Tautomerism-Dependent Ring Construction of <i>N</i>-Heterocyclic Compounds from the Reactions of 1-Alkynyl Fischer Carbene Complexes and Substituted Pyrazolinones

Four types of N-heterocyclic ring systems were successfully constructed from the reactions of 1-alkynyl Fischer carbene complexes (OC)5MC(OEt)C⋮CPh (1) (M = Cr, W) and substituted pyrazolinones (2). Reactions of 1 with 3-methyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one (2a), 3-n-propyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one (2b), 3,4-dimethyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one (2c), 3,4-trimethylene-2-pyrazolin-5-one (2d), or 3,4-tetramethylene-2-pyrazolin-5-one (2e) generated three kinds of Fischer aminocarbene complexes (3−5), and reactions of 1 with phenyl-substituted pyrazolinones, i.e., 3-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one (2f) and its tautomer 3-phenyl-3-pyrazolin-5-one (2g), gave Fischer alkoxycarbene complexes (6) as the major products and aminocarbene complexes of types 3−5 as the minor products. Multiple tautomerism of pyrazolinones is attributed to the versatile formation of N-heterocyclic Fischer carbene complexes. Oxidative demetalation of complexes 3−6 with pyridine N-oxide or m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid efficiently afforded organic carbonyl products, and thus, strongly fluorescent syn-mixed-bimanes were prepared. The present findings constitute an alternative new method to synthesize mixed bimanes and other novel N-heterocyclic compounds.