Carbonyl compounds, insertion

Formation of carboxylic acids ami their derivatives. Aryl and alkenyl halides undergo Pd-catalyzed carbonylation under mild conditions, offering useful synthetic methods for carbonyl compounds. The facile CO insertion into aryl- or alkenylpalladium complexes, followed by the nucleophilic attack of alcohol or water affords esters or carboxylic acids. Aromatic and a,/ -unsaturated carboxylic acids or esters are prepared by the carbonylation of aryl and alkenyl halides in water or alcohols[30l-305]. 

Bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium 1,3-alkadiene complexes19-20 show interesting stepwise double insertion reactions to carbonyl compounds, exploration with respect to their stereochemical features has only just begun21-23. 

The stannylenes from either source will insert into the Sn- Sn, Sn-R, or Sn-H bonds of organotin compounds, and react with alkyl halides, disulfides, or peroxides as shown in the reaction scheme below, but only the stannylenes that are generated photolytically will react with carbonyl compounds, and it appears that the stannylenes may exist in two forms, perhaps related as singlet and triplet, or a com-plexed and uncomplexed species. 

Tributyltin hydride reduction of carbonyl compounds. The reduction of carbonyl compounds with metal hydrides can also proceed via an electron-transfer activation in analogy to the metal hydride insertion into TCNE.188 Such a notion is further supported by the following observations (a) the reaction rates are enhanced by light as well as heat 189 (b) the rate of the reduction depends strongly on the reduction potentials of ketones. For example, trifluoroacetophenone ( re<1 = —1.38 V versus SCE) is quantitatively reduced by Bu3SnH in propionitrile within 5 min, whereas the reduction of cyclohexanone (Erea — 2.4 V versus SCE) to cyclohexanol (under identical... 

One of the possible synthetic ways to obtain heterocyclic phosphines is the insertion of carbonyl compounds into the P—E (E = Si, Ge) bond of sila- and germa-phospholanes. Thus, the enlargement of the ring takes place and the P—C—O—E fragment is formed (9) [Eq. (7)] (74MI1 75JOMC35 77JOM35). The heterocyclic phosphepanes are obtained as a mixture of stereoisomers. 

Allyl chlorides are readily deprotonated a to the halide by strong bases to give allyl carbenoids, which insert into organozirconocene chlorides to afford allyl- or pentadienyl-zirco-nocene chlorides (Scheme 3.23). These allylmetallic species are reactive towards carbonyl compounds, and so an efficient three-component coupling results [50]. 

Insertion of carbon monoxide into Csp2—Zr bonds occurs readily at ambient temperatures or below to produce a,(5-unsaturated, reactive acyl zirconocene derivatives [27—29]. Early work by Schwartz demonstrated the potential of such intermediates in synthesis [5d], as they are highly susceptible to further conversions to a variety of carbonyl compounds depending upon manipulation. More recently, Huang has shown that HC1 converts 16 to an enal, that addition of a diaryl diselenide leads to selenoesters, and that exposure to a sulfenyl chloride gives thioesters (Scheme 4.11) [27,28]. All are obtained with (F)-stereochemistry, indicative of CO insertion with the expected retention of alkene geometry. 

The mode of reaction of titanacydobutenes with carbonyl compounds is largely dependent on steric factors (Scheme 14.31) [72]. Ketones and aldehydes tend to insert into the titanium—alkyl bond of 2,3-diphenyltitanacydobutene, and homoallylic alcohols 70 are obtained by hydrolysis of the adducts 71 [65a,73]. On the contrary, when dialkyl-substi-tuted titanacydobutenes are employed, the reaction with aldehydes preferentially proceeds through insertion into the titanium—vinyl bond. Thermal decomposition of the adducts 72 affords conjugated dienes 73 with E-stereoselectivity as a result of a concerted retro [4+2] cycloaddition [72]. 

