Addition of alkyl halides

Oxidative addition of alkyl halides to Pd(0) is slow. Furthermore, alkyl-Pd complexes, formed by the oxidative addition of alkyl halides, undergo facile elimination of /3-hydrogen and the reaction stops at this stage without undergoing insertion or transmetallation. Although not many examples are available, alkynyl iodides react with Pd(0) to form alkynylpalladium complexes. 

The most interesting and difficult cross-coupling is alkyl-alkyl coupling, because oxidative addition of alkyl halides having /i-hydrogen is slow. In addition, easy elimination of /d-hydrogen is expected after the oxidative addition. 

Addition of Alkyl Halides (Addition of Haiogen, Carbon)... 

Free-radical addition of alkyl halides to alkenes... 

Halogenation of alkenyl organometallic compounds Addition of hydrogen halides to triple bonds Halogenation of alkynes or allenes Addition of alkyl halides to triple bonds Addition of acyl halides to triple bonds... 

Recently, the iron-promoted Barbier-type addition of alkyl halides to aromatic aldehydes has been reported (Equation (26)).326 According to the proposed mechanism, the initial step is the formation of an alkyl radical, which can be reduced to the corresponding carbanion. This carbanion nucleophile can react, while coordinated to the iron pentacarbonyl complex, with the corresponding aldehyde. This stoichiometric method is limited with respect to substrate scope and yield. The same authors have also developed the Reformatsky-type addition of cr-halosub-stituted carbonitriles to aldehydes and ketones in the presence of iron pentacarbonyl.3... 

Phenylthio-l-trimethylsilylalkanes are easily prepared by the alkylation of (phenylthioXtrimethylsilyl)mcthane as shown in Scheme 10 [40], The treatment of (phenylthio)(trimethylsilyl)methane with butyllithium/tetramethylethylene-diamine (TMEDA) in hexane followed by the addition of alkyl halides or epoxides produces alkylation products which can be oxidized electrochemically to yield the acetals. Since acetals are readily hydrolyzed to aldehydes, (phenylthioXtrimethylsilyl)methane provides a synthon of the formyl anion. This is an alternative to the oxidative transformation of a-thiosilanes to aldehydes via Sila-Pummerer rearrangement under application of MCPBA as oxidant [40, 41]. 

Radical homologation. This tin pinacolate is known to generate trimethyltin radicals at 60° and appears to be superior to tributyltin hydride as a source of stannyl radicals for addition of alkyl halides to O-benzylformaldoxime (equation I).1 Iodides, bromides, and selenides can be used as radical precursors. The same... 

The oxidative addition of alkyl halides can proceed in different ways, although the result is usually atrans addition independent of the mechanism. In certain cases the reaction proceeds as an SN2 reaction as in organic chemistry. That is to say that the electron-rich metal nucleophile attacks the carbon atom of the alkyl halide, the halide being the leaving group. This process leads to inversion of the stereochemistry of the carbon atom (only when the carbon atom is asymmetric can this be observed). There are also examples in which racemisation occurs. This has been explained on the basis of a radical chain... 

The addition of alkyl halides to aromatic anion radicals, generated by alkalimetal reduction in ethereal solvents, was already known in the 1950s [201] and was reviewed by Garst in 1971 [202]. The first electrochemical analogue was observed by Lund etal. [203]. These authors cathodically reduced hydrocarbons such as naphthalene, anthracene, stilbene [145, 146], and pery-lene [147-150] in the presence of alkyl halides and isolated hydrogenated and alkylated products. Similar reactions are observed when the halides are replaced by ammonium or sulfonium [204]. 

A novel Michael-type addition of alkyl halides to a,/3-enones (239) has been realized using either aquocobalamin (232) or dibromo[l-hydroxy-8H-HDP]cobalt(111)... 

Formation of five-coordinate nickel intermediates via oxidative addition of alkyl halides has been reported (33). This type of... 

Halogenation of alkynes or allenes 5-33 Addition of alkyl halides to triple bonds... 

Other additions, such as addition of alkyl halides and carbonyl compounds, are discussed in Chapter 5, whereas Chapter 7 covers addition reactions involving carbon monoxide (hydroformylation, carboxylations). Hydrogen addition is discussed in Chapter 11. The nucleophilic addition of organometallics to multiple bonds is of great significance in the anionic polymerization of alkenes and dienes and is treated in Chapter 13. 

Oxidative Addition of Alkyl Halides to Palladium(0). The stereochemistry of the oxidative addition (31) of alkyl halides to the transition metals of group VIII can provide information as to which of the many possible mechanisms are operative. The addition of alkyl halides to d8-iridium complexes has been reported to proceed with retention (32), inversion (33), and racemization (34, 35) via a free radical mechanism at the asymmetric carbon center. The kinetics of this reaction are consistent with nucleophilic displacement by iridium on carbon (36). Oxi-... 

