Alkenes Meerwein arylation

The Pd )-catalyzed reaction of aryl diazonium salts with mono-substituted alkenes [1] was found to be an interesting alternative to the well-known Pd - catalyzed arylhalide alkene coupling (Heck type reaction) or the copper mediated reaction of aryl diazonium salts with alkenes (Meerwein arylation) [2], The reaction can be run without isolation of the diazonium salt in presence of only 0.5 to 1 mol% of the Palladium catalyst in a one pot procedure, in high yield and under nuld conditions. The resulting styrene is reduced in a subsequent hydrogenation step with an in situ generated heterogeneous Pd-catalyst. The combination of three reaction steps without isolation of intermediates and the virtually complete recovery of the Pd-metal at the end of the reaction sequence makes this process [4] extremely efficient. 

The arylation of alkenes by treatment with a diazonium chloride (or bromide) solution and cupric chloride (or bromide) is called the Meerwein arylation reaction, after its discoverer (Meerwein et al., 1939). Originally, it was discovered using a,P-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, namely coumarin (Scheme 10-43) and cinnamic derivatives (Schemes 10-44 and 10-45). As Scheme 10-45 shows, the Meerwein reac-... 

Meerwein reactions can conveniently be used for syntheses of intermediates which can be cyclized to heterocyclic compounds, if an appropriate heteroatom substituent is present in the 2-position of the aniline derivative used for diazotization. For instance, Raucher and Koolpe (1983) described an elegant method for the synthesis of a variety of substituted indoles via the Meerwein arylation of vinyl acetate, vinyl bromide, or 2-acetoxy-l-alkenes with arenediazonium salts derived from 2-nitroani-line (Scheme 10-46). In the Meerwein reaction one obtains a mixture of the usual arylation/HCl-addition product (10.9) and the carbonyl compound 10.10, i. e., the product of hydrolysis of 10.9. For the subsequent reductive cyclization to the indole (10.11) the mixture of 10.9 and 10.10 can be treated with any of a variety of reducing agents, preferably Fe/HOAc. 

Doyle et al. (1977 c) and Oae et al. (1980) reported modified Meerwein arylations with significant improvements in the yield by the use of aryl amines and alkyl nitrites in place of arenediazonium salts. However, good yields are only achieved if alkenes activated by electron-withdrawing groups are present. 

Arylation of Activated Alkenes by Diazonium Salts Meerwein Arylation... 

Alkenes activated by an electron-withdrawing group (Z may be C=C, halogen, C=0, Ar, CN, etc.) can be arylated by treatment with a diazonium salt and a cupric chloride catalyst. This is called the Meerwein arylation reaction Addition of... 

The compound ArX can be added across double bonds, in a free-radical process, by treatment of alkenes with diazonium salts, although Meerwein arylation (substi-... 

Meerwein Arylation Reactions. Aryl diazonium ions can also be used to form certain types of carbon-carbon bonds. The copper-catalyzed reaction of diazonium ions with conjugated alkenes results in arylation of the alkene, known as the Meerwein arylation reaction.114 The reaction sequence is initiated by reduction of the diazonium ion by Cu(I). The aryl radical adds to the alkene to give a new (3-aryl radical. The final step is a ligand transfer that takes place in the copper coordination sphere. An alternative course is oxidation-deprotonation, which gives a styrene derivative. 

The reaction gives better yield with dienes, styrenes, or alkenes substituted with EWGs than with simple alkenes. These groups increase the rate of capture of the aryl radical. The standard conditions for the Meerwein arylation employ aqueous solutions of diazonium ions. Conditions for in situ diazotization by f-butyl nitrite in the presence of CuCl2 and acrylonitrile or styrene are also effective.115... 

The Meerwein arylation is at least formally related to the atom transfer method because a net introduction of an aromatic ring and a chlorine across a double bond is accomplished (Scheme 62). Facile elimination of HC1 provides an efficient route to the kinds of substituted styrenes that are frequently prepared by Heck arylations. Standard protocol calls for the generation of an arene diazonium chloride in situ, followed by addition of an alkene (often electron deficient because aryl radicals are nucleophilic) and a catalytic quantity of copper(II) chloride. It is usually suggested that the copper salt operates in a catalytic redox cycle, reducing the diazonium salt to the aryl radical as Cu1 and trapping the adduct radical as Cu11. 

