Cyclopropanes as intermediates

A number of other reactions have been postulated to involve protonated cyclopropanes as intermediates.122 For example, nmr studies of the, e-butyl cation in superacid show that from — 100 to -40°C a process, with an activation energy of 7 kcal mole-1, occurs that scrambles all the protons. The activation energy is too low for the scrambling to occur by the mechanism shown in Equa-... 

IV. IONIC CYCLOPROPANES AS INTERMEDIATES OR STABLE PRODUCTS IN REARRANGEMENT/DISSOCIATION PROCESSES... 

It is clear that free CH2 is not involved in the Simmons-Smith reaction, but there is substantial evidence to indicate that caibenes aie formed as intermediates in certain other reactions that convert alkenes to cyclopropanes. The most studied exanples of these reactions involve dichlorocaibene and dibromocaibene. 

Metallacycles as intermediates in redox rearrangements of cyclopropane and cyclobutane derivatives 96MI10. 

The Simmons-Smith cyclopropanation method has also found application for the a-methylation of ketones via an intermediate cyclopropane. The starting ketone—e.g. cyclohexanone 9—is first converted into an enol ether 10. Cyclopropanation of 10 leads to an alkoxynorcarane 11, which on regioselective hydrolytic cleavage of the three-membered ring leads to the semiketal 12 as intermediate, and finally yields the a-methylated ketone 13 ... 

Catalytic cyclopropanation of alkenes has been reported by the use of diazoalkanes and electron-rich olefins in the presence of catalytic amounts of pentacarbonyl(rj2-ris-cyclooctene)chromium [23a,b] (Scheme 6) and by treatment of conjugated ene-yne ketone derivatives with different alkyl- and donor-substituted alkenes in the presence of a catalytic amount of pentacarbon-ylchromium tetrahydrofuran complex [23c]. These [2S+1C] cycloaddition reactions catalysed by a Cr(0) complex proceed at room temperature and involve the formation of a non-heteroatom-stabilised carbene complex as intermediate. 

Diazomalonic esters serve as intermediates for the synthesis of a wide variety of compounds including cyclopropanes, cyclo-propenes, cycloheptatrienes, sulfur ylides, lactones, and substituted malonates. ... 

A comparison of the rate constant for photoisomerization of the unsubstituted 3-phenyl derivative (kT = 3 x 1010 sec-1) to that of the 3-(p-methoxy phenyl) derivative (kr = 1.5 x 1010 sec-1) indicates that the presence of the p-methoxy groups imparts no special stability to the intermediate responsible for isomerization even though cleavage of a cyclopropane bond is predominant. Clearly these results are inconsistent with an intermediate possessing electron-poor or electron-rich species such as would be obtained from heterolytic cleavage of the cyclopropane. On the other hand, the results are consistent with a biradical species as intermediate. Further evidence consistent with this conclusion was obtained in a study of trans-3-p-cyanophenyl-/ra w-2-phenyl-1 -benzoylcyclopropane,<82)... 

Biradicals have also been encountered as intermediates in the Mg reduction of ketones to pinacols (p. 218) and, as radical anions, in the acyloin condensation of esters (p. 218). The thermolysis of cyclopropane (131) to propene (132) at 500° is also believed to involve... 

Numerous studies aimed at the understanding of the mechanism of these processes rapidly appeared. In this context, Murai examined the behavior of acyclic linear dienyne systems in order to trap any carbenoid intermediate by a pendant olefin (Scheme 82).302 A remarkable tetracyclic assembly took place and gave the unprecedented tetracyclo[6.4.0.0]-undecane derivatives as single diastereomer, such as 321 in Scheme 82. This transformation proved to be relatively general as shown by the variation of the starting materials. The reaction can be catalyzed by different organometallic complexes of the group 8-10 elements (ruthenium, rhodium, iridium, and platinum). Formally, this reaction involves two cyclopropanations as if both carbon atoms of the alkyne moiety have acted as carbenes, which results in the formation of four carbon-carbon bonds. 

