Additives cyclopropanation using zinc carbenoids

Simmons-Smith cyclopropanation proceeds via the addition of a zinc carbenoid (6/8) to an olefin. There are three classes of reactions, however, that can generate the reactive zinc species, each with it is own mechanistic pathway. The oxidative addition of an activated form of zinc metal into a C-X bond is by far the most widely used method for the formation of 6... 

The use of iodoform as the reagent precursor under Furukawa s conditions gives rise to a more complex scenario, since the additional C—I bonds can further react with an ethylzinc species (equation 8)" . The reaction of the iodo-substituted zinc carbenoid with an alkene will generate an iodo-substituted cyclopropane, whereas that involving the gem-dizinc carbenoid will lead to a cyclopropylzinc product. The evidence for the formation of a. gem-dizinc carbenoid was obtained not only by the analysis of the cyclopropanation products but also by the formation of rfi-iodomethane upon quenching the reagent with D2O/DCI. 

Because of these and other useful molecules containing three-membered rings, methods to make them are important as well as interesting. Most chemical syntheses of compounds containing cyclopropyl groups make use of the addition of a carbene, or carbene equivalent, to an aikene. What do we mean by carbene equivalent Usually, this is a molecule that has the potential to form a carbene, though it may not actually react via a carbene intermediate. One such example is a zinc carbenoid formed when diiodomethane is reacted with zinc metal it reacts with alkenes just as a carbene would—it undergoes addition to the 7t bond and produces a cyclopropane. 

Denmark et al. studied the effect of zinc iodide on the catalytic, enantioselective cyclopropanation of allylic alcohols with bis(iodomethyl)-zinc as the reagent and a bismethanesulfonamide as the catalyst 17]. They found significant rate enhancement and an increased enantiomeric excess of the product cyclopropane upon addition of 1 equivalent zinc iodide. Their studies and spectroscopic investigations showed that the Schlenk equilibrium appears to lie far on the left (IZnCHjI). Charette et al. used low temperature - C-NMR spectroscopy to differentiate several zinc-carbenoid species [18]. They also found evidence that in the presence of zinc iodide, bis(iodomethyl)zinc is rapidly converted to (io-domethyOzinc iodide. Solid-state structures of (halomethyl)zinc species have been described by Denmark for a bis(iodomethyl)zinc ether complex (6a) [19] and Charette for an (iodo-methyl)zinc iodide as a complex with 18-crown-6 (6b) [20] (Fig. 2). 

Although the Simmons-Smith reaction has found considerable use in organic synthesis, it is not readily applicable to the formation of highly substituted cyclopropanes, since 1,1 -diiodoalkanes (other than diiodomethane) are not readily available. Substituted zinc carbenoids can be prepared from aryl or a,p-unsaturated aldehydes (or ketones) with zinc metal, and these species can be trapped with an alkene to give substituted cyclopropanes.The addition of chromium carbenes (see Section 1.2.2) to alkenes can be used to effect cyclopropanation to give substituted cyclopropanes. Thus, addition of excess 1-hexene to the chromium carbene 113 gave the cyclopropane 114 as a mixture of diastereomers, with the isomer 114 predominating (4.92). ... 

The cyclopropanation reaction using gem-dizinc carbenoids has also been theoretically studied by Phillips and coworkers. The gem-dizinc carbenoids react with ethylene via a synchronous attack with an activation energy of about 15 kcalmoR (Figure 3, D). It was also predicted that the reaction could be accelerated by the addition of zinc iodide. 

Cyclopropanation of alkenes, in both inter- and intramolecular modes, constitutes an attractive route to polycycloalkanes. These cyclopropanations of alkenes are carried out through car bene or carbenoid intermediates . For the direct cyclopropanation of alkenes, the methylene iodide zinc-copper couple (Simmons-Smith reaction)reagent is commonly used. Several modifications of this procedure, including acceleration with ultrasound, are known °°. A somewhat less frequently used procedure for cyclopropanation is through methylene addition from diazomethane, which can be carried out either thermally or photochemically or in the presence of metal salts, e.g. Pd(OAc)2 or Rh2(OAc)4. In Table some examples of the preparation of cyclopropane bearing... 

In Summary Diazomethane is a useful synthetic intermediate as a methylene source for forming cyclopropanes from alkenes. Halogenated carbenes, which are formed by dehydro-halogenation of halomethanes, and the Simmons-Smith reagent, a carbenoid arising from the reaction of diiodomethane with zinc, also convert alkenes into cyclopropanes. Additions of carbenes to alkenes differ from other addition processes because a single carbon atom becomes bonded to both alkene carbons. 

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