Amino alcohols.1 The reagent reacts with a typical imine such as N-benz-ylbenzenimine to form a product that is hydrolyzed to benzylphenylamine. The precursor is presumably a metallaaziridine, which is cleaved by electrophiles with insertion into the carbon-metal bond. Reaction of the intermediate (a) with a carbonyl compound results in a 2-amino alcohol after hydrolysis with moderate anfi-selectivity. 

The reaction of phosphine (produced in situ from magnesium phosphide and hydrogen chloride in dioxan solution) with 1,5-diketones gives106 the phosphorina-none derivatives (104). Carbonyl compounds and heterocumulenes (e.g. CO2, CS2) insert into the germanium-phosphorus bond of germaphospholans to form derivatives of the germaphosphepin system [e.g. (105)].106>107... 

In addition to reactions characteristic of carbonyl compounds, Fischer-type carbene complexes undergo a series of transformations which are unique to this class of compounds. These include olefin metathesis [206,265-267] (for the use as metathesis catalysts, see Section 3.2.5.3), alkyne insertion, benzannulation and other types of cyclization reaction. Generally, in most of these reactions electron-rich substrates (e.g. ynamines, enol ethers) react more readily than electron-poor compounds. Because many preparations with this type of complex take place under mild conditions, Fischer-type carbene complexes are being increasingly used for the synthesis [268-272] and modification [103,140,148,273] of sensitive natural products. 

Cycloreversion of four-membered metallacycles is the most common method for the preparation of high-valent titanium [26,27,31,407,599-606] and zirconium [599,601] carbene complexes. These are usually very reactive, nucleophilic carbene complexes, with a strong tendency to undergo C-H insertion reactions or [2 -F 2] cycloadditions to alkenes or carbonyl compounds (see Section 3.2.3). Figure 3.31 shows examples of the generation of titanium and zirconium carbene complexes by [2 + 2] cycloreversion. 

Sarel and co-workers have examined some reactions of alkynylcyclopropanes with iron carbonyl compounds [1]. Treatment of cyclopropylacetylene (5) with iron pentacarbonyl under photolytic conditions gives, after cerium(IV) oxidation, isomeric quinones 6 and 7, derived from two molecules of 5 and two carbonyls with both cyclopropane rings intact [6]. Furthermore, the photoreaction of dicyclopropylacetylene (8) with iron carbonyl gives some ten different products depending on the reagents and the reaction conditions, and some of them have the cyclopentenone skeleton formed by the opening of cyclopropane ring coupled with carbonyl insertion [7] (Scheme 2). 

We have explored two types of carbon-carbon bond forming reactions operated under almost neutral conditions. Both reactions are initiated by the formation of an H-Rh-Si species through oxidative addition of a hydrosilane to a low-valence rhodium complex. Aldol-type three-component couphngs are followed by the insertion of an a,yS-unsatu-rated carbonyl compound into a Rh-H bond, whereas silylformylation is accomplished by the insertion of an acetylenic moiety into a Rh-Si bond. 

Heterocumulenes X=C=Y insert themselves into one and (to a lesser degree) both Si—N bonds of 1,3,2-diazasilacyclopentanes (112) with expansion of the ring, usually at — 50°C to RT. This is followed by transformation to other products generally in fair to high yields (Scheme 8). Carbonyl compounds and a diphosphetane derivative react similarly <91J0M(419)9>. 

The competition between insertion and hydrogen transfer is also crucial to the selectivity of the reaction of aluminium alkyls with carbonyl compounds. Aluminium alkyls, like organolithium compounds and Grignard reagents, can add to aldehydes and ketones to form secondary or tertiary alcohols, respectively. If the aluminium alkyl has a j -hydrogen, however, reduction of the carbonyl compound is a common side reaction, and can even become the main reaction [16]. Most authors seem to accept that reduction involves direct j5-hydrogen transfer to ketone. 

Unlike olefin insertion, the reaction of aluminium alkyls with carbonyl compounds has not been studied theoretically before. The calculated barriers for addition and j -hydrogen transfer in the system Me2AlEt -I- CH2=0 are very similar (15.4 and 14.3 kcal/mol, respectively see Table 1), in accord with the close competition between the two reaction types observed experimentally. 

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