Alkenes singlet carbene addition

As a cycloaddition, singlet carbene addition to an alkene must obey the rules of orbital symmetry discussed in Chapters 35 and 36. We might consider the empty p orbital of the carbene (LUMO) interacting with the % bond (HOMO) of the alkene or the lone pair of the carbene in its hlled sp orbital (HOMO) interacting with the k antibonding orbital of the alkene (LUMO). 

Scheme 10.11 Electron pushing for four different carbene reactions. A. Singlet carbene addition to alkenes, B. Triplet carbene addition to alkenes, and C. Singlet CR, ) a. R R -A...

Addition reactions with alkenes to form cyclopropanes are the most studied reactions of carbenes, both from the point of view of understanding mechanisms and for synthetic applications. A concerted mechanism is possible for singlet carbenes. As a result, the stereochemistry present in the alkene is retained in the cyclopropane. With triplet carbenes, an intermediate 1,3-diradical is involved. Closure to cyclopropane requires spin inversion. The rate of spin inversion is slow relative to rotation about single bonds, so mixtures of the two possible stereoisomers are obtained from either alkene stereoisomer. 

Carbene protonation has been amply demonstrated by product studies, time-resolved spectroscopy, and kinetic measurements. The ability of singlet carbenes to accept a proton is not adequately described by the traditional scale of carbene philicities, which is based on addition reactions with alkenes. In particular, aryl- and diarylcarbenes excel as proton acceptors but would traditionally be classified as electrophiles. 

Photolysis of 21d (see earlier 21) in alkenes (cyclohexene, 1,1-diphenylethylene) always gave the cyclopropane derivatives 75 by a cis addition of the singlet carbene (64JOC3577) (Scheme 21). 

A deeper understanding of carbenic philicity requires a more detailed representation of the addition reaction transition state than that afforded by structure 4. Early MO calculations furnished structure 6 as representative of the transition state for addition of a singlet carbene to an alkene (Fig. 7.6). " ... 

Surprisingly, the critical experiment has been done infrequently over the last one-half of a century The requirements for an experiment that truly speaks to the issue at hand are that one be able to see the results of addition of both spin states of a single carbene, and these requirements rarely have been met. For example, the direct irradiation of methyl diazomalonate leads to the stereospecific addition expected of a singlet carbene, whereas the photosensitized decomposition of the diazo compound leads to formation of the triplet carbene and loss of the stereochemical relationship originally present in the reacting alkene. Rotational equilibration in the intermediate seems to be complete, as it makes no significant difference whether cis or trans alkene is used as starting material (Scheme 7.9). ... 

F. Mendez and M. A. Garcia-Garibay, A Hard-Soft Acid-Base and DFT Analysis of Singlet-Triplet Gaps and the Addition of Singlet Carbenes to Alkenes, J. Org. Chem. 1999, 64, 7061. 

Product Studios. Alkenes are known as diagnostic reagents for spin state of reacting carbenes. Thus, the reaction of a singlet carbene with an olefin usually results in the formation of a cyclopropane through stereospecific addition to the C—C double bond, while a triplet carbene gives rise to a nonstereospecific addition product (see Section 7). 

The transition state of singlet carbene cycloaddition to alkenes involves an electrophilic approach of the vacant p orbital to the n bond of alkenes. By contrast, the first step of the triplet addition process may involve the in-plane a orbital of the carbene. As in the case of C—H insertion (see Section 5.1), the difference in the transition structure between the singlet and triplet cycloaddition becomes important in the intramolecular process, especially when approach to a double bond is restricted by ring strain. Direct photolysis of ( )-2-(2-butenyl)phenyldiazomethane (99) in the presence of methanol gives l-ethenyl-l,la,6,6fl-tetrahydrocycloprop [fljindene [100, 29%, (E/Z)= 10 1] and l-(2-butenyl)-2-(methoxymethyl)benzene (101, 67%). Triplet-sensitized photolysis results in a marked increase in the indene (52%, EjZ) = 1.3.T) at the expense of the ether formation (4%) (Scheme 9.30). On the other hand, direct photolysis of phenyldiazomethane in an equimolar mixture of... 

Problem 9.29 (a) Use the following observations to discuss stereospecificity of carbene addition, (b) Suggest mechanisms for addition of (i) singlet and (ii) triplet carbenes to alkenes. 

On the subject of stereochemistry, note that the Simmons-Smith zinc carbenoid behaves like a singlet carbene— its additions to alkenes are stereospecffic (the product cyclopropane retains the geometry of the aikene) as well as stereos elective (die carbenoid adds to the same face as the hydroxyl group). 

IS the most popular, one-step method for m ag fluorinated cyclopropanes and cyclopropenes a-Fluorocarbenes are particularly well behaved, because they all have singlet ground states [/, 2] and therefore usually add stereospecifically to alkenes and do not insert into C-H bonds competitively with addition Moreover, quantitative competition studies of carbene additions to alkenes near room temperature show that a-fluorocarbenes are more selective than other a-halocarbenes, with difluorocarbene being the most selective electrophihc carbene known [3, 4] The relative selectivities, however, can be quite temperature dependent [5, d] The numerous preparations and cycloaddmons of fluorocarbenes have been reviewed thoroughly [7, 8 9,10 ... 

In contrast with fluorenylidene, singlet-triplet equilibrium in the carbene derived by photoelimination of nitrogen from the diazodihydroboraanthracene (57) is slow. Direct irradiation affords singlet carbene which reacts with propan-2-ol to give the ether (58), whereas 2-acetonaphthone-sensitized irradiation yields triplet carbene which undergoes non-stereospecific addition to alkenes. Products obtained by irradiation of 3-diazo-2,5-diphenylpyrrole can arise via the intermediacy of singlet and triplet carbenes. Decomposition of the pyrrole (59) in the presence of benzene, for example, yields the 2H-cycloocta[c]pyiTole (60) as the major product. 

Stereospeoifioity (or lack of it) in the addition of a carbene to an alkene can be a good test of whether the carbene reacts as a singlet or triplet lack of stereospeoifioity in a carbene addition almost certainly indicates that a triplet carbene is involved, but the fact that an addition is stereospeoifio doesn t mean that the carbene mustbe a... 

The addition of a triplet carbene to an alkene can be considered to be rather like a radical addition to a double bond. The concerted addition of a singlet carbene, on the other hand, is a pericyclic reaction, and from Chapter 3 5 you should be able to classify it as a [1 -h 2 ] cycloaddition, addition to alkenes of triplet carbenes is a radical reaction addition of singlet carbenes is a [1-h2] cycloaddition... 

The spin state of the reacting acylcarbene has a decisive influence on the reactivity of this short-lived species (Houben-Weyl, Vol.4/5b, pp 1158-1257 Vol. E19b, pp 1052 and 1231 refs 67,100-103). As far as cyclopropanation is concerned, carbene addition to a (Z)- or ( )-alkene can occur with retention or with loss of the stereochemical relationship present in the alkene (stereospecific and nonstereospecific cyclopropanation, respectively). Singlet carbenes add to C-C double bonds in a concerted manner, and therefore, stereospecifically. In contrast, a triplet carbene undergoes stepwise addition via an intermediate triplet 1,3-diradieal. Sinee spin-in-version must occur before ring closure of the latter species, the extent to which stereospecificity... 

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