The reaction of the diarylallenylidene complexes[(CO)
5M=C=C=C(C
6H
4R-
p)
2](M = Cr(
1), W (
2); R = H (
a), Me(
b), OMe (
c), NMe
2 (
d))with the ynamines MeC
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
CNEt
2 andPhC
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
CNEt
2 affords two products: alkenylallenylidene(
3,
5) and cyclobutenylidene complexes (
4,
6). The alkenylallenylidenecomplexes[(CO)
5M=C=C=C(NEt
2)C(R')=C(C
6H
4R-
p)
2] (R' = Me, M = Cr (
3), W(
5), R = H (
a), Me (
b), OMe(
c), NMe
2 (
d); R' = Ph, M = Cr(
3),R = OMe (
e), NMe
2 (
f)) are formed
via cycloaddition of the C
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
C bond of the ynamine totheC
2=C
3 bond of
1 and
2,respectively, and subsequent cycloreversion. Thecyclobutenylidene
complexes[(CO)5M=C-C(R')=C(NEt2)-C=C(C6H4R-p)2](R' = Me, M = Cr (
4), W (
6), R=H (
a), Me (
b), OMe (
c),NMe
2 (
d); R' = Ph, M = Cr (
4), R= OMe (
e), NMe
2 (
f)) areformedby cycloaddition of the ynamines to the C
1=C
2bond of
1 and
2. The compounds
3,
4a-
c,
5,and
6a-
c are stable at room temperature.In contrast,
4d-
f and
6ddecompose on contactwith air, light, or silica. Complex
3d wascharacterized by an X-ray structural analysis.The product ratios
3/
4 and
5/
6 strongly depend on the solvent and thesubstitution patternof both the allenylidene complexes
1 and
2 andthe ynamine. In general, decreasing polarityof the solvent increasingly favors formation of cyclobutenylidenecomplexes. The solventdependence indicates that the transition state for the formation of
4 and
6 is significantlyless polar than that for the formation of
3 and
5. The ratios
3/
4 and
5/
6 increase in theseries
a <
b <
c <
d.Kinetic measurements of the reaction of
1c,
dwith the ynaminesMeC
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
CNEt
2 and PhC
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
CNEt
2 reveal that thecomplex pairs
3,
4 and
5,
6are formed inparallel pathways with an associative rate-determining step for each.The reactions followsecond-order kinetics, first-order in the concentrations of theallenylidene complexes
1,
2and of the ynamines. The activation enthalpies
H![](/images/entities/thermod.gif)
are small, and the activationentropies
S![](/images/entities/thermod.gif)
are strongly negative.
S![](/images/entities/thermod.gif)
is more negative for the formationof the alkenylallenylidenecomplexes than for the formation of the cyclobutenylidene complexes.