Association of lithium alkyls

In benzene solution, measurements have been made of the rate of reaction of butyllithium with styrene (27), l l-diphenylethylene (6), and with fluorene (7). In each case the reaction was first order in olefin and close to one-sixth order in butyllithium. This latter, fractional order has been attributed to the sixfold association of lithium alkyls in hydrocarbon solution. The actual species active in initiation is the monomeric butyllithium in equilibrium with the hexamer. 

Lithium alkyl dicarbonates, resulting from alkyl carbonate reductive decomposition, strongly associate through 0 Li 0 interactions, and would grow adopting the closed structure conformation, i.e., they would associate to the cage-like dimer first, then to the closed pseudo-planar trimer, then to the closed tetramer, and so on. Additionally we found that features on the IR spectra caused by associations of lithium alkyl dicarbonates are closer to the... 

Adsorption and Two-Dimensional Association of Lithium Alkyl Dicarbonates on Graphite Surfaces Through (Arene)... 

In addition, hydroxyl polymers prepared by use of lithium alkyl acetal initiators have shown a high degree of functional purity (Table II). The functionality data for XI is a bit low, in part, because a linear GPC calibration was used to calculate nn (GPC). It should also be noted that Equations 1-9 proceed in the absence of anionic association or gel. 

Ethyl-lithium, though consisting basically of tetramer units associated into strips by tetramer-tetramer interactions in the crystal, both dissolves in hydrocarbons in hexameric form (EtLOe, and also vaporizes (from a study of its mass spectrum) as a mixture of tetramer and hexamer. The much-used reagent, -butyl-lithium, is also hexameric in hydrocarbon solution, but the structure of the hexamer is not definitely known. Menthyl-lithium is dimeric both in benzene and in cyclohexane, and this may well be connected with its considerably higher reactivity (e.g. to bromo-benzene) than, say, (Bu"Li)g. The state of lithium alkyls in donor (e.g. ether) solvents is mentioned at the end of this chapter. 

Weiss and his associates have studied the reductive alkylation of the 3-ethylene ketal of pregna-5,16-diene-3,20-dione (81) as a route to the 3-ethylene ketals of 17a-alkylpregn-5-ene-3,20-diones. The unsaturated ketone is reduced in ammonia-tetrahydrofuran using the theoretical quantity of lithium... 

The 10-57-5-hydridosiliconate ion 62 is known in association with lithium,323 tetrabutylammonium,101 and bis(phosphoranyl)iminium93 cations. It is synthesized by hydride addition to the 8-.S7-4-silane 63, which is derived from hexafluoroacetone.101 Benzaldehyde and related aryl aldehydes are reduced by solutions of 62 in dichloromethane at room temperature101 or in tetrahydrofuran at 0°96 within two hours. The alkyl aldehyde, 1-nonanal, is also reduced by 62 in tetrahydrofuran at O0.96 Good to excellent yields of the respective alcohols are obtained following hydrolytic workup. The reactions are not accelerated by addition of excess lithium chloride,96 but neutral 63 catalyzes the reaction, apparently through complexation of its silicon center with the carbonyl oxygen prior to delivery of hydride from 62.101... 

There is an enormous organometallic chemistry associated with the group IA metals, particularly lithium and sodium. Lithium alkyls can be prepared by the reaction of the metal and an alkyl halide,... 

In solution lithium alkyls are extensively associated especially in non-polar solvents. Ethyllithium in benzene solution exists largely as a hexamer (9, 43) in the concentration range down to 0.1 molar and there is no evidence for a trend with concentration so presumably the hexamers persist to even lower concentrations. Indeed even in the gas phase at high dilution it exists as hexamer and tetramer in almost equal amounts (3). In a similar way n-butyllithium in benzene or cyclohexane is predominantly hexameric (62, 122). t-Butyl-lithium however is mostly tetrameric in benzene or hexane (115). In ether solution both lithium phenyl and lithium benzyl exist as dimers (122) and it has been suggested that butyllithium behaves similarly in ether (15) although this does not agree with earlier cryoscopic measurements (122). It is however certain that more strongly basic ethers cause extensive breakdown of the structure. 

Metallic lithium in the form of a suspension has been used to polymerize isoprene (97) but the system is not too suitable for an exact analysis of the mechanism. The conversion-time curves are sigmoidal in shape. Minoux (66) has shown that the overall rate is not very dependent on the amount of lithium dispersion used as expected if the organo-lithium intermediates are highly associated. The molecular weight of the polymer is more dependent on quantity of lithium used. The observed kinetic behaviour is very similar to that shown in lithium alkyl initiation. This suggests that apart from differences in the initiation step, the mechanisms are quite similar. 

This scheme requires the assumption of extremely strong association of all lithium-oiganics down to at least 10-4 molar concentration if the observed reaction orders are to be obeyed. It assumes in agreement with earlier workers that only unassociated lithium alkyls and aryls are reactive. The six-fold association of butyllithium required is in agreement with physical measurements although admittedly these were carried out at much higher concentrations. Morton and co-workers (69) have shown that the polymer molecules are indeed associated into dimers in this system from a quantitative study of the decrease in solution viscosity on removal of the charged species at the ends of the polymer molecules. 

Mechanisms of the above type are very plausible but two points should be considered. Firstly, all these transition states are equally plausible for butadiene and isoprene whereas butadiene gives a mixed cis-trans product with lithium alkyls in hydrocarbons. Secondly, it is not certain that these carbon-lithium bonds are essentially covalent in hydrocarbons. There is evidence that the lithium compounds of conjugated monomers still exist as charge delocalized ion-pairs in the associated state in hydrocarbons (48). The characteristic ultra-violet absorption band attributable to this kind of anion pair persists almost unchanged in different solvents and alkali metals. The monomeric form active in the propagation step could possibly contain a more covalent carbon-lithium bond but we cannot be sure of this. 

However, the well-known ability of organolithium compounds to form associated species or to form complexes with electron donor compounds (240—242) provides strong support for mechanisms involving cationic attack by the lithium cation on the monomer prior to an anionic addition. With three orbitals available for coordination, a monomeric lithium alkyl should be able to complex both double bonds of a diolefin to provide the orientation for making cis-1,4 polymer and still have an orbital available for forming associated species in hydrocarbon solvents. The lithium orbitals are presumed to be directed tetrahedrally. Looking at the top of a tetrahedron with the fourth lithium oibital above and normal to the plane of the paper, the complex could have structure A below. In the transition state B for the addition step, the structure... 

The structures of the organic derivatives of the Group IA and IIA metals are not simple because many of them involve molecular association. For example, the lithium alkyls are tetramers in which the lithium atoms reside at the corners of a tetrahedron and the carbon atoms bonded to them are located above the triangular faces of the tetrahedron as shown in Figure 7.2. 

In lithium alkyl-initiated polymerizations only chain initiation and propagation steps need be considered in hydrocarbon solvents. Both reactions are strongly influenced by extensive association of all lithium compounds. The reactive species in chain propagation is the small amount of dissociated material which probably exists as an ion pair. Association phenomena disappear on adding small amounts of polar additives, and the aggregates are replaced by solvated ion pairs. In polar solvents of relatively high dielectric constant (e.g. tetrahydrofuran), some dissociation of the ion pairs to free ions occurs, and both species contribute to the propagation step. The polymerizations are often complicated in tetrahydrofuran by two side reactions, namely carbanion isomerization and reaction with the solvent. 

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