Conjugated alkenes 1.3- butadiene

Copper-catalyzed monoaddition of hydrogen cyanide to conjugated alkenes proceeded very conveniently with 1,3-butadiene, but not with its methyl-substituted derivatives. The most efficient catalytic system consisted of cupric bromide associated to trichloroacetic acid, in acetonitrile at 79 °C. Under these conditions, 1,3-butadiene was converted mainly to (Z )-l-cyano-2-butene, in 68% yield. A few percents of (Z)-l-cyano-2-butene and 3-cyano-1-butene (3% and 4%, respectively) were also observed. Polymerization of the olefinic products was almost absent. The very high regioselectivity in favor of 1,4-addition of hydrogen cyanide contrasted markedly with the very low regioselectivity of acetic acid addition (vide supra). Methyl substituents on 1,3-butadiene decreased significantly the efficiency of the reaction. With isoprene and piperylene, the mononitrile yields were reduced... 

A systematic examination of the transition structures for the peroxyformic acid epoxidation at various levels of theory confirms the above suggestion that the MP2 method does provide adequate geometries for a conjugated carbon-carbon double bond in 1,3-butadiene (Figure 23). However, the inverse KIEs measured by HanzUk and Shearer " for 4-vinylbiphenyl are specific to conjugated alkenes and should not be used as evidence of an asynchronous epoxidation TS for simple nonconjugated aUcenes. ... 

The delocalisation also increases stability. However, the conjugation in a conjugated alkene is not as great as in the aromatic system. In the latter system, the n electrons are completely delocalised round the ring and all the bonds are equal in length. In 1,3-butadiene, the n electrons are not fully delocalised and are more likely to be found in the terminal C-C bonds. Although there is a certain amount of n character in the middle bond, the latter is more like a single bond than a double bond. 

A wide variety of unsaturated substance can be hydroformylated by cobalt or rhodium catalysts but conjugated alkenes (e.g., butadiene) may give a number of products including hydrogenated monoaldehydes. The mechanism is different, since addition of M H to dienes leads to alicyclic species which may be present as a-bonded intermediate or as h3allyls. 

Electronic absorption bands for conjugated alkynes are also shifted to lower energy however, the molar absorptivity is much lower than for the conjugated alkenes. As an example, vinylacetylene, CH2=CH-C CH, exhibits an absorption band near that of 1,3-butadiene (A = 219 nm) however, its molar absorptivity is only 6500 compared to 21,000 for 1,3-butadiene. 

These are not true cis and trans forms since the s-cis and s-trans conformations of 1,3-butadiene can be interconverted through rotation about the single bond (hence the prefix s). The s-trans conformation is the predominant one at room temperature. We shall see that the s-cis conformation of 1,3-butadiene and other 1,3-conjugated alkenes is necessary for the Diels-Alder reaction (Section 13.10). 

Migration of a hydride ligand from Pd to a coordinated alkene (insertion of alkene) to form an alkyl ligand (alkylpalladium complex) (12) is a typical example of the a, /(-insertion of alkenes. In addition, many other un.saturated bonds such as in conjugated dienes, alkynes, CO2, and carbonyl groups, undergo the q, /(-insertion to Pd-X cr-bonds. The insertion of an internal alkyne to the Pd—C bond to form 13 can be understood as the c -carbopa-lladation of the alkyne. The insertion of butadiene into a Ph—Pd bond leads to the rr-allylpalladium complex 14. The insertion is usually highly stereospecific. 

It is possible to prepare 1-acetoxy-4-chloro-2-alkenes from conjugated dienes with high selectivity. In the presence of stoichiometric amounts of LiOAc and LiCl, l-acetoxy-4-chloro-2-hutene (358) is obtained from butadiene[307], and cw-l-acetoxy-4-chloro-2-cyclohexene (360) is obtained from 1.3-cyclohexa-diene with 99% selectivity[308]. Neither the 1.4-dichloride nor 1.4-diacetate is formed. Good stereocontrol is also observed with acyclic diene.s[309]. The chloride and acetoxy groups have different reactivities. The Pd-catalyzed selective displacement of the chloride in 358 with diethylamine gives 359 without attacking allylic acetate, and the chloride in 360 is displaced with malonate with retention of the stereochemistry to give 361, while the uncatalyzed reaction affords the inversion product 362. 

The Diels-Alder reaction,is a cycloaddition reaction of a conjugated diene with a double or triple bond (the dienophile) it is one of the most important reactions in organic chemistry. For instance an electron-rich diene 1 reacts with an electron-poor dienophile 2 (e.g. an alkene bearing an electron-withdrawing substituent Z) to yield the unsaturated six-membered ring product 3. An illustrative example is the reaction of butadiene 1 with maleic anhydride 4 ... 

Because a monosubstituted alkene has a AT/Ohyc rog of approximately -126 kj/mol, we might expect that a compound with two monosubstituted double bonds would have a Af/0hyjrog approximately twice that value, or -252 kj/mol. Nonconjugated dienes, such as 1,4-pentadiene (AH°hydrog = —253 kj/mol), meet this expectation, but the conjugated diene 1,3-butadiene (AT/°hydr0g = -236 kj/mol) does not. 1,3-Butadiene is approximately 16 kj/mol (3.8 kcal/mol) more stable than expected. 

Perhaps the most striking difference between conjugated and nonconjugated dienes is that conjugated dienes undergo an addition reaction with alkenes to yield substituted cyclohexene products. For example, 1,3-butadiene and 3-buten-2-one give 3-cycIohexenyl methyl ketone. 

