Cationic Iron Aminocarbene Complexes as Dienophiles in Diels‐Alder Reaction with Cyclopentadiene

The cationic iron (alkynyl)aminocarbene complexes [Cp(CO)2Fe(C(NHR)CCSiMe3][PF6], (R C6H5, p-CH3C6H4) 1 derived from aromatic amines smoothly react with cyclopentadiene in dichloromethane to yield the cycloadducts 2. No reaction was observed for complexes derived from sterically demanding aliphatic amines, like L-alanine tert-butyl ester. For comparison, the alkynyl-substituted acyl iron compounds Cp(CO)2Fe(CO)CC (R SiMe3, C6H5) 3 were investigated, requiring TiCl4 catalysis to undergo the cycloaddition reaction. The structures of the cycloadducts 4 were determined by X-ray crystallography.