Allenyllithium reagents

Allenyllithium reagents are commonly prepared through lithiation of propargylic halides or by deprotonation of alkynes or certain allenes (Eq. 9.1). Lithiated allenes often serve as precursors to stable allenylmetal compounds such as stannanes or silanes. They can also be employed for the in situ synthesis of allenylzinc, -titanium and -boronate compounds, which can be further transformed to substitution products not accessible from their allenyllithio precursors. 

Another option for the preparation of allenyllithium reagents involves the carbolithia-tion of activated conjugated enynes15. Thus, addition of BuLi to the enyne 281 led to an allenyllithium compound 282 (in metallotropic equilibrium with its propargylic counterpart). Subsequent addition of allylzinc bromide generated the allylic 1,1-dimetallic species... 

The presence of heteroatoms, not only for the regio- and stereoselective functionalization of the allylic 1,1-diorganometallic species, and/or silyl substituents was found to exert a dramatic influence on the course of the allylzincation of allenyllithium reagents. Indeed, when 1,2-decadiene (285) was metaflated and treated with allylzinc bromide, the reaction followed a different course and led after hydrolysis to the bistoo-methylenejcyclohexane... 

Allenylcopper reagents can be generated from allenyllithium precursors by treatment with stoichiometric amounts of CuBr (Table 9.6) [12]. These intermediates were not characterized, per se, but subsequent reaction with alkenyl iodides led to allenynes in high yield. Thus it is assumed that the reagents are allenic rather than propargylic. The same intermediates afford 2-alkynylsulfmamides on treatment with N-sulfmylaniline (Table 9.7) [13], Cyclization to the N-phenyldihydroisothiazole S -oxides proceeds in nearly quantitative yield on treatment with base. 

An early synthesis of allenylzinc reagents employed a two-step procedure in which monosubstituted allenes were subjected to lithiation in THF with tBuLi at -90 °C and the resulting allenyllithium intermediates were treated with ZnCl2. The allenylzinc reagents thus generated react in situ with aldehydes to afford mainly anti homopropargyl alcohols (Table 9.46) [98],... 

Simple diastereoselectivity comes into play when allenylmetal compounds are added to aldehydes, since adducts such as 1 a/b contain both an axis and a center of asymmetry. Hence, diastereomeric mixtures are produced. When chiral aldehydes are used in such reactions, the diastereoselectivity also depends on the relative rate by which the enantiomers of the racemic allenylmetallic species interconvert, i.e., relative to the rate of addition to the chiral aldehyde. Apart from reactions of allenyllithium and -titanium reagents with aldehydes90-94, few such intermolecular, simple diastereoselective reactions yielding allenes have been reported. 

Related Reagents. Allenyllithium 1-Methyl-l-(trimethyl-silyl)allene Allyltrimethylsilane Propargylmagnesium Bromide 3-Tiimethylsilyl- 1-propyne. 

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