/Et
3N catalysts. The effectof additives (PPh
3, AsPh
3, or SbPh
3) on the nature and the isomeric ratio of the reaction products is negligible.The nature of the reaction products is more catalyst-dependent for metal carbenes
12 bearing alkyl groupsattached to the carbene carbon. In these cases, either carbene ligand dimerization or
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-hydrogen eliminationreactions are observed, depending on the catalyst. The carbene ligand dimerization reaction can be used toprepare conjugated polyenes, including those having metal moieties at both ends of the polyene system, aswell as enediyne derivatives. The intramolecular carbene ligand dimerization of chromium bis-carbene complexes
28 and
30 allows the preparation of mono- and bicyclic derivatives, with ring sizes from six to nine members.For bis-carbene derivatives the
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-hydrogen elimination reaction is inhibited, provided that both metal centersare tethered by an
o-xylylene group. Other alkyl complexes
32 form new mononuclear carbene complexes
37or decompose to complex reaction mixtures. The results obtained in these reactions may be explained bytransmetalation from Cr(0) to Pd(0) and the intermediacy of Pd-carbene complexes. Aminocarbene-chromium(0) complexes
15, need harsher reaction conditions to transfer the carbene ligand, and this transfer occurs onlyin the presence of deactivated olefins. The corresponding insertion/hydrolysis products
48 resulted in thesecases. A catalytic cycle involving transmetalation from a chromacyclobutane to a palladacyclobutane is proposedto explain these results.