The same group2 now finds that a zinc/copper couple prepared by sonication of Zn and Cul in ethanol/H20 (9 1) permits conjugate addition of alkyl halides to enones and enals. The order of reactivity is RI > RBr and tert > sec primary. THF/H20 or Py/HzO or even pure water can be used as solvent. This reaction can hardly involve a classical organometallic reagent, but probably involves an alkyl radical. 

This process is similar to the formation of Grignard reagents 4 from alkyl halides and Mg(0). In the preparation of Grignard reagents, Mg(0) is oxidized to Mg(II) by the oxidative addition of alkyl halides to form two covalent bonds. 

Palladacycle 5 reacts in various ways depending on ligands and reaction conditions. In particular it readily undergoes oxidative addition of alkyl halides to form a palladium(IV) complex 6, which has been isolated and characterized with stabilizing nitrogen ligands such as phenanthroline. This palladium(IV) metallacycle... 

Methylene trimethylarsorane (the term trimethylarsonium methylide is equally correct) had already been formulated in 1953 by Wittig and Torssell (104) who studied the reaction of tetramethylarsonium salts with organolithium compounds. Although this method cannot be used for the preparation of the salt-free material due to the strong complexation by the lithium cations, it is clear from reactions of the product mixture that the ylide is present in solution. The formation of arsonium salts upon addition of alkyl halides is a typical example ... 

A. Oxidative Addition of Alkyl Halides or Related Reagents and... 

Several papers reporting new oxidative additions to [Pt(PPh3) ] have appeared. E.s.r. evidence has been presented which shows that addition of alkyl halide proceeds via two one-electron steps with a Pt1 intermediate.113 The rate-determining step (19) involves addition to [Pt(PPh3)2] with generation of alkyl radicals (R = Me, CD3, Et, PhCH2, or Ph3C) which have been trapped as the nitroxide Bu (R)NO. The... 

Reaction (414) is formally analogous to the oxidative addition of alkyl halides to noble metal complexes described earlier, and both homolytic and heterolytic processes can be envisaged. Heterolytic cleavage of C—H bonds represented in Eq. (415) is analogous to the interaction of the powerful oxidant Co3+ with alkanes in TFA in reaction (229). 

Copper(I) salts have been found to be particularly good catalysts for radical addition of alkyl halides to alkenes689. These catalysts have been used in the reaction of carbon tetrachloride with ester-containing alkenes, the products being key intermediates in the synthesis of -lactams (equation 108). 

The electron-rich ruthenium center can render the bound X ligand nucleophilic as has been demonstrated by the reactions of (rj5-C5H5)-(PPh3)2Ru—C=N (30) with a variety of electrophiles. Baird and Davies have shown, for example, that addition of alkyl halides to 30 gives the corresponding isocyanides in moderate yield [Eq. (32)] (29). Other... 

Inanaga showed that the presence of HMPA also accelerates the Barbier addition of alkyl halides to ketones and significantly improves the yield of the adducts.14 He also found that HMPA was a useful additive in the Sml2-mediated synthesis of lactones from bromo esters and ketones (Scheme 2.5). Since Inanaga s pioneering work, the Barbier reaction employing Sml2 HMPA... 

Surprisingly few simple nitroalkanes are commercially available but more complex examples can be prepared readily by alkylation of the anions derived from nitromethane, nitroethane, and 2-nitro-propane. Deprotonation of nitroalkanes with butyllithium followed by the addition of alkyl halides gives the alkylated nitroalkanes in good yield. Some examples of this general method are shown below. These reactions really do have to be done in two steps BuLi is not compatible with alkyl halides ... 

All these ligands have extensive chemistry here we note only a few points that are of interest from the point of view of catalysis. The relatively easy formation of metal alkyls by two reactions—insertion of an alkene into a metal-hydrogen or an existing metal-carbon bond, and by addition of alkyl halides to unsaturated metal centers—are of special importance. The reactivity of metal alkyls, especially their kinetic instability towards conversion to metal hydrides and alkenes by the so-called /3-hydride elimination, plays a crucial role in catalytic alkene polymerization and isomerization reactions. These reactions are schematically shown in Fig. 2.5 and are discussed in greater detail in the next section. 

The rate-determining step in the catalytic cycle is the oxidative addition of CH3I to 4.1. Oxidative additions of alkyl halides are often known to follow Sa2 mechanisms. This appears to be also the case here. The net negative charge on 4.1 enhances its nucleophilicity and reactivity towards CH3I. 

---