C-H insertion product

The photolytic and thermolytic decomposition of azides in the presence of olefins has been applied to aziridine synthesis. However, only a limited number of steroid aziridines have been prepared in this manner. The patent literature reports the use of cyanogen azide at ca. 50° for 24 hours in ethyl acetate for the preparation of an A-nor- and a B-norsteroidal aziridine. The addition is believed to proceed via a triazoline. The reaction of cholest-2-ene with ethyl azidoformate takes place in a nonselective manner to produce a mixture of substances, including C—H insertion products. 

Interestingly, [Ee(F20-TPP)C(Ph)CO2Et] and [Fe(p2o-TPP)CPh2] can react with cyclohexene, THF, and cumene, leading to C-H insertion products (Table 3) [22]. The carbenoid insertion reactions were found to occur at allylic C-H bond of cyclohexene, benzylic C-H bond of cumene, and ot C-H bond of THF. This is the first example of isolated iron carbene complex to undergo intermolecular carbenoid insertion to saturated C-H bonds. 

The behavior of the Si—P 7r-bond toward a G=C triple bond was examined in the case of 15a by employing differently substituted alkynes.14 It appeared that 15a does not react with dialkyl, diaryl-, or disilyl-substi-tuted alkynes at 110°C even cyclooctyne, usually a very reactive alkyne, does not react. However, when 15a was stirred with phenylacetylene at 80°C in toluene, the C—H insertion product 24 was isolated as colorless crystals (Eq. 9).14 Its molecular structure has been elucidated by singlecrystal X-ray diffraction (Fig. 9). 

Based on a detailed investigation, it was concluded that the exceptional ability of the molybdenum compounds to promote cyclopropanation of electron-poor alkenes is not caused by intermediate nucleophilic metal carbenes, as one might assume at first glance. Rather, they seem to interfere with the reaction sequence of the uncatalyzed formation of 2-pyrazolines (Scheme 18) by preventing the 1-pyrazoline - 2-pyrazoline tautomerization from occurring. Thereby, the 1-pyrazoline has the opportunity to decompose purely thermally to cyclopropanes and formal vinylic C—H insertion products. This assumption is supported by the following facts a) Neither Mo(CO)6 nor Mo2(OAc)4 influence the rate of [3 + 2] cycloaddition of the diazocarbonyl compound to the alkene. b) Decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate is only weakly accelerated by the molybdenum compounds, c) The latter do not affect the decomposition rate of and product distribution from independently synthesized, representative 1-pyrazolines, and 2-pyrazolines are not at all decomposed in their presence at the given reaction temperature. 

Alkyl diazoacetates undergo little or no allylic C/H insertion when decomposed catalytically in the presence of appropriate olefins 6,13,I4). In contrast, such insertions occur with diazomalonates or ot-diazoketones. From the available facts, the conclusion can be drawn that different pathways may lead to what finally looks like the direct or rearranged allylic insertion product, but convincing evidence for one or the other mechanism is available only in a few cases. As Scheme 22 shows, the C/H insertion products 98-100 may arise from one of three major sources ... 

Whereas this mechanistic proposal seems reasonable and no reason can be seen why it should not be cited to explain the allylic C/H insertion product from cyclohexene, other cases exist where cyclohexene is not the best substrate to distinguish between this and one of the other alternatives of Scheme 22. 

The question as to whether enol ether 72, the insertion product derived from diethyl diazomalonate and 1-methoxycyclohexene, has a similar origin or arises from a dipolar intermediate of type 102, has already been discussed (Sect. 2.3.1). Interestingly enough, only one formal C/H insertion product was reported in that case, rather than three as in the reaction with 1-methylcyclohexene. 

Contrary to the allyldimethylamines, the less nucleophilic l-morpholino-2-butene 117 and 3-morpholino-l-butene 118 do not yield products derived from an intermediary N-ylide rather, allylic C/H insertion products were isolated (see Sect. 2.3.3)151). 

For the Cu(OTf)2-promoted reaction between ethyl diazoacetate and cinnam-aldehyde dimethyl acetal, products 143-145 account for only 35% the total yield. C/C and C/H insertion products 151 and 152 are obtained additionally in 49 and 14% yield, respectively154). It was assumed that the copper compound acts through Lewis-acid catalysis here, just as it is believed to do when orthoesters are used as substrates 160). According to this, catalyst-induced formation of a methoxy-... 

Table 20. Yields of C/H insertion products in the Rh2(CF3COO)4-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate in alkanes (22 °C 100 mmol of cycloalkane or 200 mmol of acyclic alkane, 3 mmol of diazoester, 2.0-2.2 1(T3 mmol of catalyst) ...

Allylic carbamates have also been cyclized to carbamate-linked fused-ring aziridines. The cyclization of homoallylic carbamates to the corresponding aziridines has not been successful until a recent report <06CC4501>. The reaction of homoallylic carbamate 63 with a rhodium catalyst and iodosobenzene provides moderate yields of the fused-ring aziridine 64. The major byproduct of this reaction is the C-H insertion product 65. The relative amounts of the aziridine to the C-H insertion product could be modulated by the choice of rhodium catalyst. The use of Rh2(OAc)4 provides a 68 14 ratio of aziridine C-H insertion product, while Rh2(oct)4 provides a slightly better 71 6 ratio. 

Accordingly, a re-examination of the benzylchlorocarbene system was performed, with close attention paid to the products formed at low temperature.71 Carbene 10a was photolytically generated from diazirine 9a in isooctane, methylcyclohexane, and tetrachloroethane at temperatures ranging from 30 to —75°C. At —70°C in isooctane, the products included 47% of P-chlorostyrenes 11a and 12a, 2.4% of a-chlorostyrene (49), 2% of dichloride 50, 5.5% of a C-H insertion product of 10a and isooctane, 4% of the dimers of 10a, and 30% of azine 48.71 The sum of the intermolecular products at —70°C was thus 41.5%, of which azine was the principal component. 

