Mechanism of Cooperative Catalysis in a Lewis Acid Promoted Nickel-Catalyzed Dual C–H Activation Reaction

The mechanism of cooperativity offered by AlMe(3) in a Ni-catalyzed dehydrogenative cycloaddition between substituted formamides and an alkyne is investigated by using DFT(SMD(toluene)/M06/6-31G**) methods. The preferred pathway is identified to involve dual C-H activation, with first a higher barrier formyl C(sp(2))-H oxidative insertion followed by benzylic methyl C(sp(3))-H activation. The cooperativity is traced to be of kinetic origin as evidenced by stabilized transition states when AlMe(3) is bound to the formyl group, particularly in the oxidative insertion step.