Acidity of terminal alkynes

Terminal alkynes are weak acids, but a very strong base may remove a proton from the terminal carbon atom to give a carbanion called an aUtynide ion. The common name for an alkynide ion is the acetylide ion. 

Formation of a carbanion, the conjugate base of a hydrocarbon, is generally less favorable than the ionization of acids in which a hydrogen atom is bonded to electronegative atoms such as oxygen or nitrogen. Because carbon is less electronegative than these two elements, the pA values of hydrocarbons are very small. 

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The acidity of terminal alkynes makes available routes to alkynylstannanes that do not apply to alkenylstannanes. Thus, alkynylstannanes can be made by the acidolysis of aminostannanes with alkynes, and the iV-stannylpyr-roles are recommended for this purpose as they can be readily prepared by azeotropic dehydration of the trialkyltin oxide and pyrrole, and the amine that is liberated is non-basic.242... 

B-2. Which of the following statements best explains the greater acidity of terminal alkynes (RC=CH) compared with monosubstituted alkenes (RCH=CH2) ... 

Several of the trialkylaluminum and alkylaluminum halides and hydrides mentioned above are commercially available. Alkynyl, alkenyl, cyclopentadienyl, and aryl derivatives are, in general, not commercially available and must be synthesized for laboratory use. Alkynyl derivatives can be prepared by salt metathesis, as in the reaction of Et2AlCl with NaC=CEt to give Et2AlC=CEt. The acidity of terminal alkynes is sufficient for preparation of alkynyl aluminum compounds by alkane or hydrogen elimination upon reaction with a trialkylaluminum or an aluminum hydride (equation 17), respectively. TriaUcynyl aluminum compounds are typically isolated as Lewis base adducts to stabilize them against otherwise facile polymerization. Alkenyl compounds of aluminnm have similarly been prepared. 

There also exists an acidregioselective condensation of the aldol type, namely the Mannich reaction (B. Reichert, 1959 H. Hellmann, 1960 see also p. 291f.). The condensation of secondary amines with aldehydes yields Immonium salts, which react with ketones to give 3-amino ketones (=Mannich bases). Ketones with two enolizable CHj-groupings may form 1,5-diamino-3-pentanones, but monosubstitution products can always be obtained in high yield. Unsymmetrical ketones react preferentially at the most highly substituted carbon atom. Sterical hindrance can reverse this regioselectivity. Thermal elimination of amines leads to the a,)3-unsaturated ketone. Another efficient pathway to vinyl ketones starts with the addition of terminal alkynes to immonium salts. On mercury(ll) catalyzed hydration the product is converted to the Mannich base (H. Smith, 1964). 

Organoboranes undergo transmetallation. 1-Hexenylboronic acid (438) reacts with methyl acrylate via the transmetallation with Pd(OAc)2, giving methyl 2,4-nonadienoate (439)[399], The ( )-alkenylboranes 440, prepared by the hydroboration of terminal alkynes, are converted into the alkylated ( )-alkenes 441 by treatment with an equivalent amount of Pd(OAc)2 and triethylamine[400]. The ( )-octenylborane 442 reacts with CO in MeOH in the... 

Alkynes undergo stoichiometric oxidative reactions with Pd(II). A useful reaction is oxidative carboiiyiation. Two types of the oxidative carbonyla-tion of alkynes are known. The first is a synthesis of the alkynic carbox-ylates 524 by oxidative carbonylation of terminal alkynes using PdCN and CuCh in the presence of a base[469], Dropwise addition of alkynes is recommended as a preparative-scale procedure of this reation in order to minimize the oxidative dimerization of alkynes as a competitive reaction[470]. Also efficient carbonylation of terminal alkynes using PdCU, CuCI and LiCi under CO-O2 (1 I) was reported[471]. The reaction has been applied to the synthesis of the carbapenem intermediate 525[472], The steroidal acetylenic ester 526 formed by this reaction undergoes the hydroarylalion of the triple bond (see Chapter 4, Section 1) with aryl iodide and formic acid to give the lactone 527(473],... 

