Cyclopropanes isomeric, from carbenes

The product of thermal isomerization of this cyclopropane, dimethyl (l-naphthyl)malonate, was also formed (5-10%), together withtetramethyl2,3-benzo-ant -tricyclo[5.1.0.0 ]oct-2-ene-5,5,8,8-tetracarb-oxylate (5-15%) and dimethyl 377-benzocycloheptatriene-3,3-dicarboxylate (5-10%) which is likely to arise from an intermediate cyclopropane arising from carbene addition to the 2,3-bond of naphthalene. 

Diazirines were detected when there was broad activity in the carbene field. From their structure, cleavage to nitrogen and carbene was foreseeable, and this was shown to occur on photolysis as well as on thermolysis. As early as 1962, Frey and Stevens in a series of papers reported on photolysis of simple diazirines. According to these authors, diazirines are especially fit for the study of excited intermediates and their stabilization products. Products of isomerization of carbenes, i.e., olefins and cyclopropanes, are formed containing more energy than is necessary for their further decomposition. Their stabilization by loss of energy to partners competes with stabilization by subsequent reactions. 

In the vapor phase, there are two additional considerations that are very important in understanding of carbene chemistry. The first point reflects the fact that carbene reactions are normally highly exothermic (about 90kcal mol for insertions or additions). Thus, a product molecule is frequently produced with a large amount of excess internal energy. In the vapor phase without solvent molecules to help dissipate the excess vibrational energy, the molecule may be subject to further reactions. Such reactions are often called hot molecule reactions. Cyclopropanes from cycloaddition reactions are particularly susceptible to hot molecule decomposition to the thermodynamically more stable olefin, since for cyclopropane isomerization is only 64kcal mol . ... 

Butenyl)-, (2,3-dimethyl-3-butenyl)- and (4-pentenyl)-dimethylsilyl)]carbene have been generated by treatment of the corresponding chloromethylsilanes with sodium. Intramolecular [1 + 2] cycloaddition of the carbenic carbon atom to the double bond leads to l-silabicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes and l-silabicyclo[4.1.0]heptanes, respectively, usually in competition with intramolecular C,H insertion (equation 24)56. In contrast, no carbene-derived product could be obtained from (allyldimethylsilyl)carbene. Finally, reaction of chloromethyldimethylvinylsilane with sodium provided, besides the typical products of a Wurtz reaction (103 and 104), a small amount of cyclopropane 106 (equation 26)56. It has been suggested that (dimethylvinylsilyl)carbene (102) isomerizes to silabicyclo[1.1.0]butane 105 by intramolecular cyclopropanation, and nucleophilic ringopening finally leads to 106. 

The pyrolysis and photolysis of this diazirine yield 1,1,2-trimethyl-cyclopropane, teri-butylethylene, and tetramethylethylene. The pyrolysis results are very similar to those obtained by the methanolysis of the analogous tosylhydrazone in an aprotic solvent, but differ appreciably from the photolytic data. These results are shown in Table V. Once again the results are consistent with the production of a hot carbene in the photochemical experiments. No details are at present available for the photolysis of this diazirine at low pressures, where, by analogy with other work, the isomerization of the trimethylcyclopropane would be expected to occur. 

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. ... 

When phosphane-free nickel complexes, such as bis(cycloocta-l,5-diene)nickel(0) or te-tracarbonylnickel, are employed in the codimerization reaction of acrylic esters, the codimer arising from [2-1-1] addition to the electron-deficient double bond is the main product. The exo-isomer is the only product in these cyclopropanation reactions. This is opposite to the carbene and carbenoid addition reactions to alkenes catalyzed by copper complexes (see previous section) where the thermodynamically less favored e Jo-isomers are formed. This finding indicates that the reaction proceeds via organonickel intermediates rather than carbenoids or carbenes. The introduction of alkyl substituents in the /I-position of the electron-deficient alkenes favors isomerization and/or homo-cyclodimerization of the cyclopropenes. Thus, with methyl crotonate and 3,3-diphenylcyclopropene only 16% of the corresponding ethenylcyc-lopropane was obtained. Methyl 3,3-dimethylacrylate does not react at all with 3,3-dimethyl-cyclopropene, so that the methylester of tra 5-chrysanthemic acid cannot be prepared in this way. This reactivity pattern can be rationalized in terms of a different tendency of the alkenes to coordinate to nickel(O). This tendency decreases in the order un-, mono- < di-< tri- < tet-... 

Addition of chloro(phenyl)carbene, generated from diazirine, to alkenes is stereospecific, yet diethyl (Z)-but-2-enedioate isomerized partially to give a mixture of stereoisomeric cyclopropanes(for a more detailed discussion see Houben-Weyl, Vol. E19b, p995). 

It is possible that the isomerization mechanism involves the generation of (dimethoxyphos-phoryl)carbene which reacts with l,3-bis(trifluoro)benzene under thermodynamic control to give the cyclopropane 7. As proof, starting from the kinetic isomer 5, the transient phosphoryl-carbene was trapped by cyclohexane to yield the corresponding C-H insertion product. 

Enantiocontrol in intramolecular cyclopropanation reactions of diazoacetamides has been developed to levels comparable with those now accessible with diazoesters. Several substituent variations in Eq. (20) are summarized in Table 3, which reveals examples where ee s exceed 90%. In general diazoamides have a conformational feature which differs from their diazoester counterparts, namely, the relatively slow syn-anti isomerization by rotation about the N-CO bond. If the interconversion of (18) and (19) or their respective metal carbenes is slow relative to the reaction timescale [50], only isomer (18) can lead to intramolecular cyclopropanation. However, an alternative process to which (18) is prone un-... 

Isomerization of unactivated vinyl cyclopropanes to cyclopentanes using nickel carbene complexes has been accomplished. The nickel carbene catalyst was generated in situ from Ni(cod)2, PPBF4 salt and base. These reactions constitute a simple protocol for the preparation of cyclopentenes by the isomerization of vinyl cyclopropanes. This result, combined with recent developments in the preparation of vinyl cyclopropanes,may provide a powerful new approach to the preparation of five-membered ring structures. 

The Puddephatt-Tipper team " have shown that reductive elimination involving the formation of cyclopropanes from platinacyclopropanes appears to involve a concerted process rather than the production of carbene-alkene intermediates (as does also the oxidative addition involving the reverse reaction, and the skeletal isomerization of platinacyclopropanes). They " have also proposed a similar concerted behavior for a reaction which could be looked upon either as a reductive elimination or a substitution, namely, the overall process in equation (46). 

Perfluoropropene oxide is a convenient, volatile, thermal source of difluoro-carbene, and its use in the preparation of fluorocyclopropanes has been further exemplified, perfluorinated, polyfluorinated, and hydrocarbon olefins being employed as substrates (see also p. 17) it has also been employed to convert perfluorobut-2-yne into 3,3-difluoro-l,2-bis(trifluoromethyl)cyclo-propene. Qose examination of the reaction between the epoxide and a mixture of cis- and rra .r-l-chloro-l,2-difluoroethylene at ca. 200°C has revealed that stereospecific addition of difluorocarbene takes place, but that loss of configuration can subsequently result from slow thermal isomerization of the cyclopropane product. Thermal decomposition of perfluoropropene oxide at 200 "C in the absence of a trap yields mainly perfiuorocyclo-propane and trifluoroacetyl fluoride together with tetrafluoroethylene, perfluoroisobutene oxide, perfluorobut-l-ene, and poly(difluoromethylene). 

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