Carbanions organometallic

Structural features of the ir carbanion organometallic complexes are discussed here in three sections (1) 7r-carbanion geometry, (2) metal-base coordination, and (3) metal—7r-carbanion geometry. The primary tool used in these studies was single-crystal x-ray crystallography. Se-... 

The introduction of additional alkyl groups mostly involves the formation of a bond between a carbanion and a carbon attached to a suitable leaving group. S,.,2-reactions prevail, although radical mechanisms are also possible, especially if organometallic compounds are involved. Since many carbanions and radicals are easily oxidized by oxygen, working under inert gas is advised, until it has been shown for each specific reaction that air has no harmful effect on yields. 

You have already had considerable experience with carbanionic compounds and their applications in synthetic organic chemistry The first was acetyhde ion m Chapter 9 followed m Chapter 14 by organometallic compounds—Grignard reagents for example—that act as sources of negatively polarized carbon In Chapter 18 you learned that enolate ions—reactive intermediates generated from aldehydes and ketones—are nucleophilic and that this property can be used to advantage as a method for carbon-carbon bond formation... 

Carbanions are very useful intermediates in the formation of carbon-carbon bonds. This is true both for unstabilized structures found in organometallic reagents and stabilized structures such as enolates. Carbanions can participate as nucleophiles both in addition and in substitution reactions. At this point, we will discuss aspects of the reactions of carbanions as nucleophiles in reactions that proceed by the 8 2 mechanism. Other synthetic aj lications of carbanions will be discussed more completely in Part B. 

Mechanistically the reaction can be divided into two steps. Initially the alkyl halide 1 reacts with sodium to give an organometallic species 3, that can be isolated in many cases. In a second step the carbanionic R of the organometallic compound 3 acts as nucleophile in a substitution reaction with alkyl halide 1 to replace the halide ... 

The solid-state structures of several benzylic carbanion salts have been elucidated by X-ray analysis9 depending on the nature of the benzylic part, the cation, and the additives, the structures range from er-bonded organometallic compounds to delocalized ion pairs, from monomeric to dimeric and polymeric aggregates. Some compounds are listed together with leading references ... 

The reaction of A-acyliminium ions with nucleophilic carbon atoms (also called cationic x-amidoalkylation) is a highly useful method for the synthesis of both nitrogen heterocycles and open-chain nitrogen compounds. A variety of carbon nucleophiles can be used, such as aromatic compounds, alkcncs, alkyncs, carbcnoids, and carbanions derived from active methylene compounds and organometallics. 

For a monograph that discusses most of the reactions in this section, see Stowell, J.C. Carbanions in Organic Synthesis Wiley NY, 1979. For a review, see Noyori, R. in Alper Transition Metal Organometallics, in Organic Synthesis, vol. 1 Academic Press NY,... 

In organometallic compounds of the form RR R"C—M, pretty well the whole spectrum of bonding is known from the essentially covalent, via the polar-covalent, RR R"C, —M4+, to the essentially ionic, RR R"CeM . In their reactions, predominant retention, racemisation, and inversion of configuration have all been observed the outcome in a particular case depending not only on the alkyl residue, but also on the metal, and particularly on the solvent. Even with the most ionic examples it seems unlikely that we are dealing with a simple carbanion thus in the reaction of EtI with [PhCOCHMe]6 M , the relative rates under analogous conditions are found to differ over a range of 104 for M = Li, Na and K. 

A further interesting, and synthetically useful, reaction of carbanions— and of organometallic compounds acting as sources of negative carbon—is addition to the very weak electrophile C02, to form the corresponding carboxylate anion (36)—carbonation ... 

It occurs with the alkyls, aryls or acetylides of metals more electropositive than magnesium, but including Grignard reagents, and is often carried out by adding a solution of the organometallic compound in an inert solvent to a large excess of powdered, solid C02 it is a particularly useful method for the preparation of acetylenic acids. The Kolbe-Schmidt reaction (p. 291) is another example of carbanion carbonation. 

Both overt carbanions and organometallic compounds, such as Grignard reagents, are powerful nucleophiles as we have seen in their addition reactions with C=0 (p. 221 et seq.) they tend therefore to promote an SN2 pathway in their displacement reactions. Particularly useful carbanions, in preparative terms, are those derived from CH2(C02Et)2, (3-ketoesters, l,3-( 3-)diketones, e.g. (55), a-cyanoesters, nitroalkanes, etc.—the so-called reactive methylenes ... 

Syntheses of aryl organometallics other than polyhalogenoaryls by thermal decarboxylation are comparatively rare. There are several reasons for this. For transition elements, the thermal stability of simple aryls is often low, especially by comparison with polyhalogenoaryl derivatives, thereby excluding syntheses at elevated temperatures. Electron-withdrawing substituents frequently aid thermal decarboxylation (Section III,A-D), and their absence inhibits major mechanistic paths to both transition metal and main group element derivatives, e.g., SEi (carbanionic) and oxidative addition (Section II). In thermal decomposition of... 

---