Carbenes, addition reaction, stereoselectivity

Because the additions are normally stereospecific with respect to the alkene, if an open-chain intermediate is involved, it must collapse to product at a rate more rapid than that of single-bond rotations, which would destroy the stereoselectivity. Entries 5-10 in Scheme 10.5 are examples of transition-metal-catalyzed carbene addition reactions. 

The best known of metal carbene reactions, cydopropanation reactions, have been used since the earliest days of diazo chemistry for addition reactions to the carbon-carbon double bond. Electron-donating groups (EDG) on the carbon-carbon double bond facilitate this catalytic reaction [37], whereas electron-withdrawing groups (EWG) inhibit addition while facilitating noncatalytic dipolar cycloaddition of the diazo compound [39] (Scheme 5). There are several reviews that describe the earlier synthetic approaches [1, 2,4, 5,40-43], and these will not be duplicated here. Focus will be given in this review to control of stereoselectivity. 

Some organic reactions can be accomplished by using two-layer systems in which phase-transfer catalysts play an important role (34). The phase-transfer reaction proceeds via ion pairs, and asymmetric induction is expected to emerge when chiral quaternary ammonium salts are used. The ion-pair interaction, however, is usually not strong enough to control the absolute stereochemistry of the reaction (35). Numerous trials have resulted in low or only moderate stereoselectivity, probably because of the loose orientation of the ion-paired intermediates or transition states. These reactions include, but are not limited to, carbene addition to alkenes, reaction of sulfur ylides and aldehydes, nucleophilic substitution of secondary alkyl halides, Darzens reaction, chlorination... 

Rearrangements to a carbene site or intramolecular insertion or addition reactions by a carbene may be stereoselective. The distribution... 

The four-coordinate sqnare planar iron(n) porphyrins discussed above are not only of great valne in heme protein model chemistry, but also in chemical applications, since they undergo a wealth of ligand addition reactions. For example it has been shown that TPPFe complexes are active catalysts for important carbon transfer reactions in organic chemistry and are found to catalyze the stereoselective cyclopropanation of aUcenes, olefin formation from diazoalkanes, and the efficient and selective olefination of aldehydes and other carbonyl compounds. The active species in these carbon transfer reactions are presumably iron porphyrin carbene complexes. " It was also found that ferrous hemin anchored to Ti02 thin films reduce organic halides, which can pose serious health problems and are of considerable environmental concern because of their prevalence in groundwater. ... 

Fischer chromium and molybdenum carbene complexes also react with unactivated 1,3-dienes, to give mono adducts of butyl(methoxy) carbene in high yields. The best results were achieved when ca, 25% excess of carbene precursor was used. The high regio-, chemo- and stereoselectivity of carbene addition were observed in these reactions. 

A similar type of chiral rhodium porphyrin was found to be effective for the carbene-insertion reaction to olefins, where formation of the carbene complex takes place. Chiral rhodium complexes for catalytic stereoselective-carbene addition to olefins were prepared by condensation of a chiral aldehyde and pyrrole. Formation of the metal-carbene complex and substrate access to the catalytic center are crucial to the production of optically active cyclopropane derivatives. Optically active a-methoxy-a-(trifluoro-methyOphenylacetyl groups are linked witfi the amino groups of a,p,0L,p isomers of tetrakis-(2-aminophenyI)por-phyrin through amide bonds. Oxidation reactions of the... 

Carbene addition to olefinic linkages to form cyclopropanes also shows stereoselectivity (32). The cis compounds are the principal or exclusive adducts when X = alkyl, aryl, halo, alkylthio, or alkylseleno group, while the trans adducts are formed preferentially when X = trimethylsilyl, alkoxy-carbonyl, or aryloxy. It is clear that carbenes containing a soft substituent X prefer the reaction path leading to products in which X and alkyl R are closer, and the opposite is true when X is hard. 

The fruitful relationship between experiment and theory has pushed carbene chemistry further toward the direction of reaction control that is, regio- and stereoselectivity in intra- and intermolecular addition and insertion reactions. The interplay between experiment and modem spectroscopy has led to the characterization of many carbenes that are crucial to both an understanding and further development of this held. 

The carbene-bound alkyl groups are acidic pX [(CO)5Cr=C(OMe)Me in H2O] 12.3 and can be easily deprotonated and alkylated [45,211,212] or acylated [213] (Figure 2.16). Stereoselective aldol-type additions can be realized with the aid of Fischer-type alkylcarbene complexes [214-216]. In these reactions the metallic fragment can either play the role of a bulky carbonyl group or stabilize a given conformation of the substrate by chelate formation [216,217]. 

The normal byproducts formed during the transition metal-catalyzed decomposition of diazoalkanes are carbene dimers and azines [496,1023,1329], These products result from the reaction of carbene complexes with the carbene precursor. Their formation can be suppressed by slow addition (e.g. with a syringe motor) of a dilute solution of the diazo compound to the mixture of substrate and catalyst. Carbene dimerization can, however, also be a synthetically useful process. If, e.g., diazoacetone is treated with 0.1% RuClCpIPPhjij at 65 °C in toluene, cw-3-hexene-2,5-dione is obtained in 81% yield with high stereoselectivity [1038]. 

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