Carbon, as electrophile

The methylidene complex forms crystalline, analytically pure adducts with pyridine and phosphines, as shown in Figure 12. These reactions establish the methylidene carbon as electrophilic. Relevant to a future mechanistic point, no reaction was observed between 8 and dimethyl ether. 

Although the majority of allylic etherification reactions have primarily utilized allylic carboxylates or carbonates as electrophiles (and occasionally allylic chlorides), the use of allylic alcohols for this transformation would be more desirable from a practical standpoint. Reported strategies involving Pd catalysis include the use of P(OPh)3 as the ligand197 and Ti(OPf)4198 as an additive for the in situ activation of the hydoxyl group (Equation (49)).199... 

Stabilized carbon nucleophiles under neutral conditions. The formation of an eight-membered ring instead of the also possible six-membered ring is remarkable (Scheme 12). The polycyclic skeleton of gelsemium-type alkaloid family has been prepared by an intramolecular allylation using allyl carbonate as electrophilic reagent. ... 

The use of oximes as nucleophiles can be quite perplexing in view of the fact that nitrogen or oxygen may react. Alkylation of hydroxylamines can therefore be a very complex process which is largely dependent on the steric factors associated with the educts. Reproducible and predictable results are obtained in intramolecular reactions between oximes and electrophilic carbon atoms. Amides, halides, nitriles, and ketones have been used as electrophiles, and various heterocycles such as quinazoline N-oxide, benzodiayepines, and isoxazoles have been obtained in excellent yields under appropriate reaction conditions. 

The electrophilic site of an acyl cation is its acyl carbon An electrostatic poten tial map of the acyl cation from propanoyl chloride (Figure 12 8) illustrates nicely the concentration of positive charge at the acyl carbon as shown by the blue color The mechanism of the reaction between this cation and benzene is analogous to that of other electrophilic reagents (Figure 12 9)... 

Enamines have a three-atom tt system and are thus in principle capable of reaction with an electrophile on nitrogen or on carbon as shown by the mesomeric forms (1) and (2),... 

In addition to electrophilic attack on the pyrrole ring in indole, there is the possibility for additions to the fused benzene ring. First examine the highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of indole. Which atoms contribute the most What should be the favored position for electrophilic attack Next, compare the energies of the various protonated forms of indole (C protonated only). These serve as models for adducts formed upon electrophilic addition. Which carbon on the pyrrole ring (C2 or C3) is favored for protonation Is this the same as the preference in pyrrole itself (see Chapter 15, Problem 2)1 If not, try to explain why not. Which of the carbons on the benzene ring is most susceptible to protonation Rationalize your result based on what you know about the reactivity of substituted benzenes toward electrophiles. Are any of the benzene carbons as reactive as the most reactive pyrrole carbon Explain. 

Inspection of the three cations shows that (13) and (14) would be expected to be quito active as electrophilic reagents by reason of delocalization of the positive charge by mesomerism leading to the transfer of electrophilic character to the carbon atom. Cation (12), on the other hand, would show electrophilic reactivity at carbon only by induction. Since neutral pyrrole is so susceptible to electrophilic attack, it is extremely likely that it would react with one or other of the three cations. 

The initial step is the protonation of the aldehyde—e.g. formaldehyde—at the carbonyl oxygen. The hydroxycarbenium ion 6 is thus formed as reactive species, which reacts as electrophile with the carbon-carbon double bond of the olefinic substrate by formation of a carbenium ion species 7. A subsequent loss of a proton from 7 leads to formation of an allylic alcohol 4, while reaction with water, followed by loss of a proton, leads to formation of a 1,3-diol 3 " ... 

The reaction begins with an attack on the electrophile, HBr, by the electrons of the nucleophilic tt bond. Two electrons from the 7t bond form a new u bond between the entering hydrogen and an alkene carbon, as shown by the curved arrow at the top of Figure 6.7. The carbocation intermediate that results is itself an electrophile, which can accept an electron pair from nucleophilic Br ion to form a C Brbond and yield a neutral addition product. 

Yet another kind of alkene addition is the reaction of a carbene with an alkene to yield a cyclopropane. A carbene, R2C , is a neutral molecule containing a divalent carbon with only six electrons in its valence shell. It is therefore highly reactive and is generated only as a reaction intermediate, rather than as an isolable molecule. Because they re electron-deficient, carbenes behave as electrophiles and react with nucieophiiic C=C bonds. The reaction occurs in a single step without intermediates. 

Alkyl halides contain a halogen bonded to a saturated, sp3-hybridized carbon atom. The C-X bond is polar, and alkyl halides can therefore behave as electrophiles. 

