Allyl halides electroreduction

The Barhier-type reaction of aldehydes and ketones with allyl halides (485) in the presence of Sml2, leading to homoallyl alcohols (486), has received recent interest as a one-step alternative to the Grignard reaction. However, the reactions require the use of stoichiometric amounts of the reducing Sm(III) species. Recently, the electroreductive Barhier-type allylation of carbonyl compounds in an SmH-mediated reaction has been developed [569]. The electrolysis of (485) is carried out in a DMF-SmCl3-(Mg/Ni) system in an undivided cell to give the adduct (486) in 50 85% yields (Scheme 168) [569]. Electrosynthesis of y-butyrolactones has been achieved by the reductive coupling of ethyl 3-chloropropionate with carbonyl compounds in the presence of a catalytic amount of SmCfi [570]. 

Reisse used activated zinc for aqueous Barbier-type reactions.66 Submicromic zinc powder produced by pulsed sono-electroreduction is about three times more effective than the commercial variety. The stereochemical course of the allylation and propargylation of several aldehydes with crotyl and propenyl halides using zinc powder as the... 

Nickel-bpy and nickel-pyridine catalytic systems have been applied to numerous electroreductive reactions,202 such as synthesis of ketones by heterocoupling of acyl and benzyl halides,210,213 addition of aryl bromides to activated alkenes,212,214 synthesis of conjugated dienes, unsaturated esters, ketones, and nitriles by homo- and cross-coupling involving alkenyl halides,215 reductive polymerization of aromatic and heteroaromatic dibromides,216-221 or cleavage of the C-0 bond in allyl ethers.222... 

The electrolysis of alkyl halides on platinum cathode and tin anode has been mentioned above. A completely different mechanism is associated with alkylation on tin cathodes. Electroreduction of allyl bromide on tin electrodes yields tetraallylstannane (Ca 90%). This is done in acetonitrile solutions with LiClC>4, Et4NBr or BujNBr as electrolyte and followed by CV with Ag/AgBr reference. Yields decrease to 78% in DMF. The proposed mechanism67 in this case is ... 

Because the reduction potential of ether is usually more negative than that of halides, examples that belong to this category are rather rare. Generally, cathodic reduction of ethers is similar to that of alcohols, and nonactivated ethers are not reducible under the conditions of electroreduction. Activated ethers such as benzylic and allylic ethers are elec-trochemically reduced to a limited extent (Scheme 7) [1, 15, 16]. Reduction of epoxides is usually difficult however, electroreductive cleavage of activated epoxides to the corresponding alcohols is reported [17, 18]. The cleavage of the C—O bond of ethers is more easily accomplished in anodic oxidation than in cathodic reduction, which is stated in Chapter 6. 

Electroreductive carboxylation of aryl halides, /J-bromostyrene, and allyl acetates... 

Table 6. Ni-bpy catalyzed electroreductive cross-coupling between aryl halides and vinylic or allylic derivatives...

Very few transition-metal catalyzed electroreductive carbon-heteroatom bond formations have been described. The electrochemical silylation of allylic acetates was carried out in the presence of Pd-PPha [131]. The electrosynthesis of arylthioethers from thiophenol and aryl halides [132] and the coupling of bromobenzene with dichlorophenylphosphine [133] were performed with Ni-bpy as catalyst. 

Electroreduction of the cobalt(II) salt in a mixture of either dimethylform-amide-pyridine or acetonitrile-pyridine as solvent, often in the presence of bipyridine, produces a catalytically active cobalt(I) complex which is believed to be cobalt(I) bromide with attached bipyridine ligands (or pyridine moieties in the absence of bipyridine). As quickly as it is electrogenerated, the active catalyst reduces an aryl halide, after which the resulting aryl radical can undergo coupling with an acrylate ester [141], a different aryl halide (to form a biaryl compound) [142], an activated olefin [143], an allylic carbonate [144], an allylic acetate [144, 145], or a... 

The formation of arylzinc reagents can also be accomplished by using electrochemical methods. With a sacrificial zinc anode and in the presence of nickel 2,2-bipyridyl, polyfunctional zinc reagents of type 36 can be prepared in excellent yields (Scheme 14) . An electrochemical conversion of aryl halides to arylzinc compounds can also be achieved by a cobalt catalysis in DMF/pyridine mixture . The mechanism of this reaction has been carefully studied . This method can also be applied to heterocyclic compounds such as 2- or 3-chloropyridine and 2- or 3-bromothiophenes . Zinc can also be elec-trochemically activated and a mixture of zinc metal and small amounts of zinc formed by electroreduction of zinc halides are very reactive toward a-bromoesters and allylic or benzylic bromides . ... 

Symmetrical ketones are also prepared from organic halides and carbon dioxide catalyzed by 2,2 -bipyridine-nickel complexes42. Torii and coworkers found a synthetically useful electrochemical allylation, which involves the electroreductive generation of a dial-lyltin reagent in the presence of a catalytic amount of tin. A wide variety of aldehydes and ketones have been added in high yields under relatively mild conditions by this method (equation 19)43. The process was further improved by the addition of catalytic amounts of... 

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