Carbene intermediate

Diphenylketene (283) adds to terminal alkynes to form the diphenylmeth-ylalkyne 285 via the Pd-carbene intermediate 284[140],... 

The Bamford-Stevens decomposition of tosylhydrazones by base has been applied to steroids, although not extensively. It has been demonstrated that the reaction proceeds via a diazo compound which undergoes rapid decomposition. The course of this decomposition depends upon the conditions in proton-donating solvents the reaction has the characteristics of a process involving carbonium ions, and olefins are formed, often accompanied by Wagner-Meerwein-type rearrangement. In aprotic solvents the diazo compound appears to give carbene intermediates which form olefins and insertion products ... 

Several years ago, there was much debate concerning the mechanism of the Darzens condensation.2.3 The debate concerned whether the reaction employed an enolate or a carbene intermediate. In recent years, significant evidence that supports the enolate mechanism has been obtained, wherein the stabilized carbanion (11) of the halide (10) is condensed with the electrophile (12) to give diastereomeric aldolate products (13,14), which subsequently cyclize via an internal Sn2 reaction to give the corresponding oxirane (15 or 16). The intermediate aldolates have been isolated for both a-fluoro- and a-chloroesters 10. 

Dibenzo[/>,rf]thiopyrylium tetrafluoroborate (1) reacts with ethyl lithiodiazoacetate at — 120 C to form the diazo compound 2 which, with dimeric ( 3-allyl)chloropalIadium at 20 C, gives ethyl dibenzo[ ,d]thiepin-6-carboxylate (3), via a carbene intermediate.5 Compound 3 is quite stable the ethoxycarbonyl group can be hydrolyzed by alkali and decarboxylated to give the corresponding parent compound 4 in good yield. 

The facile thermal decomposition of the dimethyl and diethyl derivatives of (II) to nitrogen and carbene intermediates is emphasized by the readily discernible correlations between the reactant and product orbitals. On the other hand, the greater delocalization of the molecular orbitals of (I) may be a factor in its preference to rearrange, without decomposition, to methyl acetylene and allene. 

In polar solvents the equilibrium (Scheme 6-43) is almost completely on the side of the open structure 6.63 a <- 6.63 b. Irradiation at A > 350 nm results in selective quantitative cleavage of the diazocyclohexadienone with loss of N2 and a ring-contraction to give a five-membered ring of the carbene intermediate, 6-fulvenone (6.65). 

The stereochemistry of the ring product (17) was rationalized in terms of the attraction and repulsion between the involved substituents98. The accompanying olefins may be formed via carbene intermediates (arising from a-elimination of S02 from sulfene), and the intermediacy of thiadiazoline dioxide (from sulfene and diazoalkane) explains the formation of the ketazine side-products. Thiadiazoline, on its part, may be formed directly by the cyclization of zwitterion 101. 

Recently, Aumann et al. reported that rhodium catalysts enhance the reactivity of 3-dialkylamino-substituted Fischer carbene complexes 72 to undergo insertion with enynes 73 and subsequent formation of 4-alkenyl-substituted 5-dialkylamino-2-ethoxycyclopentadienes 75 via the transmetallated carbene intermediate 74 (Scheme 15, Table 2) [73]. It is not obvious whether this transformation is also applicable to complexes of type 72 with substituents other than phenyl in the 3-position. One alkyne 73, with a methoxymethyl group instead of the alkenyl or phenyl, i.e., propargyl methyl ether, was also successfully applied [73]. 

A transmetalation of the styrylcarbene chromium complex 62 in the presence of stoichiometric amounts of [Ni(cod)2] to give the nickel carbene intermediate 63 was applied to the synthesis of Cr(CO)3-coordinated cycloheptatriene 64 upon reaction with terminal alkynes [57] (Scheme 37). The formation of pen-tacarbonyl(acetonitrile)chromium is expected to facilitate the metal exchange. 

Abstract The dirhodium(II) core is a template onto which both achiral and chiral ligands are placed so that four exist in a paddle wheel fashion around the core. The resulting structures are effective electrophilic catalysts for diazo decomposition in reactions that involve metal carbene intermediates. High selectivities are achieved in transformations ranging from addition to insertion and association. The syntheses of natural products and compounds of biological interest have employed these catalysts and methods with increasing frequency. 

In the SnIcA and Sn2cA mechanisms (p. 445) there is a preliminary step, the addition of a proton, before the normal SnI or Sn2 process occurs. There are also reactions in which the substrate loses a proton in a preliminary step. In these reactions there is a carbene intermediate. 

The reaction in which aldehydes are converted to methyl ketones, RCHO -f CH2N2 —> RCOCH3, while apparently similar, does not involve a free carbene intermediate. It is considered in Chapter 18 (18-9). 

Not much is known about the mechanism of the Clemmensen reduction. Several mechanisms have been proposed, " including one going through a zinc-carbene intermediate. " One thing reasonably certain is that the corresponding alcohol is not an intermediate, since alcohols prepared in other ways fail to give the reaction. Note that the alcohol is not an intermediate in the Wolff-Kishner reduction either. 

