A Combined Spectroscopic and Computational Study on the Mechanism of Iron-Catalyzed Aminofunctionalization of Olefins Using Hydroxylamine Derived N-O Reagent as the "Amino" Source and "Oxidant".

Herein, we study the mechanism of iron-catalyzed direct synthesis of unprotected aminoethers from olefins by a hydroxyl amine derived reagent using a wide range of analytical and spectroscopic techniques (Mössbauer, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance, Ultra-Violet Visible Spectroscopy, X-ray Absorption, Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopy, and resonance Raman) along with high-level quantum chemical calculations. The hydroxyl amine derived triflic acid salt acts as the "oxidant" as well as "amino" group donor. It activates the high-spin Fe(II) ( S t = 2) catalyst [Fe(acac) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ] ( 1 ) to generate a high-spin ( S t = 5/2) intermediate ( Int I ), which decays to a second intermediate ( Int II ) with S t = 2. The analysis of spectroscopic and computational data leads to the formulation of Int I as [Fe(III)(acac) 2 - N -acyloxy] (an alkyl-peroxo-Fe(III) analogue). Furthermore, Int II is formed by N-O bond homolysis. However, it does not generate a high-valent Fe(IV)(NH) species (a Fe(IV)(O) analogue), but instead a high-spin Fe(III) center which is strongly antiferromagnetically coupled ( J = -524 cm -1 ) to an iminyl radical, [Fe(III)(acac) 2 -NH·], giving S t = 2. Though Fe(NH) complexes as isoelectronic surrogates to Fe(O) functionalities are known, detection of a high-spin Fe(III)- N -acyloxy intermediate ( Int I ), which undergoes N-O bond cleavage to generate the active iron-nitrogen intermediate ( Int II ), is unprecedented. Relative to Fe(IV)(O) centers, Int II features a weak elongated Fe-N bond which, together with the unpaired electron density along the Fe-N bond vector, helps to rationalize its propensity for N -transfer reactions onto styrenyl olefins, resulting in the overall formation of aminoethers. This study thus demonstrates the potential of utilizing the iron-coordinated nitrogen-centered radicals as powerful reactive intermediates in catalysis.