Addition dihalocarbenes

Treatment of geminal dihalocyclopropyl compounds with a strong base such as butyl lithium has been for several years the most versatile method for cumulenes. The dihalo compounds are easily obtained by addition of dihalocarbenes to double--bond systems If the dihalocyclopropanes are reacted at low temperatures with alkyllithium, a cyclopropane carbenoid is formed, which in general decomposes above -40 to -50°C to afford the cumulene. Although at present a number of alternative methods are available , the above-mentioned synthesis is the only suitable one for cyclic cumulenes [e.g. 1,2-cyclononadiene and 1,2,3-cyclodecatriene] and substituted non-cyclic cumulenes [e.g. (CH3)2C=C=C=C(CH3)2]. 

The reaction of dihalocarbenes with alkenes is stereospecific and syn addition is observed... 

The reaction of dihalocarbenes with isoprene yields exclusively the 1,2- (or 3,4-) addition product, eg, dichlorocarbene CI2C and isoprene react to give l,l-dichloro-2-methyl-2-vinylcyclopropane (63). The evidence for the presence of any 1,4 or much 3,4 addition is inconclusive (64). The cycloaddition reaction of l,l-dichloro-2,2-difluoroethylene to isoprene yields 1,2- and 3,4-cycloaddition products in a ratio of 5.4 1 (65). The main product is l,l-dichloro-2,2-difluoro-3-isopropenylcyclobutane, and the side product is l,l-dichloro-2,2-difluoro-3-methyl-3-vinylcyclobutane. When the dichlorocarbene is generated from CHCl plus aqueous base with a tertiary amine as a phase-transfer catalyst, the addition has a high selectivity that increases (for a series of diolefins) with a decrease in activity (66) (see Catalysis, phase-TRANSFEr). For isoprene, both mono-(l,2-) and diadducts (1,2- and 3,4-) could be obtained in various ratios depending on which amine is used. 

In dihalocarbene generation by phase-transfer catalysis the following steps seem to be involved (15) formation of CX anions dynamically anchored at the boundary reversible detachment with the help of the catalyst reversible carbene formation [Q+ CX3 ] [Q + X ] + CX2 addition to olefin. 

The only known reaction of a furan with a dihalocarbene is that recently reported between benzofuran and dichlorocarbene in hexane at 0°. The initial adduct (7) could not be isolated but on hydrolysis gave the ring-expanded product 8, possibly via 9, in 15% yield. Benzothiophene was recovered in 92% yield under the same conditions. 2,5-Dihydrofuran reacted with dichloro- and dibromo-carbene to give the products of allylic insertion, 2-dihalogenomethyl-2,5-dihydrofuran, as well as the normal addition products. ... 

More useful for synthetic purposes, however, is the combination of the zinc-copper couple with methylene iodide to generate carbene-zinc iodide complex, which undergoes addition to double bonds exclusively to form cyclopropanes (7). The base-catalyzed generation of halocarbenes from haloforms (2) also provides a general route to 1,1-dihalocyclopropanes via carbene addition, as does the nonbasic generation of dihalocarbenes from phenyl(trihalomethyl)mercury compounds. Details of these reactions are given below. 

Seyferth (7) discovered that phenyl(trihalomethyl)mercury compounds decompose when heated in a solvent giving dihalocarbenes. When the solvent contains a suitable olefin, carbene addition occurs giving 1,1-dihalocyclopropane derivatives. The reaction has the advantage that strong base is not required in the reaction mixture, and base-... 

Ihe A -benzoyl ester 117 undergoes dihalocarbene addition to yield the cycloadduct 118 <96JCS(P1)2553>. Attempted ring-expansions of 118 were unsuccessful. 

Cyclic polyethylene oxides) ( Crown ethers ), Potassium hydroxide Le Goaller, R. etal., Synth. Comm., 1982, 12, 1163-1169 Crown ethers promote dihalocarbene formation from chloroform or bromoform and potassium hydroxide. However, in absence of diluent dichloromethane, dropwise addition of bromoform to the base in cyclohexane led to explosions. 

A possible 2 + 2 + 2 addition involving a cheletropic component is the addition of dihalocarbenes to norbonadiene. 

The cocatalytic effects of pinacol in the phase transfer catalysis (PTC) of dihalocarbene additions to alkenes were noted by Dehmlow and co-workers who showed that pinacol accelerates the PTC deprotonation of substrates up to pKa 27.7 Dehmlow also studied the effects of various crown ethers as phase transfer catalysts in the addition of dibromocarbene to allylic bromides.8 In Dehmlow s study, elevated temperature (40°C) and dibenzo-18-crown-6 did not give the highest ratio of addition/substitution to allyl bromide. However, the submitters use of pinacol,... 

