Cumulene addition

Treatment of geminal dihalocyclopropyl compounds with a strong base such as butyl lithium has been for several years the most versatile method for cumulenes. The dihalo compounds are easily obtained by addition of dihalocarbenes to double--bond systems If the dihalocyclopropanes are reacted at low temperatures with alkyllithium, a cyclopropane carbenoid is formed, which in general decomposes above -40 to -50°C to afford the cumulene. Although at present a number of alternative methods are available , the above-mentioned synthesis is the only suitable one for cyclic cumulenes [e.g. 1,2-cyclononadiene and 1,2,3-cyclodecatriene] and substituted non-cyclic cumulenes [e.g. (CH3)2C=C=C=C(CH3)2]. 

To a solution of 0.25 mol of the trimethylsilyl ether in 120 ml of dry diethyl ether was added in 20 min at -35°C 0.50 mol of ethyllithium in about 400 ml of diethyl ether (see Chapter II, Exp. 1). After an additional 30 min at -30°C the reaction mixture was poured into a solution of 40 g of ammonium chloride in 300 ml of water. After shaking, the upper layer was separated off and dried over magnesium sulfate and the aqueous layer was extracted twice with diethyl ether. The ethereal solution of the cumulenic ether was concentrated in a water-pump vacuum and the residue carefully distilled through a 30-cm Vigreux column at 1 mmHg. The product passed over at about 55°C, had 1.5118, and was obtained in a yield of 874. Distillation at water-pump pressure (b.p. 72°C/I5 mmHg) gave some losses due to polymerization. 

Fluoroalkyl allenes and higher cumulenes also can take part in [2+2] cyclo-additions via biradical pathways [725, 726] (equations 53 and 54)... 

Synthetic applications of carbon radical additions to allenes cover aspects of polymerization, selective 1 1 adduct formation and homolytic substitutions. If heated in the presence of, e.g., di-tert-butyl peroxide (DTBP), homopolymerization of phenylal-lene is observed to provide products with an average molecular weight of 2000 (not shown) [58]. IR and 1H NMR spectroscopic analyses of such macromolecules point to the preferential carbon radical addition to CY and hence selective polymerization across the 2,3-double bond of the cumulene. Since one of the olefinic jr-bonds from the monomer is retained, the polymer consists of styrene-like subunits and may be... 

Addition of silyl radicals to cumulenes and their isoelectronic derivatives has mainly been studied by EPR spectroscopy. The adducts of MesSi radical with the two substituted allenes 54 and 55 have been recorded [73,74]. The attack occurs at the central atom affording unconjugated allyl-type radicals. In particular the adduct radical with 55 has been described as a very persistent perpendicular allyl radical [74]. 

Besides the classical additions of carbon-centered nucleophiles to the electrophilic sites of the cumulenic chain, transition-metal allenyhdenes are able to promote... 

Metal-catalyzed substitution reactions involving propargylic derivatives have not been studied in much detail until recently [311, 312]. In this context, the ability shown by transition-metal allenylidenes to undergo nucleophilic additions at the Cy atom of the cumulenic chain has allowed the development of efficient catalytic processes for the direct substitution of the hydroxyl group in propargylic alcohols [313]. These transformations represent an appealing alternative to the well-known and extensively investigated Nicholas reaction, in which stoichiometric amounts of [Co2(CO)g] are employed [314-317]. 

Addition of water to the electrophilic Co. of the cumulenic chain explains the formation of the a, (3-unsaturated aldehydes. 

Although the chemistry of pentatetraenylidene complexes [M]=C(=C)3=CR R has not received as much attention as that of aUenylidenes, there is ample experimental evidence to confirm the electrophilic character of the C, Cy and carbons of the cumulenic chain [26-29, 31]. Thus, treatment of tra s-[RuCl(=C=C=C=C=CPh2) (dppe)2][PFg] (132) with alcohols or secondary amines resulted in addition of the nucleophilic solvent across the Cy=Cs double bond to give alkenyl-allenylidenes 138 (Scheme 48) [358]. In chloroform, electrophilic cyclization with one of the Ph groups occurred to give 139. This transformation is actually the parent of the later observed allenylidene to indenylidene intramolecular rearrangement (Scheme 15). 

