Bismuth alkyls

Very small quantities of bismuthine are obtained when a bismuth-magnesium alloy, BijMgj, is dissolved in hydrochloric acid. As would be expected, it is extremely unstable, decomposing at room temperature to bismuth and hydrogen. Alkyl and aryl derivatives, for example trimethylbismuthine, Bi(CHj)3, are more stable. 

Other methods of preparing tertiary bismuthines have been used only to a limited extent. These methods iaclude the electrolysis of organometaUic compounds at a sacrificial bismuth anode (54), the reaction between a sodium—bismuth or potassium—bismuth alloy and an alkyl or aryl haUde (55), the thermal elimination of sulfur dioxide from tris(arenesulfiaato)bismuthines (56), and the iateraction of ketene and a ttis(dialkylainino)bismuthine (57). 

Studies of metal alkyls and aryls deal largely with arsenic, germanium and antimony, although some work has also been done on tellurium, mercury, thallium, bismuth and lead. The major contributions can be neatly divided into four periods early studies by Maddock, Sutin and H 1155).56).57) studies by the Polish >- >- and the Strasbourg >- 2).79) groups, work by Riedel and and most recently a series... 

Both alkyl and aryl metals have been studied, but not a very wide range of compounds. Several studies of triphenylarsene and triphenylstibine have been done. Methyl and ethyl compounds of arsenic, germanium, mercury, bismuth, and lead essentially complete the list. In virtually all cases the results have been clouded by difficulties in effecting chemical separation without altering the product distribution. The results do, nonetheless, lead to valid and important conclusions. 

Bismuth tra-tri lluoromcthancsulfonate, Bi(OTf)3, and BiCh were found to be effective catalysts for the Friedel-Crafts acylation of both activated and deactivated benzene derivatives such as fluorobenzene.19 Ga(III) triflate is also effective for Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation in alcohols and can tolerate water.20 This catalyst is water-stable... 

ABS AE AE/P AES AG AOS APEO APG AS BiAS BM c6(EO)3 CNPEC CTAS D DATS DCPEG DEEDMAC branched alkylbenzene sulfonate alcohol ethoxylate alcohol ethoxylate/propoxylate alkylether sulfate alkyl glucamide a-olefin sulfonate alkylphenol ethoxylate alkyl polyglucoside alkyl sulfate bismuth active substances alkyldimethylbenzyl ammonium triethylene glycol monohexyl ether carboxylated nonylphenoxy carboxylates cobalt thiocyanate active substances R2S10(o.5)2 dialkyl tetralinsulfonate dicarboxylated PEG ditallow ester of di(hydroxyethyl)dimethyl ammonium chloride... 

Aromatic amines RNH2 (R = Ph, 2-MeCgH4 or 4-MeOCgH4) are phenylated by triphenylbismuth in the presence of 0.5 equivalent of copper(II) acetate to yield diarylamines RNHPh. Butylamine yields a mixture of TV-butylaniline and N-butyldiphenylamine in this reaction and piperidine gives TV-phenylpiperidine36. A similar alkylation of the secondary amines pyrrolidine, piperidine and morpholine with trimethylbismuth or tris(2-phenylethyl)bismuth in the presence of copper(II) acetate affords tertiary amines, e.g. 14. The reaction proceeds by way of transient pentavalent bismuth compounds37. 

The benzotriazole 109 reacts with alkyl or allyl halides in the presence of bismuth(III) chloride and metallic aluminium to give the homoalkylated amines 110 in high yields119. 

Keywords Bismuth Friedel-Crafts alkylation Green chemistry Hydroalkylation Hydroarylation... 

On the basis of these initial results, various rare earth metal triflates, including Sc(OTf)3, Hf(OTf)4 and Yb(OTf)3 were applied as catalysts [27-29]. Recently Beller and coworkers developed efficient Friedel-Crafts alkylations with catalytic amounts of Rh, W, Pd, Pt and Ir complexes [30] or FeCl3 [31-34] as Lewis acid catalysts. However, in the latter cases high catalyst loadings had to be applied. To overcome these major drawbacks, we decided to develop a Bi(III)-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts alkylation of arenes with benzyl alcohols. Although bismuth-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts acylations were well known at this time, Friedel-Crafts alkylations using benzyl alcohols had not been reported. 

Scheme 6 Loss of stereoinformation during the Bi(OTf)3-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts-alkylation implies a carbocationic intermediate. Mechanism A TfOH generated in situ from Bi(OTf)3 is thought to be the catalytic active species. Mechanism B Bismuth(III) acts as a Lewis acid. TfOH only regenerates Bi(OTf)3 from its less reactive monohydroxide...

A bismuth-catalyzed alkylation of warfarins has not been described, although a bismuth-mediated synthesis of the coumarin core structure 21 starting from phenols 19 and ethyl acetoacetate 20 is known (Scheme 17) [51]. The synthesis of coumarins proceeds in the same way as the above-described indene synthesis. The initial reaction of phenol 19 and ethyl acetoacetate 20 leads to the ester. 

---