Copper alkene dimerization

Among the methods at hand to synthesize cyclopropane derivatives, carbene addition to alkenes plays a prominent role 63). As a source of vinylcarbenes, cyclopropenes might be useful in this kind of approach. In 1963, Stechl was the first to observe a transition metal catalyzed cyclopropene-vinylcarbene rearrangement64). When treating 1,3,3-trimethylcyclopropene with copper salts, dimerization occurred to give 2,3,6,7-tetramethyl-octa-2,4,6-triene (9), the product from a formal recombination of the corresponding vinylcarbene (Eq. 8). 

The catalytic asymmetric cyclopropanation of an alkene, a reaction which was studied as early as 1966 by Nozaki and Noyori,63 is used in a commercial synthesis of ethyl (+)-(lS)-2,2-dimethylcyclo-propanecarboxylate (18) by the Sumitomo Chemical Company (see Scheme 5).64 In Aratani s Sumitomo Process, ethyl diazoacetate is decomposed in the presence of isobutene (16) and a catalytic amount of the dimeric chiral copper complex 17. Compound 18, produced in 92 % ee, is a key intermediate in Merck s commercial synthesis of cilastatin (19). The latter compound is a reversible... 

Oxidative amination of carbamates, sulfamates, and sulfonamides has broad utility for the preparation of value-added heterocyclic structures. Both dimeric rhodium complexes and ruthenium porphyrins are effective catalysts for saturated C-H bond functionalization, affording products in high yields and with excellent chemo-, regio-, and diastereocontrol. Initial efforts to develop these methods into practical asymmetric processes give promise that such achievements will someday be realized. Alkene aziridina-tion using sulfamates and sulfonamides has witnessed dramatic improvement with the advent of protocols that obviate use of capricious iminoiodinanes. Complexes of rhodium, ruthenium, and copper all enjoy application in this context and will continue to evolve as both achiral and chiral catalysts for aziridine synthesis. The invention of new methods for the selective and efficient intermolecular amination of saturated C-H bonds still stands, however, as one of the great challenges. 

The cyclopropanation of alkenes, alkynes, and aromatic compounds by carbenoids generated in the metal-catalyzed decomposition of diazo ketones has found widespread use as a method for carbon-carbon bond construction for many years, and intramolecular applications of these reactions have provided a useful cyclization strategy. Historically, copper metal, cuprous chloride, cupric sulfate, and other copper salts were used most commonly as catalysts for such reactions however, the superior catalytic activity of rhodium(ll) acetate dimer has recently become well-established.3 This commercially available rhodium salt exhibits high catalytic activity for the decomposition of diazo ketones even at very low catalyst substrate ratios (< 1%) and is less capricious than the old copper catalysts. We recommend the use of rhodium(ll) acetate dimer in preference to copper catalysts in all diazo ketone decomposition reactions. The present synthesis describes a typical cyclization procedure. 

Transfer of carbene 3a from 19 to a variety of alkenes and cycloalkenes has been achieved under catalysis by copper(I) chloride74,79 - 82. However, with the exception of cyclohexene69,70 (72% yield), only moderate yields could be obtained. In all cases, the cyclopropanation was stereospecific with respect to the double bond configuration of the alkene and gave the sterically less crowded cyclopropane diastereomer in excess. As in the photochemical cyclopropanation, the formal carbene dimer trans-1,2-bis(trimethylsilyl)ethene is often formed as the major by-product. Cyclopropanation of fraws-but-2-ene with 19 with copper(II) chloride as catalyst was found to be even less... 

Interestingly, when using copper(I)triflate, the cyclopentadiene dimer 14 reacts in an intermolecular way, leading to the cydobutane 15 (reaction 5) [22], When the same substrate is transformed in the presence of the triplet sensitizer acetone, an intramolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition takes place and the cage hydrocarbon compound 16 is formed. Obviously, the formation of a copper complex intermediate involving both alkene double bonds of the substrate is unfavorable in this case. 