As noted with the reactions between terpenes and dihalocarbenes, mono-insertion adducts at the more electron-rich sites can be isolated from the reaction of non-conju-gated acyclic and cyclic dienes although, depending on the reaction conditions, the bis-adducts may also be formed. Norbomadiene produces both 1,2-endo and 1,2-exo mono-insertion adducts with dichlorocarbene, as well as a 1,4-addition product (Scheme 7.4) [67]. The mono adduct produced from the reaction with dimethylvinylidene carbene rearranges thermally to yield the ring-expanded product (Scheme 7.4) [157] a similar ring-expanded product is produced with cyclo-hexylidene carbene [149]. 

Addition of carbenes to Jt-electron excessive aromatic compounds, or those which possess a high degree of bond fixation, is well established. Dihalocarbenes react with naphthalenes with ring expansion to produce benztropylium systems (Scheme 7.8). Loss of hydrogen halide from the initially formed product leads to an alkene which reacts with a second equivalent of the carbene to yield the spirocyclopropyl derivatives in high yield (>95%) [14, 50]. Insertion into the alkyl side chain (see Section 7.2) also occurs, but to a lesser extent [14]. Not unexpectedly, dichlorocarbene adds to phenanthrenes across the 9,10-bond [9, 10, 14], but it is remarkable that the three possible isomeric spiro compounds could be isolated (in an overall yield of 0.05% ) from the corresponding reaction with toluene [14]. 

Predictably, the reaction of A V-disubstituted enamines [26-29] and non-conju-gated unsaturated amines with dihalocarbenes results in the exclusive formation of the dihalocyclopropane derivatives (see Section 7.3). Dichlorocarbene inserts into the a-CH bond of Af-alkyldibenzo[6,/]azepines [16], in addition to the expected electrophilic addition to the C=C bond (see Sections 7.2 and 7.3). 

Ab initio and RRKM calculations indicate that the reactions of C, CH, and (H2C ) with acetylene occur with no barrier." Laser flash photolysis of the cyclopropanes (69) and (70) was used to generate the corresponding dihalocarbenes. The absolute rate constant for the formation of a pyridine ylide from Br2C was (4-11) x 10 lmoP s. The rates of additions of these carbenes to alkenes were measured by competition with pyridine ylide formation and the reactivity of BrClC was found to resemble that of Br2C rather than CI2C . 

Although the trihalolithiomethanes seem to be predestined to deliver the corresponding dihalocarbenes by spontaneous a-elimination, they have been shown to be stable at temperatures below —100 °C so that they could be characterized by NMR spectroscopy . Furthermore, their nucleophilic reactivity has been demonstrated by the addition to ketones. Herein, the in situ generation of trichloro- and tribromo-lithio-methane 128 and 129 provides a convenient protocol (equation 65) . ... 

Reaction of norbornane trithiolane (24) with both dichloro- and dibromocarbene afforded the trithiocarbonate (94), which upon further reaction with the dihalocarbene yielded the corresponding dithiocarbonate <90JOC1146>. The mechanism of formation of (94) from (24) is postulated to proceed by addition of the carbene to S-2 of the trithiolane, followed by a ring-expansion reduction sequence as outlined in Scheme 22. 

Although the gem-dihalocyclopropanes are fairly stable compounds, they can participate — as has been shown in the above sections — in quite a number of chemical transformations. Several reactions between dihalocarbenes and alkenes have been described in which no dihalocyclopropane formation could be observed that these intermediates might have been produced was only inferred from the type of products finally isolated. A typical process of this type is the e/ufo-addition of dihalocarbenes to norbomene and norbomadiene as discussed above. Comparable rearrangements have been observed, when dichlorocarbene additions either lead to aromatic products or when they cycloadd to rather inert aromatic systems. In the latter case a ring-enlargement takes place. A reaction related to the concerted opening of two cyclopropane rings in a bicyclopropyl system as discussed above takes place when dichlorocarbene is added to spiro[2.4]hepta-4,6-diene [227]. 

Reactions of carbanions, anions of weak organic acids (e.g., indole or carbazole), and dihalocarbenes may be carried out in liquid-liquid systems, in which concentrated aqueous sodium hydroxide is the aqueous phase. The term phase transfer catalysis is mechanistically incorrect these are often referred to as catalytic two-phase systems. Numerous reactions of carbanions including alkylation, nitroarylation, addition, the Darzens condensation, cyclopropanation, and also a variety of reactions of dihalocarbenes are conveniently carried out in this way. 

Several 1,1-dihalocyclopropanes have been prepared242-246 by addition of dihalocarbenes to double bonds in heterocyclic molecules. 

The addition of dihalocarbenes to sila- and germa-cyclopent-3-enes provides the intermediates for a convenient ring expansion to cyclohexadienes. The bicyclic derivatives (108) vary in thermal stability through the sequences Si[Pg.612]

It has been found that dihalocarbenes add to l263, ll264 and 50 . The products, ring expanded cyclobutarenes, are plausibly accounted for by way of cheletropic addition to the strained bridge bond and subsequent rearrangement as illustrated for 1 in equation 27. However, the reaction mechanism has not been established. 

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