Alkylidene carbenoids insertion reactions

This reaction apparently proceeds by way of the normal phosphonate condensation product, the diazoalkylidene, which then spontaneously loses nitrogen to form the transient alkylidene car-bene. Careful work showed that, after statistical corrections were applied, the reactivity of a C-H bond toward insertion was approximately 0.003 for primary C-H bonds (methyl), 1.0 for secondary C-H bonds (methylene), 7.5 for benzylic (methylene) C-H bonds and 18.6 for tertiary C-H bonds. These relative reactivities are very similar to those previously observed for intramolecular C-H insertion by an alkylidene carbenoid generated from a vinyl bromide27. It was shown subsequently that the alkylidene carbene insertion reaction proceeds with retention of absolute configuration28. Using this approach, (l )-3-dimethyl-3-phenyl-l-cyclopentene and (i )-4-methyl-4-phenyl-2-cyclohexcnonc were prepared in high enantiomeric purity. 

The insertion reactions described above probably proceed via the free alkylidenes. The analogous alkylidene carbenoids also insert efficiently into remote C.-H bonds. It has been demonstrated that such alkylidene carbenoids are conveniently generated from the corresponding iodinium tosylates29. Depending on the substitution pattern employed, either [5 + 0] cy-clization or [2 + 3] cyclization can be obtained. 

The asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-codeine, the unnatural enantiomer, was accomplished by J.D. White and coworkers using an intramolecular carbenoid insertion as the key step. The first stereogenic center that directed all subsequent stereochemical events was installed by the asymmetric hydrogenation of an alkylidene succinate that was obtained using the Stobbe condensation. Dimethyl succinate and isovanillin were reacted in the presence of excess sodium methoxide at reflux and the resulting reaction mixture was acidified to obtain the monomethyl ester. 

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