Carbenes reaction with nitriles

The Reaction of Titanium Carbene Complexes with Nitriles... 

Trifluoromethyl-substituted diazonium betaines [176]. Synthetic routes to trifluoromethyl-substituted diazo alkanes, such as 2,2,2-trifluorodiazoethane [177,178, 179] and alkyl 3,3,3-trifluoro-2-diazopropionates [24], have been developed Rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of 3,3,3-tnfluoro-2-diazopropionates offers a simple preparative route to highly reactive carbene complexes, which have an enormous synthetic potential [24] [3+2] Cycloaddition reactions were observed on reaction with nitriles to give 5-alkoxy-4-tnfluoromethyloxazoles [180] (equation 41)... 

The potential of laser flash photolysis in the study of carbene reactions with heteroatoms has come to be recognized in recent years. A number of kinetic studies using this technique have been carried out with carbene precursors in nitrile solvents.122-127 An absorption band at 470 nm was observed in the laser flash photolysis of diazofluorene (246) in inert solvents. This band was assigned to triplet fluorenylidene (247). In acetonitrile, however, a second band was also detected at 400 nm and whose buildup is concurrent with the decay at 470 nm.122 Laser flash experiments in other nitrile solvents (i.e., benzonitrile and pivalonitrile) also produced a transient absorption band which is very similar to that observed in acetonitrile. The band at 400 nm was assigned to an intermediate nitrile ylide (248). This absorption could be quenched on addition of an electron-deficient olefin providing good support for its... 

More recently, Zibinsky and Fokin obtained synthetically useful Rh (11) carbenes from7V-(l,2,4-triazolyl)-substituted 1,2,3-triazoles and Rh(II) carboxylates [45], The resulting carbenes provided ready asymmetric access to secondary homoaminocy-clopropanes 68 (80-95% ee, dr >20 1) via reactions with olefins and also engaged in efficient transannulation reactions with nitriles (Scheme 5.47). 

Kitatani et al. found that tungsten(VI) chloride would catalyse the formation of a range of oxazoles from benzoyl(phenyl)diazomethane and nitriles (Scheme 17).<74TL1531, 77BCJ1647> The reaction with acetonitrile was studied with a range of other metal chlorides, but all proved less satisfactory than WCle. They attributed the catalytic nature of tungsten(Vl) chloride to both its Lewis acidity and the affinity of tungsten for carbenes. 

Pyridine compounds 45 can also be produced by the NHC-Ni catalysed cycloaddition between nitriles 43 and diynes 44 (Scheme 5.13) [16]. The SIPr carbene was found to be the best ligand for the nickel complex in this reaction. The reaction required mild reaction conditions and low catalyst loadings, as in the case of cycloaddition of carbon dioxide. In addition to tethered aUcynes (i.e. diynes), pyridines were prepared from a 3-component coupling reaction with 43 and 3-hexyne 23 (Scheme 5.13). The reaction of diynes 44 and nitriles 43 was also catalysed by a combination of [Ni(COD)J, NHC salts and "BuLi, which generates the NHC-Ni catalyst in situ. The pyridines 45 were obtained with comparable... 

B. Preparation of Vinyl Sulfides by the Reaction of (Phenylthio)carbenes with Nitrile Anions... 

Since the hybridization and structure of the nitrile group resemble those of alkynes, titanium carbene complexes react with nitriles in a similar fashion. Titanocene-methylidene generated from titanacyclobutane or dimethyltitanocene reacts with two equivalents of a nitrile to form a 1,3-diazatitanacyclohexadiene 81. Hydrolysis of 81 affords p-ketoena-mines 82 or 4-amino-l-azadienes 83 (Scheme 14.35) [65,78]. The formation of the azati-tanacyclobutene by the reaction of methylidene/zinc halide complex with benzonitrile has also been studied [44]. 

The potential synthetic utility of titanium-based olefin metathesis and related reactions is evident from the extensive documentation outlined above. Titanium carbene complexes react with organic molecules possessing a carbon—carbon or carbon—oxygen double bond to produce, as metathesis products, a variety of acyclic and cyclic unsaturated compounds. Furthermore, the four-membered titanacydes formed by the reactions of the carbene complexes with alkynes or nitriles serve as useful reagents for the preparation of functionalized compounds. Since various types of titanium carbene complexes and their equivalents are now readily available, these reactions constitute convenient tools available to synthetic chemists. 

Cyclodditions to Carbon-Heteroatom Triple Bonds. Transient electrophilic carbenes are known to react with nitriles to give transient46 or even stable nitrile ylides 30.47 No reaction of transient nucleophilic carbenes with nitriles has been reported. 

Decarboxylation of 1,3-dimethylorotic acid in the presence of benzyl bromide yields 6-benzyl-1,3-dimethyluracil and presumably involves a C(6) centered nucleophilic intermediate which could nonetheless have either a carbene or ylide structure. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry has been used to explore the gas-phase reactions of methyl nitrate with anions from active methylene compounds anions of aliphatic ketones and nitriles react by the 5n2 mechanism and Fco reactions yielding N02 ions are also observed nitronate ions are formed on reaction with the carbanions derived from toluenes and methylpyridines. 

The direct assembly of nitrile ylides by the reaction of carbenes (e.g., 84) with nitriles has, in principle, great potential for structural variation as both components are easily accessible. The first reports of such reactions appeared in the early 1980s and were concerned with the reaction of nitriles with stabilized carbenes such as 84 and 86 (41 3). 

Confirmation was provided by the observation that the species produced by the photolysis of two different carbene sources (88 and 89) in acetonitrile and by photolysis of the azirine 92 all had the same strong absorption band at 390 nm and all reacted with acrylonitrile at the same rate (fc=4.6 x 10 Af s" ). Rate constants were also measured for its reaction with a range of substituted alkenes, methanol and ferf-butanol. Laser flash photolysis work on the photolysis of 9-diazothioxan-threne in acetonitrile also produced a new band attributed the nitrile ylide 87 (47). The first alkyl-substituted example, acetonitrilio methylide (95), was produced in a similar way by the photolysis of diazomethane or diazirine in acetonitrile (20,21). This species showed a strong absorption at 280 nm and was trapped with a variety of electron-deficient olefinic and acetylenic dipolarophiles to give the expected cycloadducts (e.g., 96 and 97) in high yields. When diazomethane was used as the precursor, the reaction was carried out at —40 °C to minimize the rate of its cycloaddition to the dipolarophile. In the reactions with unsymmetrical dipolarophiles such as acrylonitrile, methyl acrylate, or methyl propiolate, the ratio of regioisomers was found to be 1 1. 

Extensive studies on diastereoselectivity in the reactions of 1,3-dipoles such as nitrile oxides and nitrones have been carried out over the last 10 years. In contrast, very little work was done on the reactions of nitrile imines with chiral alkenes until the end of the 1990s and very few enantiomerically pure nitrile imines were generated. The greatest degree of selectivity so far has been achieved in cycloadditions to the Fischer chromium carbene complexes (201) to give, initially, the pyrazohne complexes 202 and 203 (111,112). These products proved to be rather unstable and were oxidized in situ with pyridine N-oxide to give predominantly the (4R,5S) product 204 in moderate yield (35-73%). 

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