Acetonitrile complexes, reaction with nucleophiles

The possible mechanisms for solvolysis of phosphoric monoesters show that the pathway followed depends upon a variety of factors, such as substituents, solvent, pH value, presence of nucleophiles, etc. The possible occurrence of monomeric metaphosphate ion cannot therefore be generalized and frequently cannot be predicted. It must be established in each individual case by a sum of kinetic and thermodynamic arguments since the product pattern frequently fails to provide unequivocal evidence for its intermediacy. The question of how free the PO ion actually exists in solution generally remains unanswered. There are no hard boundaries between solvation by solvent, complex formation with very weak nucleophiles such as dioxane or possibly acetonitrile, existence in a transition state of a reaction, such as in 129, or SN2(P) or oxyphosphorane mechanisms with suitable nucleophiles. 

Nucleophilic substitution reactions of halide anions in aprotic solvents are often accompanied by elimination reactions. For instance, reactions of secondary alkyl halides with potassium fluoride solubilized in acetonitrile with the aid of 18-crown-6 [3] give olefins as the main reaction product (Liotta and Harris, 1974). Similarly, the dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 complex of potassium iodide acted exclusively as a base in its reaction with 2-bromo-octane in DMF (Sam and Simmons, 1974). The strongly basic character of weakly solvated fluoride has been exploited in peptide synthesis (Klausner and Chorev, 1977 Chorev and Klausner, 1976). It was shown that potassium fluoride solubilized... 

Fig. 11. Dependences of observed first-order rate constants on nucleophile concentration for thiocyanate susbtitution at dichlorobis(ethylmaltolato)meta-1(IV) complexes M(etmalt)2Cl2, and at a series of tin(IV) complexes SnL2Cl2 with L = the ligands whose formulae are shown against the thin line plots. The data refer to reactions in acetonitrile solution at 298.2 K (data from Refs. (264) and (265)).

The photo-induced electron transfer of l,4-bis(methylene)cyclohexane in acetonitrile-methanol solution with 1,4-dicyanobenzene (DCB) affords two products, both consistent with nucleophilic attack on the radical cation followed by reduction and protonation or by combination with DCB ).63 In the absence of a nucleophile, the product mixture is highly complex, as is the case under electro-oxidative conditions. Under UV irradiation, /nmv-stilbene undergoes dimerization and oxygenation (to benzaldehyde) by a single-electron mechanism in the presence of a sensitizer such as 2,4,6-triphenylpyrilium tetrafluoroborate (TPT).64 This reaction was found to yield a similar product mixture with the sulfur analogue of TPT and their relative merits as well as electrochemical and photophysical properties are discussed. 

Although no coordination complexes of tetraalkyltins with nucleophiles (i.e. Lewis bases) have been reported, it is known that trialkyltin chlorides can form coordination complexes with various Lewis bases. Bolles and Drago38 have shown that trimethyltin chloride forms 1 1 complexes with bases such as acetone, acetonitrile, dimethylsulphoxide, and pyridine. All of these complexes are formed exothermally (in inert solvents such as CC14), with values of Af/299 ranging from —4.8 to —8.2 kcal.mole-1 for the reaction... 

Removal of the 0-substituted Fp group can be achieved by conversion into the cationic alkene-Fp complex using Ph3CPF6 and subsequent treatment with iodide, bromide or acetonitrile. Oxidative cleavage with ceric ammonium nitrate in methanol provides the methyl esters via carbon monoxide insertion followed by demetallation. The [3 + 2]-cydoaddition has been successfully applied to the synthesis of hydroazulenes (Scheme 1.11) [34]. This remarkable reaction takes advantage of the specific nucleophilic and electrophilic properties of V-allyl-, cationic t 5-dienyl-, cationic ri2-alkene- and ti4-diene-iron complexes, respectively. 

Previously, Ohashi and his co-workers reported the photosubstitution of 1,2,4,5-tetracyanobenzene (TCNB) with toluene via the excitation of the charge-transfer complex between TCNB and toluene [409], The formation of substitution product is explained by the proton transfer from the radical cation of toluene to the radical anion of TCNB followed by the radical coupling and the dehydrocyanation. This type of photosubstitution has been well investigated and a variety of examples are reported. Arnold reported the photoreaction of p-dicyanobenzene (p-DCB) with 2,3-dimethyl-2-butene in the presence of phenanthrene in acetonitrile to give l-(4-cyanophenyl)-2,3-dimethyl-2-butene and 3-(4-cyanophenyl)-2,3-dimethyl-l-butene [410,411], The addition of methanol into this reaction system affords a methanol-incorporated product. This photoreaction was named the photo-NO-CAS reaction (photochemical nucleophile-olefin combination, aromatic substitution) by Arnold. However, a large number of nucleophile-incorporated photoreactions have been reported as three-component addition reactions via photoinduced electron transfer [19,40,113,114,201,410-425], Some examples are shown in Scheme 120. 

Is usually mixed with the arene oxide In a polar solvent such as acetone, dioxane, acetonitrile, DMSO or methanol but the reaction may also be run In aqueous buffer solutions. Even though the addition of base Increases the nucleophilicity of the sulfur, the pH should not be Increased too much since that will lead to more complex reaction product mixtures (167). A PTC mediated reaction with tetrabutylammonlum blsulfate has been suggested for the synthesis of N-acetyl-cystelne conjugates of epoxides (167). The recent synthesis of some premercapturlc acid type conjugates from epoxides Is summerlzed In Table VII. 

The reaction of nucleophiles with chloroarene-Mn(CO)3 and fluoro arene-Cr(CO)3 complexes has been employed for the synthesis of diaryl ethers and has been particularly applied (ref. 55) to the selective arylation of polyfunctional phenols by reaction of the phenoxide formed from NaH in dimethylformamide with the 4-chlorotoluene-manganese tricarbonyl cation (as the hexafluorophosphate) in acetonitrile at ambient temperature over 18 hours. 

Finally, there remains the challenge to synthesize a stable nitriHum phosphanylid complex. With regard to the latter, two very recent and exciting results should be mentioned. Reactions of a dinuclear p -phosphanediyltungsten complex with benzonitrile and acetonitrile were reported, in which related donor-adducts, as discussed herein, might have been formed in the first reaction step [61]. Furthermore, syntheses of the first cationic electrophiUc terminal phosphanediyl complexes were reported and their reactivity with nucleophiles such as acetonitrile announced [62], but no details were provided on reaction courses and/or products. 

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