In comparison to the cyclization reactions shown above, intermolecular Meerwein arylations are often more difficult to conduct. Since the aryl radical addition to the alkene is no longer favored by the close proximity of the reacting centers, the probability for a direct recombination of the aryl radical with scavengers Y is significantly increased (Scheme 17). To maintain the desired reaction course from 44 to 45 including steps (1) and (2) [89, 90], Meerwein arylations have for a long time mostly been conducted with activated alkenes, such as acrylates (R = COOR ), vinylketones (R = COR ), styrenes (R = Ph), or conjugated dienes [91,92]. These types of alkenes are known for fast addition of aryl radicals. 

An improvement of the previously reported Meerwein protocols was achieved by employing ionic liquids as chloride sources (Scheme 18) [93], Although this new version of the Meerwein reaction is still limited to activated alkenes such as acrylates, electron-donating as well as electron-withdrawing groups on the diazo-nium salt are tolerated. In earlier Meerwein arylations, a change in the substitution... 

The ability of diazonium salts to act as radical scavengers for nucleophilic alkyl radicals was first discovered in mechanistic studies on the Meerwein arylation [96]. Shortly after, this concept was applied for the functionalization of a limited group of activated alkenes [97-99]. The much greater synthetic potential of this functionalization type, which arises from the successful use of non-activated alkenes as substrates, has recently been investigated. In a typical reaction, as illustrated in Scheme 19, the diazonium salt 48 acts as source for aryl radicals 49 and as radical scavenger [100]. 

In contrast to classical Meerwein arylations, non-activated alkenes are well suited for this reaction type for two reasons. First, due to the relatively slow formation of azo compounds by addition of aryl radical 49 to 48, this undesired pathway cannot compete successfully with the attack of 49 on the alkene to give radical adduct 50. Second, a nucleophilic alkyl radical 50 arises from the addition step, which is effectively trapped by electrophilic salt 48 to give azo compound 51. As a result of several improvements, the methodology is now applicable for a wide range of polar to non-polar alkenes with almost no restrictions on the substitution pattern of the diazonium salt [101, 102]. Moderate diastereoselectivities have been obtained in first attempts with chiral auxiliaries [103]. The azo compounds accessible, such as 51, can be converted to carboamination products 52 by hydrogenation and to various other heterocycles. 

A classical example of a thermal method via radicals is the Meerwein arylation of alkenes, which is based on the copper-mediated reduction of aryldiazonium salts, causing dinitrogen loss and attack of the resulting phenyl radical onto an electrophilic alkene (see Sechon 13.4.1). The reachon can be also photochemicahy induced (path a. Scheme 14.1), for example through the photodecomposition of phenyl iodides. However, these compounds absorb only weakly in the near ultraviolet (UV) and the reachon is synthehcally less prachcal. 

These photochemical reactions with olefins can be considered a cationic analogue of the Meerwein arylation that occurs with nucleophilic rather than with electrophilic alkenes. The rapid cleavage of excited aryl halides and esters in polar solvent and the efficient trapping of the formed aryl cation render these arylations normally less-sensitive towards dissolved oxygen, in contrast to many other photochemical reactions. These characteristics, along with the mild reaction conditions and the simple experimental set-up, make the photochemical method a complementary and valuable alternative to metal-mediated or -catalyzed reactions. 

The conversion of ArN2 salts into ArH takes place in hexamethyl-phosphoramide (by a long radical chain process), and also by the use of the naphthalene anion radical CioHs" in THF. Alternatively, deamination of ArNH2 can be carried out with Bu ONO in DMF. Unsymmetrical biaryls can be formed in a phase-transfer reaction between the diazonium fluoroborate (in an arene solvent) and KOAc complexed with 18-crown-6 polyether. ° Meerwein aryl-ation of fluorinated olefins with ArN2 and copper(ii) halides has been described, but an alternative procedure for the overall addition of ArHal to an alkene involves the use of ArNH2, Bu ONO, and copper(ii) halides in acetone or... 

