Proposal for the metallacycle pathway during the cyclopropanation catalyzed by cobalt-schiff base complexes

(Equation presented) The density functional study of the cobalt(II) complex-catalyzed cyclopropanation revealed that the cobalt(II)-Schiff base complex without an ethylene bridge would be flexible enough to transform into the cis-β conformer while approaching the olefin; consequently, the metallacycle pathway would be preferred, while the ethylene bridge would stabilize the planar conformer to allow reaction via the concerted mechanism.