Furthermore, cyclopropane structures have often served as intermediates in organic synthesis. For these reasons, olefin cyclopropanation has proved to be a useful tool for synthetic organic chemists. This has led to the development of several methods for cyclopropanation reactions,91 including the metal-catalyzed reactions of diazo compounds with olefins, as well as the Simmons-Smith reaction. 

As mentioned earlier, it was originally assumed that this reaction is mechanistically related to the copper-catalyzed diazo-transfer cyclopropanation. As such, the intervention of a metal complexed nitrenoid intermediate has been theorized as the principal mode of action. Mechanistic investigations in this reaction have paralleled the development of the asymmetric version and hence, will be discussed in concert. 

Carbenes are both reactive intermediates and ligands in catalysis. They occur as intermediates in the alkene metathesis reaction (Chapter 16) and the cyclopropanation of alkenes. As intermediates they carry hydrogen and carbon substituents and belong therefore to the class of Schrock carbenes. As ligands they contain nitrogen substituents and are clearly Fischer carbenes. They have received a great deal of attention in the last decade as ligands in catalytic metal complexes [58], but the structural motive was already explored in the early seventies [59],... 

Meyerson, S. Cationated Cyclopropanes As Reaction Intermediates in Mass Spectra an Earlier Incarnation of Ion-Neutral Complexes. Org. Mass Spectrom. 1989, 24, 267-270. 

As mentioned in Sections 3.1.6 and 4.1.3, cyclopropenes can also be suitable starting materials for the generation of carbene complexes. Cyclopropenone di-methylacetal [678] and 3-alkyl- or 3-aryl-disubstituted cyclopropenes [679] have been shown to react, upon catalysis by Ni(COD)2, with acceptor-substituted olefins to yield the products of formal, non-concerted vinylcarbene [2-1-1] cycloaddition (Table 3.6). It has been proposed that nucleophilic nickel carbene complexes are formed as intermediates. Similarly, bicyclo[1.1.0]butane also reacts with Ni(COD)2 to yield a nucleophilic homoallylcarbene nickel complex [680]. This intermediate is capable of cyclopropanating electron-poor alkenes (Table 3.6). 

Intramolecular C-H bond insertion and ylide formation can compete with cyclopropanation. As shown in Figure 4.21, however, the chemoselectivity of the intermediate carbene complex can sometimes be controlled by the remaining metal-bound ligands [21,990,1075,1081,1223]. 

On the basis of products formed in a number of condensation reactions only confusion results for any step by step mechanism involving specific identifiable species as intermediates. Here are some of the facts. Benzene condenses with cyclopropane to form n-propylbenzene (Simons et al., 44). Normal propyl bromide gives chiefly isopropyl benzene (Simons and Archer, 36) as does propylene (Simons and Archer, 28). Ethyl alcohol gives ethylbenzene, but methyl alcohol does not give... 

Fig. 6. 3C complexes as intermediates of isomerization. A two-site (large ensemble) mechanism via a bond shift (left) or cyclopropane ring (right), as suggested by various authors (see text). Except for the number of C atoms involved, all other aspects of the mechanisms are speculative. The same remark holds for Figs. 7-9. 

Biradicals are frequently postulated to arise as intermediates in a number of chemical reactions and unimolecular isomerizations. Sometimes there are reasonable alternative concerted mechanisms in which the intermediate (or transition-state complex) is not a biradical. Such a case of much interest37,61 involves the reactions of singlet [5] and triplet [7] methylenes with olefins. We note that the permutational symmetry does not determine whether or not a reaction is concerted rather it is determined by the shapes of the intermolecular potential surfaces.78 The lowest 1Ai methylene is expected to react by a concerted mechanism, since it correlates with the ground state of the product cyclopropane higher excited singlets need not react via a concerted mechanism. 

Cyclopropanations of a,/i-unsaturated ketones with sulfur-substituted methylenes have been achieved in several ways using this methodology. Sequential treatment of conjugated enones with (PhS)3CLi,. s-BuLi and electrophiles produces phenylthiocyclopropanes (equation 128)275. Generation of lithium bicyclofl. 1,0]butane-2-olates as intermediates has... 

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