Lithium naphthalene alkylation

The classical preparation of alkyllithium compounds by reductive cleavage of alkyl phenyl sulfides with lithium naphthalene (stoichiometric version) was also carried out with the same electron carrier but under catalytic conditions (1-8%). When secondary alkyl phenyl sulfides 73 were allowed to react with lithium and a catalytic amount of naphthalene (8%) in THF at —40°C, secondary alkyllithium intermediates 74 were formed, which finally reacted successively with carbon dioxide and water, giving the expected carboxylic acids 75 (Scheme 30) °. 

As mentioned above, one major drawback of the Trost methodology is its restriction to the parent compound. It was the Cohen group who found an alternative approach to phenylthiocyclopropyl lithium chemistry by using a reductive lithiation of readily accessible cyclopropanone dithioketals which also works for alkyl-substituted cyclopropanes. The anions obtained by reduction with two equivalents of lithium naphthalene or preferably lithium l-(dimethylamino)naphthalene (LDMAN) can effectively be trapped by apt electrophiles (equation 112). 

Caution. Phosphines, and their chloro-substituted derivatives, are toxic and air-sensitive. Silyllithium phosphides, (naphthalene )sodium, and alkyl-lithium reagents are very sensitive to oxygen and moisture. All operations involving these materials should be carried out under an inert atmosphere and in a well-ventilated fume hood. 

Poly(amino acids)2892 and polypeptides2893 can also be grafted onto starch. Starch was first alkylated in the presence of lithium naphthalene, and then the alkoxy derivatives were reacted with /V-carboxy anhydrides. Poly(amide amines) were produced by reacting amines with dioic acids on starch and then crosslinking with epichlorohydrin or 1,2-dichloroethane 2894 Grafting of starch with a synthetic polymer chain, for instance, polystyryl carboxylate anions prepared by an anionic polymerization, can be carried out on a blend of starch and cellulose functionalized by sulfonation, mesylation, or tosylation. In this manner, cellulose-starch graft copolymers were prepared.2895... 

Triblock polymers are generally made in sequential addition processes with the aid of sodium naphthalene or alkyl lithium. They can also be produced in a "coupling" process wherein a dlblock is prepared first and is coupled with the aid of phosgene or alkyl dlhalides to form the ABA triblock. Tapered blocks can be made by starting with a polystyrene block and then copolymerizing a mixture of styrene and diene. 

The alkyl-lithium initiated, living anionic polymerization of elastomers was described in 1928 by Ziegler. To polymerize styrene-isoprene block copolymers Szwarc et al., [1956] used sodium naphthalene as an anion-radical di-initiator, while Shell used an organolithium initiator. The polymerization mechanism was described by By water [1965]. 

It is assumed that this reaction involves a radical reductive process. Displayed below is the lithiation of an alkyl phenyl thioether with lithium naphthalene. 

Treatment of arenes such as benzene (CeHg) and naphthalene (CioHg) with alkyl lithium reagents (such as n-butyllithium, BuLi, CHjCHjCHjCHjLi, or its equivalent can, depending upon the conditions, result in the removal of a proton to produce an arene anion. However, alkylation, which is thus effectively a substitution of a hydride ion, occasionally occurs (depending upon the conditions under which the reaction is run) and the alkylated arene is obtained as a minor product (Equation 6.112). 

Synthesis.—The radical anion from di-t-butylbiphenyl is found to be superior to lithium naphthalene for the reductive removal of halogen from alkyl chlorides (Table la). Alcohols are reduced directly to the corresponding hydrocarbon by the addition of a silane R3SiH to the alcohol in methylene chloride followed by... 

On the basis of reaction-product structures, it might be expected that the reactions of organic halides with sodium naphthalene (Scheme 9) might resemble mechanistically the reactions of organic halides with lithium alkyls. CIDNP studies have shown that they are in fact quite different, in particular in the mechanism by which polarization occurs. The observations are as follows (Garst et al., 1970). 

The reaction has been applied to nonheterocyclic aromatic compounds Benzene, naphthalene, and phenanthrene have been alkylated with alkyllithium reagents, though the usual reaction with these reagents is 12-20, and Grignard reagents have been used to alkylate naphthalene. The addition-elimination mechanism apparently applies in these cases too. A protected form of benzaldehyde (protected as the benzyl imine) has been similarly alkylated at the ortho position with butyl-lithium. ... 

The activated nickel powder is easily prepared by stirring a 1 2.3 mixture of NiL and lithium metal under argon with a catalytic amount of naphthalene (1(7 mole % based on nickel halide) at room temperature for 12 h in DME. The resulting black slurry slowly settles after stirring is stopped and the solvent can be removed via cannula if desired. Washing with fresh DME will remove the naphthalene as well as most of the lithium salts. For most of the nickel chemistry described below, these substances did not affect the reactions and hence they were not removed. The activated nickel slurries were found to undergo oxidative addition with a wide variety of aryl, vinyl, and many alkyl carbon halogen bonds. 