Just the reverse trend characterizes fc2. This reaction is aided by electron donation to the carbonyl carbon, as would be expected if the mechanism consists of electrophilic addition of the proton to the OH group. The reaction constant is p = -1.74. 

Deprotonation of allylic aryl sulfoxides leads to allylic carbanions which react with aldehyde electrophiles at the carbon atom a and also y to sulfur . With benzaldehyde at — 10 °C y-alkylation predominates , whereas with aliphatic aldehydes at — 78 °C in the presence of HMPA a-alkylation predominates . When the a-alkylated products, which themselves are allylic sulfoxides, undergo 2,3-sigmatropic rearrangement, the rearranged compounds (i.e., allylic sulfenate esters) can be trapped with thiophiles to produce overall ( )-l,4-dihydroxyalkenes (equation 24). When a-substituted aldehydes are used as electrophiles, formation of syn-diols 27 occurs in 40-67% yields with diastereoselectivities ranging from 2-28 1 (equation 24) . ... 

Amouri and coworkers also demonstrated that the nucleophilic reactivity of the exocyclic carbon of Cp Ir(T 4-QM) complex 24 could be utilized to form carbon -carbon bonds with electron-poor alkenes and alkynes serving as electrophiles or cycloaddition partners (Scheme 3.17).29 For example, when complex 24 was treated with the electron-poor methyl propynoate, a new o-quinone methide complex 28 was formed. The authors suggest that the reaction could be initiated by nucleophilic attack of the terminal carbon of the exocyclic methylene group on the terminal carbon of the alkyne, generating a zwitterionic oxo-dienyl intermediate, followed by proton transfer... 

Methylation of relatively acidic (pKa < 13) carbon nucleophiles occurs at neutral pH in aqueous media when substituted methylsul-fonium and -selenonium salt are used as electrophiles (e.g., 6.2).37... 

Complex 169 is very susceptible to electrophilic attack, as shown in Scheme 32. The protonation of 169 with PyHCl gave back 166. In this reaction, the assistance of one of the oxygens as the primary site of the protonation cannot be excluded. The alkylation with MeOTf, unlike in the case of 161 (see Scheme 29),22 occurs at the alkylidene carbon as well, forming the 2,3-dimethyl-2-butene-W derivative 167, which was obtained also by the direct synthesis given in Scheme 31. 

Another example where PEG played the role of polymeric support, solvent, and PTC was presented by the group of Lamaty [72]. In this study, a Schiff base-proteded glycine was reacted with various electrophiles (RX) under microwave irradiation. No additional solvent was necessary to perform these reactions and the best results were obtained using cesium carbonate as an inorganic base (Scheme 7.64). After alkylation, the corresponding aminoesters were released from the polymer support by transesterification employing methanol in the presence of triethylamine. 

Why are transition metals well suited for catalysis of this process Certainly the electrophilicity of cationic metal centers is important, as is the relative weakness of transition-metal-carbon bonds. However, similar electrophilicities and bond strengths could be found among main-group cations as well. A key to the effectiveness of Ti catalysts is the presence of two metal-based acceptor orbitals. In effect, two such orbitals are needed to choreograph the reversal of net charge flow at the two alkene carbons as the intermediate alkene complex moves through the transition state toward the final product. 

Figure 15.2 Reaction mechanism of urease. Ni 1 binds urea and acts as a Lewis acid to polarise the carbonyl group, making its carbon more electrophilic, while Ni 2 facilitates deprotonation of a bound water molecule to generate a nucleophilic hydroxyl species. (From Ragsdale, 1998. Copyright 1998, with permission from Elsevier.)...

With electrophiles such as hydrogen halides, perfluoropropadiene affords products with the central carbon atom of the allene moiety being protonated [57]. Although HX are normally considered as electrophiles, these reactions with tetrafluoropropa-diene may be nucleophilic in nature [57]. 

In a recent publication, Schafer and coworkers point out the utility of the electrode as a reagent which is effective in promoting bond formation between functional groups of the same reactivity or polarity [1]. They accurately note that reduction at a cathode, or oxidation at an anode, renders electron-poor sites rich, and electron-rich sites poor. For example, reduction of an a, -un-saturated ketone leads to a radical anion where the )g-carbon possesses nucleophilic rather than electrophilic character. Similarly, oxidation of an enol ether affords a radical cation wherein the jS-carbon displays electrophilic, rather than its usual nucleophilic behavior [2]. This reactivity-profile reversal clearly provides many opportunities for the formation of new bonds between sites formally possessing the same polarity, provided only one of the two groups is reduced or oxidized. Electrochemistry provides an ideal solution to the issue of selectivity, given that a controlled potential reduction or oxidation is readily achieved using an inexpensive potentiostat. 

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