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Ferrocenyl aryl ethers can be synthesized in good yields by Cu(I)/phosphine-catalyzed coupling reactions from iodoferrocene or 1,1′-dibromoferrocene and various phenols in toluene, using Cs2CO3 or K3PO4 as a base. For the first time a solid-state structure of a ferrocenyl-1,1′-diaryl ether [1,1′-di(4-tert-butylphenoxy)ferrocene] has been determined from single-crystal X-ray data. The mixed ferrocenyl aryl ether 1-(4-tert-butylphenoxy)-1′-(2,4-dimethylphenoxy)ferrocene was prepared in a two-step synthetic protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two very distinct chemical reactions, yet a single catalyst: A gold complex promotes the formation of tertiary enamines from a variety of terminal and internal alkynes. Subsequent addition of a terminal alkyne to the reaction mixture affords allenes (see scheme).

Cyclopropenylidenes are Hückel aromatic pi systems in which one of the ring atoms is a carbene center. Quantum chemical calculations at the density functional level of theory, supplemented by coupled-cluster calculations, indicate that there is a sizeable energy separation between the lowest-energy singlet and triplet states of these species. Amino groups considerably increase the energy difference between these two states, whereas electron-withdrawing substituents decrease it. The 1,1-dimerization products of cyclopropenylidenes, namely, triafulvalenes, have been investigated. The calculations show that, without steric hindrance and considerable electronic stabilization, cyclopropenylidenes are kinetically unstable and dimerize. Different substituents (alkyl, silyl, terphenyl, amino, and phosphoraneiminato) were probed to tune the frontier orbital energies of cyclopropenylidenes. Accordingly, it is predicted that by a suitable choice of substituents at the olefinic positions, cyclopropenylidenes can be more nucleophilic than their five-membered ring congeners, namely, imidazol-2-ylidenes.