The most frequent applications of these procedures he in the preparation of terminal alkynes Because the terminal alkyne product is acidic enough to transfer a proton to amide anion one equivalent of base m addition to the two equivalents required for dou ble dehydrohalogenation is needed Adding water or acid after the reaction is complete converts the sodium salt to the corresponding alkyne... 

A synthetically useful virtue of enol triflates is that they are amenable to palladium-catalyzed carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions under mild conditions. When a solution of enol triflate 21 and tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(o) in benzene is treated with a mixture of terminal alkyne 17, n-propylamine, and cuprous iodide,17 intermediate 22 is formed in 76-84% yield. Although a partial hydrogenation of the alkyne in 22 could conceivably secure the formation of the cis C1-C2 olefin, a chemoselective hydrobora-tion/protonation sequence was found to be a much more reliable and suitable alternative. Thus, sequential hydroboration of the alkyne 22 with dicyclohexylborane, protonolysis, oxidative workup, and hydrolysis of the oxabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl ester protecting group gives dienic carboxylic acid 15 in a yield of 86% from 22. 

CONVERSION OF TERMINAL ALKYNES INTO CARBOXYLIC ACIDS... 

Organic compounds can be metalated at suitably acidic positions by active metals and by strong bases.The reaction has been used to study the acidities of very weak acids (see p. 228). The conversion of terminal alkynes to acetylid ions is one... 

The addition of terminal alkynes to carbon-carbon double bonds has not been explored until recently, possibly because C=C double bonds are not as good electrophiles as C=N or C=0. In 2003, Carreira et al. reported the first conjugate addition reaction of terminal alkynes to C=C catalyzed by copper in water. The reaction proceeded with derivatives of Meldrum s acid in water in the presence of Cu(OAc)2 and sodium ascorbate (Eq. 4.35).59 However, this method was limited to C=C double bonds with two electron withdrawing groups. 

Pt-catalyzed hydration of various aliphatic and aromatic alkynes under phase transfer conditions in (CH2C1)2/H20 in the presence of Aliquat 336 led to either a Markovnikov product, mixtures of two ketones, or ketones with the carbonyl group positioned away from the bulky side.72 In the absence of the phase transfer reagent, Aliquat 336, hardly any reaction took place. Recently, a hydrophobic, low-loading and alkylated polystyrene-supported sulfonic acid (LL-ALPS-SO3H) has also been developed for the hydration of terminal alkynes in pure water, leading to ketones as the product.73 Under microwave irradiation, the hydration of terminal arylalkynes was reported to proceed in superheated water (200°C) without any catalysts.74... 

Carbonylation of alkynes is a convenient method to synthesize various carbonyl compounds. Alper et al. found that carbonylation of terminal alkynes could be carried out in aqueous media in the presence of 1 atm CO by a cobalt catalyst, affording 2-butenolide products. This reaction can also be catalyzed by a cobalt complex and a ruthenium complex to give y-keto acids (Scheme 4.8).92... 

Later, a nickel-catalyzed cascade conversion of propargyl halides and propargyl alcohol into a pyrone in water was reported. The reaction involved a carbonylation by CO and a cyanation by KCN (Eq. 4.55).96 Recently, Gabriele et al. explored a facile synthesis of maleic acids by palladium catalyzed-oxidative carbonylation of terminal alkynes in aqueous DME (1,2-dimethoxyethane) (Eq. 4.56).97... 

Cleavage of Zr—C a bonds occurs readily on treatment with H20 or dilute acids, while the Zr—Cp bond usually survives mild protonolysis conditions. The use of D20 or DC1/D20 permits the replacement of Zr with D. Deuterolysis provides a generally reliable method for establishing the presence of Zr—C bonds. Protonolysis or deuterolysis of Zr—Csp bonds proceeds with retention of configuration [97]. In the hydrozirconation of terminal alkynes, deuterium can be introduced at any of the three positions in the vinyl group in a completely regio- and stereoselective manner, as shown in Scheme 1.18. Although relatively little is known about the mechanistic details, the experimental results appear to be consistent with concerted c-bond metathesis (Pattern 13) between C—Zr and H— X bonds. 

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