Metallaaromatics Containing Main-group Heteroatoms

Metallaaromatics are metallacycles that are derived from the formal replacement of a carbon atom in the framework of organic aromatics with a metal fragment. As an important subclass of metallaaromatics, metallaaromatics that contain main-group heteroatoms have attracted considerable attention. In the past ten years, we have developed several new methods to construct metallaaromatics as well as those containing main-group heteroatoms, such as metallapyridine, metallapyridinium, metallapyridyne, metallafuran, metallabenzothiazole, metallabenzoxazole, metallabenzthiophene, aza-metallapentalene and some novel tricyclic/tetracyclic metallaaromatics. In addition, interesting reactions such as the first hetero-Diels Alder reaction between 1-metalla-1,3-dienes and nitriles, the first intramolecular nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) reaction of metallabenzene, and the first iodine-mediated electrophilic cyclizations of a metallabenzene complex were demonstrated. In this account, recent and novel approaches for their synthesis and property analyses are summarized. The structural diversity and unique properties of metallaaromatics containing main-group heteroatoms will strongly inspire further investigation of these species and provide a wide range of potential applications.