At2CX2) have been dimerized to tetraaryl alkenes (Ar2C=CAr2) with copper/ and with iron(II) oxalate dihydrate. ... 

The reaction of 3,3-disubstituted cyclopropenes with mono- and 1,2-disubstituted alkenes proceeds only with difficulty and leads to low yields of cyclopropanes. In the case of but-l-ene, an 8% yield, with hex-1-ene and hept-l-ene between 5 and 10% yield, and with cyclooctene about 10% of the cyclopropane product is formed. In these cases, the major product is the formal dimer of the intermediate ethenylcarbene complex, i.e. the corresponding (fj-hexatriene. When copper(I) chloride is used as catalyst rather than the copper halide/phosphane or phosphite system, about half the yield of the [2-f-1] cycloadduct is obtained along with an increased amount of the hexatriene. Mechanistically, these acyclic trienes could also be formed from an (alk-l-enyl)bicyclo[1.1.0]butane intermediate without any carbene being involved. Bicyclo[1.1.0]butanes are low yield (< 20%) byproducts of the thermal dimerization reaction of methyl 3,3-dimethylcyclopropenecarboxylate (1). On the other hand, bicyclo[l. 1. Ojbutanes, such as 3, are known to undergo isomerization to form 1,3-dienes. ... 

Diazopropenes bearing, for example, chloro substituents on the double bond can readily be purified by short-path distillation. Subsequent vinylcyclopropanations are carried out at low temperature using copper(II) catalysts such as bis(trifluoroacetonato)copper(II), copper(II) tri-fluorosulfonate and copper(II) trifluoroacetate in the presence of a 15-60-fold excess of the alkene. The dimer of rhodium(Il) acetate (0.1 mol%, tenfold excess of alkene), however, is generally more effective, leading to higher yields in this reaction (see Houben-Weyl, Vol. El9b, Table 100). 

Catalytic cyclopropanation of alkenes with diazomalonates is sometimes carried out with copper powder, but it appears that copper(I) halide/trialkyl phosphite complexes (for a procedure see Houben-Weyl Vol. E19b, p 1113), bis(acetylacetonato)copper(II), " ° and tet-raacetatodirhodium can be employed more advantageously (Table 13, entries 7-9). For the cyclopropanation of styrene with dicyclohexyl diazomalonate, however, copper(I) triflate was the catalyst of choice, while intramolecular C —H insertion at the cyclohexyl ring took place in the presence of tetraacetatodirhodium. A detailed comparison of copper catalysts for the cyclopropanation of cyclohexene, 1-methyl- and 1,2-dimethylcyclohexene, (Z)- and ( )-hept-2-ene with dimethyl diazomalonate, including competitive reaction pathways such as allylic C-H insertion and carbene dimer formation, is available. The catalyzed interaction between diazomalonic esters and enol ethers leads to cyclopropanes in some cases (e.g. ethoxymethylenecyclohexane to dimethyl 2-ethoxyspiro[2.5]octane-l,l-dicarboxylate ) and to different products in other cases (e.g. 1-methoxycyclohexene, 2-methoxy-3,4-dihydro-2/7-pyran ). This behavior is attributed to the occurence of stabilized dipolar intermediates in these reactions. 

Photochemical decomposition of diazo(trimethylsilyl)methane (1) in the presence of alkenes has not been thoroughly investigated (see Houben-Weyl Vol. E19b, p 1415). The available experimental data [trimethylsilylcyclopropane (17% yield) and la,2a,3j8-2,3-dimethyl-l-trimethylsilylcyclopropane (23% yield)] indicate that cyclopropanation occurs only in low yield with ethene and ( )-but-2-ene. In both cases the formal carbene dimer is the main product. In reactions with other alkenes, such as 2,3-dimethylbut-2-ene, tetrafluoroethene or hexafluoro-propene, no cyclopropanes could be detected.The transition-metal-catalyzed decomposition of diazo(trimethylsilyl)methane (1) has been applied to the synthesis of many different silicon-substituted cyclopropanes (see Table 3 and Houben-Weyl Vol.E19b, p 1415) 3.20a,b,2i.25 ( iQp. per(I) chloride has been most commonly used for carbene transfer to ethyl-substituted alkenes, cycloalkenes, styrene, and related arylalkenes. For the cyclopropanation of acyl-substituted alkenes, palladium(II) chloride is the catalyst of choice, while palladium(II) acetate was less efficient, and copper(I) chloride, copper(II) sulfate and rhodium(II) acetate dimer were totally unproductive. The cyclopropanation of ( )-but-2-ene represents a unique... 

