Copper catalysis aromatic substitution

Decomposition of l-diazo-4-arylbutan-2-ones offers a direct entry to bicyclo[5.3.0]decatrienones and the approach has been extensively used by Scott and coworkers to synthesize substituted azulenes.137 Respectable yields were obtained with copper catalysis,137 but a more recent study24 showed that rho-dium(ll) acetate was much more effective, generating bicyclo[5.3.0]decatrienones (154) under mild conditions in excess of 90% yield (Scheme 34). The cycloheptatrienes (154) were acid labile and on treatment with TFA rearranged cleanly to 2-tetralones (155), presumably via norcaradiene intermediates (156). Substituents on the aromatic ring exerted considerable effect on the course of the reaction. With m-methoxy-substituted systems the 2-tetralone was directly formed. Thus, it appeared that rearrangement of (156) to (154) was kinetically favored, but under acidic conditions or with appropriate functionality, equilibration to the 2-tetralone (155) occurred. 

Nucleophilic aromatic substitutions are a type of reactions frequently applied in the synthesis of chemical intermediates and fine chemicals. In general, these processes are performed in the liquid phase, batchwise, with dissolved copper salts as catalysts [1]. It is of interest to investigate the possibilities of heterogeneous catalysis, as a more convenient catalyst recycle can thus be achieved. 

Another important class of reactions involves the introduction of a cyano group by substitution in an Ar-Z precursor. In fact, novel pathways leading to aromatic nitriles-for example, photosubstitution reactions-are desirable in view of the many applications of aryl cyanides as agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. Today, the classical copper(l)-mediated Rosenmund-von Braun and Sandmeyer reactions, from aryl halides and aryldiazonium salts respectively, have been supplanted by reactions which employ palladium- or copper-catalysis [57]. The rather common use of excess cyanide anion may lead to a deactivation of the catalyst, and affect to a remarkable extent each of the key steps of the catalytic cycle [58aj. Although the use of complex iron cyanide has been shown to offer an effective solution to this limitation [58b,c], photocyanation provides an equally useful alternative [10],... 

The possibilities for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds involving arenes have been dramatically increased in recent years by the use of transition metal catalysis. Copper-mediated reactions to couple aryl halides in Ulknann-type reactions [12, 13] have been known for many years, and copper still remains an important catalyst [14, 15]. However, the use of metals such as palladium [16,17] to effect substitution has led to such an explosion of research that in 2011 transition metal-catalyzed processes comprised more than half of the reactions classified as aromatic substitutions in Organic Reaction Mechanisms [18]. The reactions often involve a sequence outlined in Scheme 6.6 where Ln represents ligand(s) for the palladium. Oxidative addition of the aryl halide to the paiiadium catalyst is followed by transmetalation with an aryl or alkyl derivative and by reductive elimination to give the coupled product and legeuCTate the catalyst. Part 6 of this book elaborates these and related processes. 

Direct nucleophilic displacement of halide and sulfonate groups from aromatic rings is difficult, although the reaction can be useful in specific cases. These reactions can occur by either addition-elimination (Section 11.2.2) or elimination-addition (Section 11.2.3). Recently, there has been rapid development of metal ion catalysis, and old methods involving copper salts have been greatly improved. Palladium catalysts for nucleophilic substitutions have been developed and have led to better procedures. These reactions are discussed in Section 11.3. 

These reactions complement recently developed palladium(0)amination reactions [146,147,148] and related procedures using a copper(I) [149] - or ni-ckel(O) [151] - catalysis. As indicated above, the mild reaction conditions are compatible with a range of functional groups. Functionalized arylmagnesium chlorides such as 309 prepared by an I/Mg-exchange readily undergo addition reactions to aryl oxazolines. The addition-elimination of 309 to the -methoxy aryloxa-zoline followed by an ortHo-lithiation and substitution with ethylene oxide leads to a polyfunctionalized aromatic intermediate 310 for alkaloid synthesis (Scheme 4.68) [165]. 

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