Conjugated dienes can be dimerized or trimerized at their 1,4 positions (formally, [4 4- 4] and [4 4-4 4-4] cycloadditions) by treatment with certain complexes or other transition metal compounds. " Thus butadiene gives 1,5-cyclooctadiene and 1,5,9-cyclododecatriene. " The relative amount of each product can be controlled by use of the proper catalyst. For example, Ni P(OC6H4—o-Ph)3 gives predominant dimerization, while Ni(cyclooctadiene)2 gives mostly trimerization. The products arise, not by direct 1,4 to 1,4 attack, but by stepwise mechanisms involving metal-alkene complexes. " ... 

Bis(diamino)alanes (R2N)2A1H were used for the hydroalumination of terminal and internal alkenes [18, 19]. TiCb and CpjTiCb are suitable catalysts for these reactions, whereas CpjZrCb exhibits low catalytic activity. The hydroaluminations are carried out in benzene or THF soluhon at elevated temperatures (60°C). Internal linear cis- and trans-alkenes are converted into n-alkylalanes via an isomerization process. Cycloalkenes give only moderate yields tri- and tetrasubstituted double bonds are inert. Hydroaluminahon of conjugated dienes like butadiene and 1,3-hexa-diene proceeds with only poor selechvity. The structure of the hydroaluminahon product of 1,5-hexadiene depends on the solvent used. While in benzene cyclization is observed, the reaction carried out in THF yields linear products (Scheme 2-10). 

The hydrosilation of butadiene, isoprene and other simple conjugated dienes with platinum catalysts has not been intensively studied. It usually occurs by 1,4 addition and only at elevated temperatures (10). Although palladium catalysts are practically ineffective to hydrosilate an alkene, they are very active under mild conditions with conjugated dienes to give two principal products, sometimes in 100% yields. With triethoxy silane, butadiene, and PdCl2(PhC=N)2 (5.5 x 103 moles/mole) at 22°C for 24... 

The addition of a hydrogen halide, such as HBr, is an important addition reaction for alkenes often seen in Organic Chemistry 1. However, conjugated dienes may behave differently. An example is the reaction of HBr with 1,3-butadiene as illustrated in Figure 4-11. 

Many substituents stabilize the monomer but have no appreciable effect on polymer stability, since resonance is only possible with the former. The net effect is to decrease the exothermicity of the polymerization. Thus hyperconjugation of alkyl groups with the C=C lowers AH for propylene and 1-butene polymerizations. Conjugation of the C=C with substituents such as the benzene ring (styrene and a-methylstyrene), and alkene double bond (butadiene and isoprene), the carbonyl linkage (acrylic acid, methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate), and the nitrile group (acrylonitrile) similarly leads to stabilization of the monomer and decreases enthalpies of polymerization. When the substituent is poorly conjugating as in vinyl acetate, the AH is close to the value for ethylene. 

With conjugated dienes, photocycloaddition of carbonyl compounds occurs at one of the double bonds to give vinyloxetanes. An interesting example is the reaction of acetone with 2-methyl-l,3-butadiene, which gave the two oxetanes (60) and (61) in a ratio of 3 1 and a total yield of about 20% (72JA8761). Other alkenes which have been used for photosynthesis of oxetanes include enol ethers, ketene acetals, enamines, allenes and diketene, with the reaction of the last compound with benzaldehyde illustrated in equation (105) (75CPB365). 

Problem 8.36 Write initiation and propagation steps in radical-catalyzed addition of BrCCl, to 1,3-butadiene and show how the structure of the intermediate accounts for a) greater reactivity of conjugated dienes than alkenes, (f>) orientation in addition. 

The Diels-Alder reaction is one of the most important carbon-carbon bond forming reactions,521 522 which is particularly useful in the synthesis of natural products. Examples of practical significance of the cycloaddition of hydrocarbons, however, are also known. Discovered in 1928 by Diels and Alder,523 it is a reaction between a conjugated diene and a dienophile (alkene, alkyne) to form a six-membered carbo-cyclic ring. The Diels-Alder reaction is a reversible, thermally allowed pericyclic transformation or, according to the Woodward-Hoffmann nomenclature,524 a [4 + 2]-cycloaddition. The prototype reaction is the transformation between 1,3-butadiene and ethylene to give cyclohexene ... 

The first results of anionic polymerization (the polymerization of 1,3-butadiene and isoprene induced by sodium and potassium) appeared in the literature in the early twentieth century.168,169 It was not until the pioneering work of Ziegler170 and Szwarc,171 however, that the real nature of the reaction was understood. Styrene derivatives and conjugated dienes are the most suitable unsaturated hydrocarbons for anionic polymerization. They are sufficiently electrophilic toward carbanionic centers and able to form stable carbanions on initiation. Simple alkenes (ethylene, propylene) do not undergo anionic polymerization and form only oligomers. Initiation is achieved by nucleophilic addition of organometallic compounds or via electron transfer reactions. Hydrocarbons (cylohexane, benzene) and ethers (diethyl ether, THF) are usually applied as the solvent in anionic polymerizations. 

The mechanism of coordination polymerization of 1,3-butadiene and, in general, that of conjugated dienes follows the same pathway discussed for alkene polymerization that is, monomer insertion into the transition metal-carbon bond of the growing polymer chain occurs. One important difference, however, was recognized very early.47,378,379 In the polymerization of dienes the growing chain end is tt-allyl complexed to the transition metal ... 

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