In this chapter, the most efficient synthetic routes, the main stmctural features as well as reactivity patterns of odd-chain metallacumulene complexes bearing 7i-donor substituents, i.e., [M]=C(=C) =CR R ( = 1, 3, 5 R /R = NR2, OR, SR, SeR), are reviewed. In addition, the coordination chemistry of phosphonioace-tylides (R3P C=C ) and tricarbon monoxide (C3O) will also be discussed since these heteroatom-containing 77 -carbon ligands lead to closely related bonding situations, with participation of both neutral cumulenic and zwitterionic alkynyl-type mesomeric forms (Fig. 3). 

Otherwise, the reactions of indenyl-ruthenium(II) allenylidenes [RuCty -CgHy) =C=C=C(R )Ph (PPh3)2][PF6] (R = H, Ph) with ynamines R C CNEtj (R = Me, SiMea) have been reported to yield the alkenyl(amino)allenylidene complexes 41 via insertion of the ynamine into the Cp=Cy allenylidene bond (Scheme 10) [52, 53], This insertion process involves an initial nucleophilic addition of the ynamine at Cy atom of the cumulene, which leads to the cationic alkynyl intermediate complexes 39. Further ring closing, involving the Cp atom, generates the [2+2]... 

As already commented in the introduction of this chapter, regardless of its substitution pattern, the main trends of allenylidene reactivity are governed by the electron deficient character of the C and Cy carbon atoms of the cumulenic chain, the Cp being a nucleophilic center [9-15]. Thus, as occurs with their allcarbon substituted counterparts, electrophilic additions on 7i-donor-substituted allenylidene complexes are expected to take place selectively at Cp, while nucleophiles can add to both C and Cy atoms. However, the extensive 71-conjugation present in these molecules results in a reduced reactivity of the cumulenic chain and, in some cases, in marked differences in the regioselectivity of the nucleophilic additions when compared to the all-carbon substituted allenylidenes. In the following subsections updated reactivity studies on 7i-donor-substituted allenylidene complexes are presented by Periodic Group. 

Otherwise, treatment of the chromium complex 10 with an excess of [W (C0)5(THF)] afforded the tungsten allenylidene 61 by transmetallation of the cumulenic ligand and further addition of W(CO)s to the A-atom of the heterocyclic substituent (Scheme 18) [30]. The related chromium complexes [Cr... 

The alkenyl(amino)aUenylidene complex 41 is also prone to undergo electrophilic additions at the Cp atom of the cumulenic chain. Thus, treatment of 41 with HBF4 OEt2 led to the spectroscopically characterized dicationic vinylidene complex 65 (Fig. 10) [52, 53]. Related Cp-protonations of complexes 35 (Fig. 6) have also been described [49]. 

The need for a base additive in this reaction implies the intermediacy of acetylide complexes (Scheme 9.10). As in the Rh(III)-catalyzed reaction, vinylidene acetylide S4 undergoes a-insertion to give the vinyl-iridium intermediate 55. A [l,3]-propargyl/ allenyl metallatropic shift can give rise to the cumulene intermediate 56. The individual steps of Miyaura s proposed mechanism have been established in stoichiometric experiments. In the case of ( )-selective head-to-head dimerization, vinylidene intermediates are not invoked. The authors argue that electron-rich phosphine ligands affect stereoselectivity by favoring alkyne C—H oxidative addition, a step often involved in vinylidene formation. 

Enyne ethers HC=CCH=CHOR are useful synthetic intermediates. They can be prepared by base-catalysed addition of alcohols to diacetylene. The required conditions are rather forcing and not very attractive for laboratory scale preparations. A much more convenient way to prepare the enyne ethers (in these cases more than 80 rel.% of the -isomer is obtained) consists in treatment of the easily accessible 1,4-dialkoxy-2-alkynes with two equivalents of alkali amide in liquid ammonia. The first step in this elimination is the (transient) formation of an "anion RO-fiH-C CCH OR, which eliminates ROH (143). The resulting cumulenic ether ROCH=C=C=CH2 is immediately converted into the metallaied enyne ether. 

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