Reactions of cyclopentyne with alkenes gives [2+2] cycloadduct with complete retention of stereochemistry (Scheme 24) [120], Laird and Gilbert observed the expected [2+2] cycloadduct along with the polycyclic adduct in the reaction of norbomyne with 2,3-dihydropyran (Scheme 24) [121], and located a cyclopropyl-carbene intermediate [122],... 

While metalloporphyrin carbene complexes are well established for ruthenium and osmium, they are less well known for rhodium. Cationic rhodium porphyrin carbene intermediates were implicated in a report by Callot et al. in w- hich... 

Rh(OEP)H reacts with CNR (R = Me, n-Bu,) to give the adduct Rh(OEP)-(H)CNR (which has no parallel in CO chemistry) which then slowly transforms to the formimidoyl insertion product, Rh(OEP)C(H)=NR. The dimer Rh(OEP))2 reacts with CNAr (Ar = 2.6-Cf,H3Mc2) in aqueous benzene to give the carbamoyl product. Rh(OEP)C(0)NHAr (characterized by an X-ray crystal structure) together with the hydride, which it.self reacts further with the isocyanide. This is suggc.sted to form via a cationic carbene intermediate, formed by attack of HiO on coordinated CNAr in concert with disproportionation to Rh(III) and Rh(l). 

The stereochemistry of the resulting cyclopropane product (.s vn vs anti) was rationalized from a kinetic study which implicated an early transition state with no detectable intermediates. Approach of the alkene substrate perpendicular to the proposed carbene intermediate occurs with the largest alkene substituent opposite the carbene ester group. This is followed by rotation of the alkene as the new C—C bonds begin to form. The steric effect of the alkene substituent determines... 

Rh(Por)l (Por = OEP. TPP, TMP) also acts as a catalyst for the insertion of carbene fragments into the O—H bonds of alcohols, again using ethyl diazoacetate as the carbene source. A rhodium porphyrin carbene intermediate was proposed in the reaction, which is more effective for primary than secondary or tertiary alcohols, and with the bulky TMP ligand providing the most selectivity. ... 

Both rhodium and osmium porphyrins are active for the cyclopropanation of alkenes. The higher activity of the rhodium porphyrin catalysts can possibly be attributed to a more reactive, cationic carbene intermediate, which so far has defied isolation. The neutral osmium carbene complexes are less active as catalysts but the mono- and bis-carbene complexes can be isolated as a result. 

Pyrolysis of bis(trimethylsilyl)phenyl methanol 1668 at 500 °C leads, via elimination of trimethylsilanol 4, to the carbene intermediate 1669, which rearranges, via the carbene intermediate 1670, to give l,2-dimethyl-2,3-benzo-l-silacyclopent-2-ene 1671, in 25% yield, or rearranges via olefin 1672 and adds 4 to give the siloxane 1673 in 29% yield and smaller amounts of benzyltrimethylsilane 83 and styrene [43, 44]. Pyrolysis of l,l-bis(trimethylsilyl) cyclohexylalcohol 1674 furnishes, via the carbene intermediate 1675, 90% of olefin 1676 [43, 44] (Scheme 10.20). 

Gault and coworkers [ 149] have observed that the distribution of products obtained by hydrogenolysis and isomerization of methylcyclopentane was the same as those obtained with hexane. They proposed two competing mechanisms a selective mechanism implying an a, a, p, j0-tetra-adsorbed species and a non-selective mechanism implying coordinated olefin and bis-carbene intermediates (Scheme 38). 

These reactions have very low activation energies when the intermediate is a free carbene. Intermolecular insertion reactions are inherently nonselective. The course of intramolecular reactions is frequently controlled by the proximity of the reacting groups.113 Carbene intermediates can also be involved in rearrangement reactions. In the sections that follow we also consider a number of rearrangement reactions that probably do not involve carbene intermediates, but lead to transformations that correspond to those of carbenes. 

There are several ways of generating carbene intermediates. Some of the most general routes are summarized in Scheme 10.8 and are discussed in the succeeding paragraphs. 

If this reaction proceeds in a concerted fashion, a carbene intermediate is avoided. Mechanistic studies have been aimed at determining whether migration is concerted with the loss of nitrogen. The conclusion that has emerged is that a carbene is generated in photochemical reactions but that the reaction can be concerted under thermal conditions. 

A related issue is whether the carbene, when it is involved, is in equilibrium with a ring-closed isomer, an oxirene.233 This aspect of the reaction has been probed using isotopic labeling. If a symmetrical oxirene is formed, the label should be distributed to both the carbonyl and a-carbon. A concerted reaction or a carbene intermediate that did not equilibrate with the oxirene should have label only in the carbonyl carbon. The extent to which the oxirene is formed depends on the stmcture of the diazo compound. For diazoacetaldehyde, photolysis leads to only 8% migration of label, which would correspond to formation of 16% of the product through the oxirene.234... 

Kinetic analysis shows that the formation of tropone through a hydroxyphenyl-carbene intermediate (which exhibits the lowest activation energy 69.3 kcal/mol) dominates o-QM decomposition process up to 1500 K, with fulvene + CO formation becoming competitive at higher temperatures. In fact, the latter decomposition mode although disfavored by its higher activation enthalpy (75.4 versus 69.3 kcal/mol) becomes competitive due to its more positive activation entropy. 

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