The difference in reactivity between isoprenol and isoprenyloxide, methal-lyl methyl ether and methallyloxide were investigated in the reaction with (phenylthio)carbene generated under phase-transfer conditions. With isoprenol, (phenylthio)methyl ether (41%) was the major product, whereas with methyl ether cyclopropanation (36%) was the sole reaction.1519 With alkoxides, in contrast, the major product was the C-H insertion product (45%) and (phenyl-... 

The C-H activation chemistry can also be conducted on solid hydrocarbons, such as adamantane (Equation (13)).78 A suitably inert solvent for such a reaction is 2,2-dimethylbutane. Rh2( -DOSP)4-catalyzed decomposition of methyl phenyldiazoacetate in the presence of 2 equiv. of adamantane generated the C-H insertion product in 90% ee. 

The reaction can be extended to more elaborate systems as shown in the reactions of the substituted pyrrolidines (Equations (25) and (26)).85,86 Even though the 2-substituted pyrrolidine 8 has three electronically activated sites, two are sterically crowded. Furthermore, the Rh2(5-DOSP)4-catalyzed C-H insertion exhibited extreme stereodifferentiation, such that only one enantiomer of 8 was reactive under the reaction conditions. Consequently, a high level of kinetic resolution was observed, and the C-H insertion product was produced with 98% ee (Equation (25)).85 Similar reactivity was seen in the reaction of the 3-substituted pyrrolidine 9. In some regards, this reaction is even more impressive, because there was selective insertion into one of the two available methylene groups adjacent to nitrogen (Equation (26)).85... 

The allylic C-H functionalization has been effectively used for the syntheses of pharmaceutical targets. The reaction of the 3,4-dichlorophenyl derivative 11 with 1,4-cyclohexadiene generated the C-H insertion product 12 with 93% ee, which was then readily converted to (+)-indatraline using conventional chemistry (Equation (29)).88 The thiophenyl derivative 13 was also capable of a C-H insertion to form 14 with 88% ee. A few trivial steps converted 14 to the cholinergic agent (+)-cetiedil (Equation (30)).89... 

Dihydronaphthalenes are remarkable substrates for the combined C-H activation/Cope rearrangement, but under certain circumstances, further cascade reactions can occur. This was seen in the Rh -DOSP -catalyzed reaction of vinyldiazoacetate 26 with dihydronaphthalene 25 (Equation (35)).96 In this case, the isolated product was the formal C-H insertion product. The reaction proceeded through a combined C-H activation/Cope rearrangement to form 27, followed by the reverse Cope rearrangement. As both steps were highly stereoselective, the formal C-H insertion product 28 was produced with very high stereoselectivity (>98% de, 99.6% ee).96... 

Decomposition of sulfonyl azides was shown to be catalyzed by copper in 1967 (72, 73). In the presence of alkenes, the reaction provides both aziridines and the C-H insertion products, albeit in low yields (73). In 1991, Evans et al. (74, 75) illustrated that both Cu(I) and Cu(II) salts were effective catalysts for nitrenoid transfer from [A-(/Moluenesulfonyl)imino]phenyliodinane (PhI=NTs) to a variety of acceptor alkenes. In the absence of ancillary ligands, reactions proceed best in polar aprotic solvents such as acetonitrile. Similar results are observed using both Cu(MeCN)4C104 and Cu(acac)2 as precatalysts, Eq. 53. 

The asymmetric allylic C-H activation of cyclic and acyclic silyl enol ethers furnishes 1,5-dicarbonyl compounds and represents a surrogate of the Michael reaction [136]. When sufficient size discrimination is possible the C-H insertion is highly diastereoselective, as in the case of acyclic silyl enol ether 193 (Eq. 22). Reaction of aryldia-zoacetate 192 with 193 catalyzed by Rh2(S-DOSP)4 gives the C-H insertion product 194 (>90% de) in 84% enantiomeric excess. A second example is the reaction of the silyl enol ether 195 with 192 to form 196, a product that could not be formed from the usual Michael addition because the necessary enone would be in its tautomeric naphthol form (Eq. 23). 

BTSP-CF3SO3H is an efficient electrophilic oxygenating agent for adamantane and diamantane. With adamantane, the major reaction product is 4-oxahomoadamantane in isolated yield in 79% through a C—C a-bond insertion with very little 1-adamantanol, the C—H insertion product (equations 57 and 58/. In the case of diamantane, two isomeric oxahomodiamantanes were obtained along with two isomeric bridgehead diamantanols corresponding to C—C and C—H a-bond insertions. 

For example, in the photolysis of (30) in toluene solution, the product of insertion of DPC into the benzylic C—H bonds, 1,1,2-triphenylmethane (31), was accompanied by substantial amounts of 1,1,2,2-tetraphenylethane (32) and bibenzyl (33).When solvents such as cyclohexane are used, tetraphenylethane (32) is formed as the major product, indicating that direct C—H insertion in the singlet state is not the main process in most diarylcarbenes (Scheme 9.7). ° In contrast, 9-cyclohexylfluorene (37) is produced by photolysis of diazofluorene (36) in cyclohexane as a main product (65%) along with a small amount of escaped products (38 and 39). One can estimate in this case that at most 14% of 37 arises from free radical processes. Similarly, direct or sensitized photolysis of diazomalonate in 2,3-dimethylbutane gives C—H insertion products, but in the triplet-sensitized... 

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