Titanium enolates from epoxides and Bis(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)dimethy ltitanium(IV).

Typical epoxides such as cyclohexene oxide and cis and trans- 2-butene oxide are converted to Ti-enolates by heating at 80C with the title compound. Epoxides would appear to be ideal substrates for organometallic complexes of the early transition metals, considering the Lewis base and strained nature of the former and the Lewis acid and oxyphilic nature of the latter. Nevertheless, this chemistry is relatively undeveloped aside from the polymerization of epoxides by Ti complexes and the preparation of chlorohydrins and azidohydrins. We wish to report the reaction of the titanium-methylene complex Cp sub 2 Ti=CH sub 2 (Cp =Me sub 5 Cp), 1, generated in situ by the thermolysis of bis(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl dimethyltitanium (IV), 2, with epoxides 3 to afford titanium enolates 4.