Halides cyclopropane ring

The hydrogenolyaia of cyclopropane rings (C—C bond cleavage) has been described on p, 105. In syntheses of complex molecules reductive cleavage of alcohols, epoxides, and enol ethers of 5-keto esters are the most important examples, and some selectivity rules will be given. Primary alcohols are converted into tosylates much faster than secondary alcohols. The tosylate group is substituted by hydrogen upon treatment with LiAlH (W. Zorbach, 1961). Epoxides are also easily opened by LiAlH. The hydride ion attacks the less hindered carbon atom of the epoxide (H.B. Henhest, 1956). The reduction of sterically hindered enol ethers of 9-keto esters with lithium in ammonia leads to the a,/S-unsaturated ester and subsequently to the saturated ester in reasonable yields (R.M. Coates, 1970). Tributyltin hydride reduces halides to hydrocarbons stereoselectively in a free-radical chain reaction (L.W. Menapace, 1964) and reacts only slowly with C 0 and C—C double bonds (W.T. Brady, 1970 H.G. Kuivila, 1968). 

The next step is not immediately obvious. The generation of an ethyl ester from a lactone can be accommodated by transesterification (we might alternatively consider esterification of the free hydroxyacid). The incorporation of chlorine where we effectively had the alcohol part of the lactone leads us to nucleophilic substitution. That it can be SnI is a consequence of the tertiary site. Cyclopropane ring formation from an Sn2 reaction in which an enolate anion displaces a halide should be deducible from the structural relationships and basic conditions. 

The arylation reaction is not applicable to aryl bromides and iodides. Another line of experimental evidence also indicates that an arylpalladium halide complex, instead of an arylpalladium triflate complex, is not electrophilic (Lewis acidic) enough to cleave the cyclopropane ring. 

The cyclopropyl halides are exceptional in that their behavior is much more like alkenyl halides than like secondary alkyl halides. Thus cyclopropyl chloride undergoes SN1 and SN2 reactions much less rapidly than isopropyl or cyclohexyl chlorides. A relationship between the reactivity of cyclopropyl chloride and chloroethene is not surprising in view of the general similarity between cyclopropane rings and double bonds (Section 12-5). This similarity extends to cyclopropylmethyl derivatives as well. Cyclopropylmethyl chloride is reactive in both SN-1 and SN2 reactions in much the same way as 3-chloropropene ... 

In the case of cyclopropyl methyl ketone, disconnection of either the 1,2- or 1,3-carbon-carbon bond of the cyclopropane ring results in the preferred charge distribution shown in (4), namely, the carbanion site is adjacent to the meso-merically stabilising carbonyl group, and the carbocation site may be viewed as a halide-carrying carbon. The reagent equivalent may therefore be 5-chloro-pentan-2-one. 

Other C-electrophiles besides iminium salts and carbonyl compounds have not yet extensively been tested for C-C-forming cyclopropane ring cleavage. However, whereas acyl or tertiary alkyl halides do not give addition products, benzaldimine at least provides the expected secondary amine 194 with good yield and diasteroselectivity 61). 

Cyclopropanation of the C=C bond of an allylic halide as in the cyclopropane 15 greatly suppresses photoreactivity, which is restored by introduction of a vinyl group at the 2-position of the cyclopropyl group, as in 16 (equation 27)134. The shift in UV-absorption maxima of 15 and 16 indicates the presence of electronic interactions of the vinyl and bro-momethyl moieties through the cyclopropane ring in 16. A similar arrangement of chro-mophoric moieties is present in compound 17, which on direct irradiation in acetic acid yields benzo[c]fluorene as sole product (equation 28)135. 

Various (1-bromoalkyl)- and some (l-chloroalkyl)cyclopropanes reacted with nitrogen nucleophiles to give the corresponding V-(l-cyclopropylalkyl)-substituted products. If the reacting center is a primary halide, i.e. a halomethyl group, the reaction proceeds without competing attack on the cyclopropane ring whether the nucleophile is azide, phthalimide i. 1049... 

Depending on the reaction conditions, the allylic cation can be trapped by the halide ion expelled during cyclopropane ring opening or by an external nucleophile. For example, 3,3-dibromotricyclo[4.1.1.0 ]octane (14) rearranged to give 15. ... 

The 5-keto acid 11 is supposed to be formed by hydroboration and oxidation of the terminal CC double bond in 12, feasible by allylation of the enone 13. Enone 13, once again, originates from an intramolecular Knoevenagel alkenylation of the a,5-diketone 14 prepared by addition of ethylmagnesium halide to the enol lactone 15 of the 5-keto acid 16. Preceding this keto acid, the allyl compound 17 is formed by nucleophilic opening of the cyclopropane ring with hydride and mefliylation in a position of the carbonyl in the cyclopropyl ketone 18. 

Sodium hydroxide Cyclopropane ring from halides with retention of a-diazoketo groups... 

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