Additionally, it was found that the double reductive alkylation of the 2,5-diester 66 could be achieved under Birch conditions (Li/NH3) to produce the 3-pyrroline 67. On the basis of a mechanistic postulate that such reductions do not involve transfer of a proton from ammonia, the authors discovered that the same reduction could be performed in THF (no ammonia) with lithium metal and catalytic amounts of naphthalene as an electron shuttle, thereby making this reaction more practicable on a large scale <00TL1327>. 

The 1,6-addition reaction of lithium amides to the naphthalene ring system (141) followed by the electrophilic alkylation has been reported (Scheme 17). ... 

Protonic acids and some other electrophiles cause the aromatization of naphthalen-l,4-imines and of derivatives of the related 1,4-epoxy-1,4-dihydronaphthalene ring system (126) to naphthalene derivatives (see Section III,F), and simple electrophilic addition to the 2,3-double bond has not been observed. Ring-opening of the ether (126) also occurs on addition of alkyl or aryl lithium reagents as a result of exo attack by the nucleophile at the 2-position. ... 

Since different reactivity is observed for both the stoichiometric and the catalytic version of the arene-promoted lithiation, different species should be involved in the electron-transfer process from the metal to the organic substrate. It has been well-established that in the case of the stoichiometric version an arene-radical anion [lithium naph-thalenide (LiCioHg) or lithium di-ferf-butylbiphenylide (LiDTBB) for using naphthalene or 4,4 -di-ferf-butylbiphenyl (DTBB) as arenes, respectively] is responsible for the reduction of the substrate, for instance for the transformation of an alkyl halide into an alkyllithium . For the catalytic process, using naphthalene as the arene, an arene-dianion 2 has been proposed which is formed by overreduction of the corresponding radical-anion 1 (Scheme 1). Actually, the dianionic species 2 has been prepared by a completely different approach, namely by double deprotonation of 1,4-dihydronaphthalene, and its X-ray structure determined as its complex with two molecules of N,N,N N tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA). ... 

The in situ generation of an afkyllithium reagent, from an alkyl chloride 13 and lithium in the presence of a catalytic amonnt of naphthalene (10%), and its reaction with carboxylic acids 14 allowed a general preparation of ketones 15 in a one-pot procednre (Scheme 6) °. 

Under these conditions, a broad range of polyfunctional alkyl iodides are converted to the corresponding organozinc halides in high yields . In the case of primary alkyl iodides, the insertion occurs at 40-50 °C whereas secondary alkyl iodides already react at 25-30°C. Secondary alkyl bromides also react under these conditions , but primary alkyl bromides are usually inert with this type of activation and much better results are obtained by using Rieke zinc L Thus, the reduction of zinc chloride with finely cut lithium and naphthalene produces within 1.5 h highly reactive zinc (Rieke zinc). 

A naphthalene supported polymer was prepared by radical copolymerization of 2-vinylnaphthalene, styrene, and divinylbenzene.70 This catalyst was used to mediate metallation of alkyl chlorides by lithium. The reaction was done in the presence of electrophiles to afford, after quenching, the desired addition products. 

Lithium naphthalenide has been used for reductive lithiation of thioketals (8, 306 9, 284), but has the disadvantage that naphthalene is sometimes difficult to separate from final products of alkylation. In such cases, lithium I -(dimethylamino)-naphthalenide can be used advantageously since dimethylaminonaphlhalene is removed from reaction mixtures by extraction with dilute acid.1... 

A remarkable stereospecific dehydrative alkylation of (3-disulfones was reported by Falck et al. [406] under Mitsunobu conditions (triethyl phosphine, diethyl azodicarboxylate). The synthesis of a pheromone component of the lesser tea tortrix emphasizes some of the possibilities offered by coupling this reaction with further uses of the sulfone functionality. In the present case, monodesulfonylation with lithium naphthalenide (-78°C, 5 min), in situ alkylation (-78 to 23°C, 1 h), and Li-naphthalene cleavage of the second sulfonyl group (—78°C, 5 min) yielded in a one-pot procedure a THP ether which was converted into the sought after pheromone through direct acetylation. 

The discovery that lithium and its alkyls produce a highly cis-1,4 polyisoprene in hydrocarbon solvents (103) has led to a renewed interest in metal and metal alkyl initiated polymerization. About the same time Szwarc (109) postulated an electron transfer mechanism for the initiation of polymerization by sodium naphthalene in ether solvents. This was extended to lithium metal catalysis by Tobolsky (80) and Overberger (83) and subsequently generalized to cover all alkali metal initiation, e" + M M (1) ... 

And indeed, treating one of the enantiomers (in tetrahydrofurane) with lithium and then with aminonitrile results in aminoalkylation strictly in position 4 of the naphthalene fragment. The part of binaphthyl that does not participate in alkylation returns in the optically inactive form (Eisenstein et al. 1977). Scheme 3-59 presents the whole process. 

The first step in the reductive lithiation of alkyl phenyl sulfides (Screttas-Cohen process) consists of preparing the reducing reagent in stoichiometric amounts. Lithium naphthalenide, for example, is made from lithium and naphthalene. The sulfide is added drop wise to this reducing reagent. The mechanism of reduction corresponds step by step to the one outlined in Figure 17.44, except that the dissolved radical anion is the source of the electrons, as opposed... 

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