Carbon-halogen bond activation

In a general sense, the Reformatsky reaction can be taken as subsuming all enolate formations by oxidative addition of a metal or a low-valent metal salt into a carbon-halogen bond activated by a vicinal carbonyl group, followed by reaction of the enolates thus formed with an appropriate electrophile (Scheme 14.1).1-3 The insertion of metallic zinc into a-haloesters is the historically first and still most widely used form of this process,4 to which this chapter is confined. It is the mode of enolate formation that distinguishes the Reformatsky reaction from other fields of metal enolate chemistry. 

Chen et al. [20], for example, reported on chelation-assisted reactions in an article entitled Chelation-Assisted Carbon-Halogen Bond Activation by a Rhodium(I) Complex in 2009. These reactions proceed by C-Br bond activation via an oxidative addition mechanism. They take place in reactions of [Rh(PPh3)2(acetone)2] PFg" with 2-(2-bromophenyl)pyridine at room temperature to give the cyclometa-lated rhodium bromide shown in Eq. (6.4). 

Scheme 6.3 Easy cyclometalation reactions with a benzylamine proceed via agostic interaction as shown in agostic intermediate 6.6 Equation (6.4) Chelation-Assisted Carbon-Halogen Bond Activation by a Rhodium(I) Complex ...

After having observed that the most active ruthenium-based catalyst systems for olefin metathesis also displayed a high efficiency in atom transfer radical polymerisation, we then became interested in comparing the role of the catalyst in those two different reaction pathways. Ruthenium alkylidene complexes 4-6 are unsaturated 16-electron species which formally allow carbon-halogen bond activation to form a 17-electron ruthenium(III) intermediate. Our preliminary results indicate that polymerisations occur through a pathway in which both tricyclohexylphosphine and/or imidazolin-2-ylidene ligands remain bound to the metal centre. 

Catalytic carbon-halogen bond activation with nickel carbene complexes... 

De Jong GT, Bickelhaupt FM (2007) Catal5dic carbon-halogen bond activation trends in reactivity, selectivity, and solvation. J Chem Theory Comput 3 514... 

Ketene Insertions. Ketenes insert into strongly polarized or polarizable single bonds, such as reactive carbon—halogen bonds, giving acid hahdes (7) and into active acid haUdes giving haUdes of p-ketoacids (8) (46). Phosgene [77-44-5] (47) and thiophosgene [463-71-8] (48) also react with ketenes. 

The activated nickel powder is easily prepared by stirring a 1 2.3 mixture of NiL and lithium metal under argon with a catalytic amount of naphthalene (1(7 mole % based on nickel halide) at room temperature for 12 h in DME. The resulting black slurry slowly settles after stirring is stopped and the solvent can be removed via cannula if desired. Washing with fresh DME will remove the naphthalene as well as most of the lithium salts. For most of the nickel chemistry described below, these substances did not affect the reactions and hence they were not removed. The activated nickel slurries were found to undergo oxidative addition with a wide variety of aryl, vinyl, and many alkyl carbon halogen bonds. 

Cobalt represents an interesting contrast to the many activated metal powders generated by reduction of metal salts. As will be seen, the cobalt powders are highly reactive with regard to several different types of reactions. However, in contrast to the vast majority of metals studied to date, it shows limited reactivity toward oxidative addition with carbon halogen bonds. 

In marked contrast to the majority of activated metals prepared by the reduction process, cobalt showed limited reactivity toward oxidative addition with carbon halogen bonds. Iodopentafluorobenzene reacted with 2 to give the solvated oxidative addition products CoL and Co(C,F5)2 or Co(C F )L The compound CoiOJF 2PEt, was isolated in 54% yield by addition of triethylphosphine to tne solvated materials. This compound was also prepared in comparable yield from 1 by a similar procedure. This compound had previously been prepared by the reaction of cobalt atom vapor with C6F5I(81). 

Vinylic halides are virtually unreactive and a high selectivity is to be found in the preferential cleavage of aliphatic carbon-halogen bonds of haloalkanoic amides and esters, and of nitro- and cyanoaryl derivatives. Activated haloarenes, e.g. 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, however, give a complex mixture of products [7]. 

In this part of the chapter, the discussion is focused on the direct cathodic reduction of halogenated organic compounds, although the last section will address the increasingly active area of catalytic reductions of carbon-halogen bonds. 

Mann and Barnes [45] have discussed the mechanism of reduction of substituted and optically active 1-bromo-and 1-iodocyclopropanes, and Hazard and coworkers [46] have investigated the reduction of l-bromo-l-carboxy-2,2-diphenyl-cyclopropane. At mercury cathodes, electrolyses of 1-bromo- and 1-iodonorbornane proceed via two-electron cleavage of the carbon-halogen bond to give mainly nor-bomane, plus a small amount of bis(l-norbomyl)mercury [47]. 

Apart from the carbon-halogen bond, the carbon-oxygen one is rather active toward the reductive cleavage due to its polarity, so different types of compounds bearing a carbon-oxygen bond are able to undergo this reaction. 

Addition across carbon—halogen bonds. Alkyl iodides48,62,65,109 "3,114 and also activated bromides48,65,107 "3,115 (e.g. methyl bromoacetate) react with la thermally62 or under UV irradiation to give 1,3-disubstituted bicyclo[l. 1. l]pentanes when the reaction is performed in diethyl ether, and the insertion of a single bicyclo[l. 1. l]pentane cage can be viewed as the standard reaction pattern. 

Elimination reactions can also occur when a carbon halogen bond does not completely ionize, but merely becomes polarized. As with the El reactions, E2 mechanisms occur when the attacking group displays its basic characteristics rather than its nucleophilic property. The activated complex for this mechanism contains both the alkyl halide and the alkoxide ion. 

Processes (b) and (c) are limited by diffusion and heat removal. The activation energies of these processes are low. Process (a) involves common chemical reactions and is improbable at low temperatures ( 80 K). Indeed, as already mentioned, only the most active organic halides with weakened carbon-halogen bonds react with magnesium immediately in the course of condensation. Therefore, only the aggregation and stabilization processes are actually important. Let us consider them in the light of quantum-chemical calculations. 

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