Gold salts and complexes have emerged in the past few years as the most powerful catalysts for electrophilic activation of alkynes toward a variety of nucleophiles under homogeneous conditions. In a simplified form, nucleophilic attack on the [AuL]-activated alkyne proceeds via π complexes 1 to give trans-alkenyl gold complexes of type 2 as intermediates (Scheme 1). This type of coordination is also a common theme in gold-catalyzed cycloisomerizations of enynes, in which the alkene function acts as the nucleophile. In the reaction of enynes with complexes of other transition metals, an Alder-ene cycloisomerization can take place by simultaneous coordination of the alkyne and the alkene to the metal followed by an oxidative cyclometalation. In contrast, this process does not occur for gold(I) since oxidative addition processes are not facile for this metal. 6 In addition, the [AuL] fragment, which is isolobal to H and HgL, adopts a linear coordination and binds to either the alkene or the alkyne. Thus, cycloisomerizations of enynes catalyzed by gold proceed by an initial coordination of the metal to the alkyne, and as illustrated in Scheme 2, the resulting complex 3 reacts with the alkene by either the 5-exo-dig or 6-endo-dig pathway to form the exoor endocyclopropyl gold carbene 4 or 5, respectively, as has been established with other electrophilic transition-metal complexes or halides MXn as catalysts. The proposed involvement of cyclopropyl metal carbenes of type 4 in the electrophilic activation of enynes by transition metals was first substantiated in reactions catalyzed by Pd(II), in which the initially formed cyclopropyl palladium carbenes undergo [4 + 2] cycloaddition with the double bond of the conjugate enyne. Strong evidence for the existence of cyclopropyl metal carbenes as intermediates was also obtained in the reaction of enynes bearing additional double bonds at the alkenyl chain with Ru(II) and Pt(II) catalysts. In these reactions, the cyclopropyl metal carbenes are trapped intramolecularly by the terminal alkene to give tetracycles containing two cyclopropanes. Gold(I) complexes usually surpass the reactivity shown by Pt(II) and other electrophilic metal salts and complexes for the activation of enynes. They are highly reactive yet uniquely selective Lewis acids that have a high affinity for π bonds. This high π-acidity is linked to relativistic effects, which reach a maximum in the periodic table with gold. However, on occasion, the stronger Lewis acidity of gold complexes can be detrimental in terms of selectivity and because of their low tolerance to certain functional groups. In these instances, the less-strongly Lewis acidic Pt(II) complexes could be the catalysts of choice. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: aechavarren@ iciq.es. † Additional affiliation: Departamento de Quı́mica Orgánica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. Scheme 1 Chem. Rev. 2008, 108, 3326–3350 3326

Gold-catalyzed cycloisomerizations of enynes: a mechanistic perspective.

Preceramic polymers were proposed over 30 years ago as precursors for the fabrication of mainly Si-based advanced ceramics, generally denoted as polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs). The polymer to ceramic transformation process enabled significant technological breakthroughs in ceramic science and technology, such as the development of ceramic fibers, coatings, or ceramics stable at ultrahigh temperatures (up to 2000°C) with respect to decomposition, crystallization, phase separation, and creep. In recent years, several important advances have been achieved such as the discovery of a variety of functional properties associated with PDCs. Moreover, novel insights into their structure at the nanoscale level have contributed to the fundamental understanding of the various useful and unique features of PDCs related to their high chemical durability or high creep resistance or semiconducting behavior. From the processing point of view, preceramic polymers have been used as reactive binders to produce technical ceramics, they have been manipulated to allow for the formation of ordered pores in the meso-range, they have been tested for joining advanced ceramic components, and have been processed into bulk or macroporous components. Consequently, possible fields of applications of PDCs have been extended significantly by the recent research and development activities. Several key engineering fields suitable for application of PDCs include high-temperature-resistant materials (energy materials, automotive, aerospace, etc.), hard materials, chemical engineering (catalyst support, food- and biotechnology, etc.), or functional materials in electrical engineering as well as in micro/nanoelectronics. The science and technological development of PDCs are highly interdisciplinary, at the forefront of micro- and nanoscience and technology, with expertise provided by chemists, physicists, mineralogists, and materials scientists, and engineers. Moreover, several specialized industries have already commercialized components based on PDCs, and the production and availability of the precursors used has dramatically increased over the past few years. In this feature article, we highlight the following scientific issues related to advanced PDCs research: (1) General synthesis procedures to produce silicon-based preceramic polymers.
(2) Special microstructural features of PDCs.
(3) Unusual materials properties of PDCs, that are related to their unique nanosized microstructure that makes preceramic polymers of great and topical interest to researchers across a wide spectrum of disciplines.
(4) Processing strategies to fabricate ceramic components from preceramic polymers.
(5) Discussion and presentation of several examples of possible real-life applications that take advantage of the special characteristics of preceramic polymers. Note: In the past, a wide range of specialized international symposia have been devoted to PDCs, in particular organized by the American Ceramic Society, the European Materials Society, and the Materials Research Society. Most of the reviews available on PDCs are either not up to date or deal with only a subset of preceramic polymers and ceramics (e.g., silazanes to produce SiCN-based ceramics). Thus, this review is focused on a large number of novel data and developments, and contains materials from the literature but also from sources that are not widely available.

Polymer-Derived Ceramics: 40 Years of Research and Innovation in Advanced Ceramics

Metal-mediated reductive hydrodehalogenation of organic halides.

The [2 + 2] photocycloaddition is undisputedly the most important and most frequently used photochemical reaction. In this review, it is attempted to cover all recent aspects of [2 + 2] photocycloaddition chemistry with an emphasis on synthetically relevant, regio-, and stereoselective reactions. The review aims to comprehensively discuss relevant work, which was done in the field in the last 20 years (i.e., from 1995 to 2015). Organization of the data follows a subdivision according to mechanism and substrate classes. Cu(I) and PET (photoinduced electron transfer) catalysis are treated separately in sections 2 and 4, whereas the vast majority of photocycloaddition reactions which occur by direct excitation or sensitization are divided within section 3 into individual subsections according to the photochemically excited olefin.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00723

Georges Manuel

Papers

Group 14 metalloles. 1. Synthesis, organic chemistry, and physicochemical data

PdCl2-Catalyzed Reduction of Organic Halides by Triethylsilane

Anionic ring-opening polymerization of sila- and germacyclopent-3-enes

Synthèses et réactivités comparées de sila- et germacyclopentanes fonctionnellement β-substitués

The versatile behavior of the PdCl2/Et3SiH system. Conversion of alcohols to the corresponding halides and alkanes