Carbanions reactions with metal halides

Formation of Carbon-Transition and Inner Transition Metal Bond 5.S.2.8. from Alkali-Metal Carbanions 5.8.2.8.1. by Reaction with Metal Halides... 

Reduction of carbon-halogen bond by metal yields carbanion. Reaction of alkyl halide with Mg in the presence of anhydrous ether as solvent generates Grignard reagent. The Grignard reagent behaves like a carbanion. Alkyllithiums are also obtained from alkyl halides and behave as carbanions. 

The reaction of metal halides or alkoxides with carbanions including alkyllithi-ums or Grignard reagents (eq (1))... 

Reactions of lithium alkyls are generally considered to be carbanionic in nature, but in reactions with alkyl halides free radicals have been detected by electron spin resonance.32 Lithium alkyls are widely employed as stereospecific catalysts for the polymerization of alkenes, notably isoprene, which gives up to 90% of 1,4-cA-polyisoprene numerous other reactions with alkenes have been studied.33 The TMED complexes again are especially active not only will they polymerize ethylene but they will even metallate benzene and aromatic compounds, as well as reacting with hydrogen at 1 atm to give LiH and alkane. 

Carbanions occasionally react with aryl halides spontaneously, mostly under irradiation, or by supplying electrons either from dissolved metals or from a cathode. However, certain Fe+2 salts catalyse the S l reactions with carbanions. That was the case for the reaction of PhBr or Phi with acetone or pinacolone enolate ions in liquid ammonia or DMS0172a, as well as for the reaction of the enolate ion of several carbanions with several aryl and hetaryl halides in DMS0172b. Since these reactions are inhibited byp-DNB andp-cymene, and the relative reactivity of nucleophiles is similar to that determined in photo-stimulated or spontaneous reactions, it seems that FeCl2 initiates the S l process. 

Entry no. 19 of Table 16 introduces one of the most important and perplexing problems of organic electron-transfer chemistry, namely the reaction between alkyl halides and carbanions or other organic anions (0-, S-, metal-centered). We have already discussed three cases of halide reductions in connection with metallic redox reagents (entries nos. 20-22 of Table 16) and found them compatible with Marcus theory, provided that the transition state was described as in (102) with the C—X bond stretched to the point of almost being broken. The latter requirement is manifested in a high X value for... 

Among common carbon-carbon bond formation reactions involving carbanionic species, the nucleophilic substitution of alkyl halides with active methylene compounds in the presence of a base, e. g., malonic and acetoacetic ester syntheses, is one of the most well documented important methods in organic synthesis. Ketone enolates and protected ones such as vinyl silyl ethers are also versatile nucleophiles for the reaction with various electrophiles including alkyl halides. On the other hand, for the reaction of aryl halides with such nucleophiles to proceed, photostimulation or addition of transition metal catalysts or promoters is usually required, unless the halides are activated by strong electron-withdrawing substituents [7]. Of the metal species, palladium has proved to be especially useful, while copper may also be used in some reactions [81. Thus, aryl halides can react with a variety of substrates having acidic C-H bonds under palladium catalysis. 

The neutral Co tetracarbonyl acyls are conveniently synthesized by reaction of [CofCO) ] with acyl halides and are not available by reaction of Co2(CO)g with alkali-metal carbanions. 

Although a variety of new preparative routes has been developed in recent years (for reviews see refs 1 -10), the transformation of the metal-carbonyl carbon bond of a metal-carbonyl complex into a metal-carbene carbon bond is still the most useful and versatile method for preparing transition-metal carbene complexes. The addition of a carbanion to the carbon atom of a carbonyl ligand yields an anionic acyl complex that subsequently can be reacted with an electrophile to give a neutral carbene complex. Thus, the syntheses of anionic acyl and neutral carbene complexes are closely related, for almost all the carbene complexes considered in this section acyl complexes are precursors, although most have not been isolated and characterized. The syntheses of acyl complexes via CO insertion (for reviews see refs. 11, 12) or by reaction of metal carbonyl anions with acyl halides is outside the scope of this section. 

In the reductive dimerization of methyl cinnamate to a cyclopentanone [Eq. (5)], similar yields are found at the cathode [42] and with metals (sodium, THE, and TBAI, —78°C) [40]. Because of the potential selective conversion at the electrode, halides can be reduced at the cathode to carbanions in the presence of carbonyl compounds, which are reduced at more cathodic potentials. This way labile carbanions can be obtained and reacted under conditions in which the same species generated by a metalorganic route would decompose. Eor example, trichlorobromoalkane can be cathodically converted in the presence of aldehydes to a dichloromethyl anion 0°C [route a, Eq. (6)] and be trapped to form a dichlorotetrahydrofuran, but for the metallorganic route [route b, Eq. (6)] a reaction temperature of — 110°C is necessary [43]. 

While most of the chemistry discussed in this chapter has been developed in the past decade, several important methods have withstood the test of time and have made important contributions in areas such as natural product synthesis. Methods such as cuprate acylation and the addition of organolithiums to carboxylic acids have continued to enjoy widespread use in organic synthesis, whereas older methods including the reaction of organocadmium reagents with acid halides, once virtually the only method available for acylation, has not seen extensive utilization recently. In the following discussion, we shall be interested in cases where selective monoacylation of nonstabilized carbanion equivalents has been achieved. Especially of concern here are carbanion equivalents or more properly organometallics which possess no source of resonance stabilization other than the covalent carbon-metal bond. Other sources of carbanions that are intrinsically stabilized, such as enolates, will be covered in Chapter 3.6, Volume 2. 

In this chapter, the substitution reactions of organometallic reagents with organic halides and related electrophiles are reviewed. - The major portion of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of organocopper compounds, which first transformed the alkylation of nonstabilized carbanions into a reaction of general synthetic utility. More recently, transition metals other than copper have also found widespread application in such coupling reactions, and developments in this area are outlined in Section 1.5.3. 

Like hydroalumination and hydrozirconation, hydroboration of alkynes also provides a convenient and Stereospecific route to alkenyl metal reagents. However, initial attempts to achieve palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of alkenylboranes with alkenyl halides were unsuccessful, due to the poor carbanionic character of these reagents. Later, Suzuki discovered that the desired transformation could be effected in the presence of an alkoxide or hydroxide base weaker bases, such as sodium acetate or triethylamine, were not generally effective. The reaction is suitable for the preparation of ( , )-, ( ,Z)- and (Z,Z)-dienes. Since reactions of alkenylboronates are higher yielding than those of alkenylboranes, the recent availability of (Z)-l-alkenylboronates " substantially improves the Suzuki method for the preparation of (Z)-alkenes. An extension of the methodology to the synthesis of trisubstituted alkenes has also been reported. " ... 

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