The Meerwein reaction is a valuable method for the arylation of alkenes because of the easy availability of cheap aromatic amines and compounds containing double bonds. A disadvantage is that the yield is often low (normally 20-50%, in exceptional cases reaching 80%, see Table 10-3). The reaction can be carried out in water if the alkene derivative is sufficiently soluble otherwise an organic co-solvent is necessary. Meerwein et al. (1939) used acetone, which is still the most popular solvent used today. The mechanistic function of acetone will be discussed later in this section. 

As shown in Schemes 10-44 and 10-45, two products may be formed in a Meerwein reaction Scheme 10-44 shows a simple aryl-de-hydrogenation of cinnamic aldehyde, whereas Scheme 10-45 shows an aryl-de-hydrogenation combined with the addition of HC1 to the double bond of the methyl ester of cinnamic acid. No systematic studies have been made as to which of the two products will be formed in a given reaction, what experimental conditions will favor one or the other product, and what substituents or other structural characteristics of the alkene influence the ratio of the two types of product. The addition product can, in most cases, easily be converted... 

Some observations are important for improvement of the yield and for the elucidation of the mechanism of the Meerwein reaction. Catalysts are necessary for the process. Cupric chloride is used in almost all cases. The best arylation yields are obtained with low CuCl2 concentrations (Dickerman et al., 1969). One effect of CuCl2 was detected by Meerwein et al. (1939) in their work in water-acetone systems. They found that in solutions of arenediazonium chloride and sodium acetate in aqueous acetone, but in the absence of an alkene, the amount of chloroacetone formed was only one-third of that obtained in the presence of CuCl2. They concluded that chloroacetone is formed according to Scheme 10-50. The formation of chloroacetone with CuCl2 in the absence of a diazonium salt (Scheme 10-51) was investigated by Kochi (1955 a, 1955 b). Some Cu11 ion is reduced by acetone to Cu1 ion, which provides the electron for the transfer to the diazonium ion (see below). 

Kochi (1956a, 1956b) and Dickerman et al. (1958, 1959) studied the kinetics of the Meerwein reaction of arenediazonium salts with acrylonitrile, styrene, and other alkenes, based on initial studies on the Sandmeyer reaction. The reactions were found to be first-order in diazonium ion and in cuprous ion. The relative rates of the addition to four alkenes (acrylonitrile, styrene, methyl acrylate, and methyl methacrylate) vary by a factor of only 1.55 (Dickerman et al., 1959). This result indicates that the aryl radical has a low selectivity. The kinetic data are consistent with the mechanism of Schemes 10-52 to 10-56, 10-58 and 10-59. This mechanism was strongly corroborated by Galli s work on the Sandmeyer reaction more than twenty years later (1981-89). 

In this section we include the intramolecular arylation of the Pschorr type, the inter-molecular arylation (Gomberg-Bachmann reaction), the arylation of alkenes and alkynes (Meerwein reaction) and related processes. 

The arylation of alkenes was discovered by Meerwein146 in 1939 using ,/)-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, namely coumarin and cinnamic derivatives. Diazotizations for Meerwein reactions are made in aqueous HC1. The substitution proper may be combined with addition of HC1 to the double bond. As catalyst, CuCl2 is used. Various observations (see elsewhere7k) demonstrate that in typical Meerwein systems, part of Cu11 is reduced to Cu1. 

The addition of aryl radicals, generated by chemical reduction of aryldiazonium salts, onto arenes in the Gomberg-Hey reaction is well established [163]. The addition of these radicals to alkenes in the Meerwein reaction is also well known [164], Aryl o-radicals generated by electrochemical reduction of aryl halides take part in similar reactions. Good yields of the products are obtained when the intermediate phenyl radical can react in an intramolecular manner. The addition step is then fast and competes successfully with further electron transfer to form the phenyl car-banion, followed by protonation. 

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