A final example of aqueous media used in the hydrocyanation of butadiene is provided by Waddan at ICI [23]. In this chemistry, copper nitrate salts in aqueous media (among many others) are used for the oxidative dihydrocyanation of butadiene to dicyanobutenes (Eq. 9). Good conversions of butadiene are reported in nonaqueous media but no examples are actually provided in which water is added as a solvent. Moreover, because of problems with alkene and HCN dimerization and the risk of explosion hazards, these reactions appear to work best when conducted stepwise (i.e., HCN addition to catalyst followed by oxidation followed, in turn, by butadiene addition), leading one to wonder about the productivity of these systems. 

The copper-catalyzed cyclopropanation of alkenes with diazoalkanes is a particularly important synthetic reaction (277). The reaction of styrene and ethyl diazoacetate catalyzed by bis[/V-(7 )- or (5)-a-phenyl-ethylsalicylaldiminato]Cu(II), reported in 1966, gives the cyclopropane adducts in less than 10% ee and was the first example of transition metal-catalyzed enantioselective reaction of prochiral compounds in homogeneous phase (Scheme 90) (272). Later systematic screening of the chiral Schiff base-Cu catalysts resulted in the innovative synthesis of a series of important cyclopropane derivatives such as chrysanthemic acid, which was produced in greater than 90% ee (Scheme 90) (273). The catalyst precursor has a dimeric Cu(II) structure, but the actual catalyst is in the Cu(I) oxidation state (274). (S)-2,2-Dimethylcyclopropanecar-boxylic acid thus formed is now used for commercial synthesis of ci-lastatin, an excellent inhibitor of dehydropeptidase-I that increases the in vivo stability of the caibapenem antibiotic imipenem (Sumitomo Chemical Co. and Merck Sharp Dohme Co.). Attempted enantioselective cyclopropanation using 1,1-diphenylethylene and ethyl diazoacetate has met with limited success (211b). A related Schiff base ligand achieved the best result, 66% optical yield, in the reaction of 1,1-diphenylethylene and ethyl diazoacetate (275). 

Alkenes can be obtained from aldehydes or ketones on reductive dimerization by treatment with a reagent prepared from titanium(III) chloride and zinc-copper couple (or L1A1H4), or with a species of active titanium metal formed by reduction of titanium(III) chloride with potassium or lithium metal. This McMurry coupling reaction is of wide application, but in intermolecular reactions generally affords a mixture of the E- and Z-alkenes (2.99). 

Cycloaddition.—Herndon has reviewed substituent effects in photocycloaddi-tions. Copper(i) triflate is found to be an effective catalyst for the photodimerization of norbornene to the usual [2 + 2] dimer. Photoexcitation of a 2 1 alkene-CuOTf complex is suggested. The photodimerization of other simple alkenes is also... 

Copper(i) triflate, CuSOsF, is an efficient catalyst for the photodimerization of norbornene. The proposed mechanism of this reaction (Scheme 3), which is supported by quantum-yield studies, involves photoexcitation of a 2 1 alkene-CuSOsF complex followed by unimolecular collapse to products. An alternative mechanism involving photoexcitation of a 1 1 copper(i)-alkene complex and a subsequent termolecular interaction with two ground-state alkenes to give the dimer, a mechanism proposed for the photodimerization of norbomene-catalysed by copper(i) halides, is not consistent with the present studies. Photodimerizations catalysed by CuCl have only been observed with strained cycloalkenes. However, CuSOgF is an efficient catalyst for the photodimerization of simple alkenes e.g. cyclopentene. 

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