Cyclopropanes Vinylcyclopropanes

C. K. Ingold denied the existence of spiropentane, even as an unstable intermediate product80 F. C. Whitmore considered both spiropentane and vinylcyclopropane to be incapable of existence 81. Whatever the doubts then, they have not survived the structures of cyclopropane, vinylcyclopropane and spiropentane are now known in considerable detail82". ... 

Whereas Fischer-type chromium carbenes react with alkenes, dienes, and alkynes to afford cyclopropanes, vinylcyclopropanes, and aromatic compounds, the iron Fischer-type carbene (47, e.g. R = Ph) reacts with alkenes and dienes to afford primarily coupled products (58) and (59) (Scheme 21). The mechanism proposed involves a [2 -F 2] cycloaddition of the alkene the carbene to form a metallacyclobutane see Metallacycle) (60). This intermediate undergoes jS-hydride elimination followed by reductive elimination to generate the coupled products. Carbenes (47) also react with alkynes under CO pressure (ca. 3.7 atm) to afford 6-ethoxy-o -pyrone complexes (61). The unstable metallacyclobutene (62) is produced by the reaction of (47) with 2-butyne in the absence of CO. Complex (62) decomposes to the pyrone complex (61). It has been suggested that the intermediate (62) is transformed into the vinylketene complex... 

The photochemical isomerization of 1,4-dienes 1, bearing substituents at C-3, leads to vinyl-cyclopropanes 2, and is called the di-n-methane rearrangement This reaction produces possible substrates for the vinylcyclopropane rearrangement. 

The direction of ring opening by homolytic cleavage of a cyclopropane bond is controlled by the stability of the diradical species formed. Upon heating of the mono-deuterated vinylcyclopropane 3, a mixture of the two isomeric mono-deuterated cyclopentenes 4 and 5 is formed ... 

Copper(II) triflate has also been used for the carbenoid cyclopropanation reaction of simple olefins like cyclohexene, 2-methylpropene, cis- or rran.y-2-butene and norbomene with vinyldiazomethane 2 26,27). Although the yields were low (20-38 %), this catalyst is far superior to other copper salts and chelates except for copper(II) hexafluoroacetylaeetonate [Cu(hfacac)2], which exhibits similar efficiency. However, highly nucleophilic vinyl ethers, such as dihydropyran and dihydrofuran cannot be cyclopropanated as they rapidly polymerize on contact with Cu(OTf)2. With these substrates, copper(II) trifluoroacetate or copper(II) hexafluoroacetylaeetonate have to be used. The vinylcyclopropanation is stereospecific with cis- and rra s-2-butene. The 7-vinylbicyclo[4.1.0]heptanes formed from cyclohexene are obtained with the same exo/endo ratio in both the Cu(OTf)2 and Cu(hfacac)2 catalyzed reaction. The... 

Enantioselective cyclopropanation of monoolefins 214 has also been performed. With the already mentioned chiral catalysts 195a and 209-213 rather high enantiomeric excess was achieved in some cases (Table 16), and the vinylcyclopropane structure was obtained in a subsequent dehydrohalogenation step. 

The photoindueed 1,7-cycloaddition of carbon monoxide across the divinyl-cyclopropane derivative 32 yields the two cyclic dienyl ketones 34, via the ferracyclononadiene intermediate 33 [18]. (Scheme 11) cyclopentene rearrangement. The dienylcyclopropane 35 is capable of forming the complex 36, followed by ring enlargement to 37 [19]. 1,1-Dicyclopropylethylene 29 is also converted to the 1-cyclopropyl-1-cyclopentene 38. The additional functionality of vinylcyclopropanes is necessary to serve as a 7t-donor... 

Styrene is reported to undergo reduction upon treatment with trifluoroacetic acid and triethylsilane,203 although competing polymerization reactions limit the yield of ethylbenzene to only 30% (Eq. 63).70 Vinylcyclopropane is reduced to ethylcy-clopropane within 30 minutes under similar conditions (Eq. 64) 232 It is important to note that the cyclopropane ring of ethylcyclopropane can be opened under these reaction conditions, albeit with longer reaction times, to give some trans-2-pentene in the final reaction mixture.233... 

The product possesses a homoallylic stannane moiety, which can be utilized as a useful synthon for cyclopropane formation (Scheme 68). Upon treatment of the homoallylstannane with HI, destannative cyclization takes place to give cyclopropylmethylsilane.271,272 A Lewis acid-catalyzed reaction with benzaldehyde dimethyl acetal affords vinylcyclopropane.273... 

In 1998, Saigo et al. [150] discovered the Rh(I)-catalyzed allenic version of the vinylcyclopropane rearrangement. With a subsituent on the cyclopropane ring two different isomers can be formed depending on which of the different allylic C-C bonds in the three-membered ring is broken. Depending on R2, different regioselec-tivites were obtained with 250. Alkyl-substituted substrates lead to 251 and aryl-substituted substrates to 252 (Scheme 15.79) [150]. 

It will be noted that the isomerization to cyclopentene proceeds with a considerably lower energy of activation than the other cyclopropane isomerizations so far discussed. As a result these reactions have been investigated kinetically at temperatures about 100° lower than those not having a vinyl substituent. A number of substituted vinylcyclopropanes have been studied and the Arrhenius parameters for their isomerizations to substituted cyclopentenes determined. The results are shown in Table 4. From the results in Table 4 it can be seen that the isomerizations... 

It will also be noted from the results in Table 4 that, unlike the saturated cyclopropanes, the vinylcyclopropanes isomerize with normal preexponential factors. Consideration of the postulated transition complex and the reactant molecule makes it clear why this is so. In the reactant the vinyl group can undergo essentially free rotation. In the transition complex the allylic part of the biradical is rigid and cannot rotate. Thus the entropy contribution of this free rotation in the reactant is lost on forming the transition complex. As a result of ring rupture one new centre of free rotation is produced which is not present in the reactant. The result of these effects is that on passing from the reactant to the... 

Vaska s complex catalyzed the transformahon of aUenylcyclopropane into 2-alkenylidenecyclohex-3-enone under conditions of pressurized CO (Scheme 11.25) [38]. In this reaction, the jr-coordination to internal oleflnic moiety of the aUene brings the metal closer to the cyclopropane ring. Release of the cyclopropane ring strain then facilitates the oxidative addition of vinylcyclopropane moiety along with C-C bond cleavage, such that metallacyclohexene is obtained a subsequent carbonyl insertion and reductive elimination then provides the product Hence, the reaction can be recognized as a [5+1] cycloaddition of vinylcyclopropane and CO. 

Unlike the well-known chemistry of the vinylcyclopropane-cyclopentene rearrangement, there is no general method for the rearrangement of alkynyl-cyclopropane to cyclopentene derivatives. One specific example is the pyrolysis of l-ethynyl-2-methylcyclopropane to methylenecyclopentene and other compounds [5]. At 530°C, l-ethynyl-2-methylcyclopropane (1) undergoes a [1,5]-hydrogen shift to give hexa-l,2,5-triene (2), which further isomerizes to methy-lenecyclopentenes 3 and 4 in 38 and 29% yield, respectively (Scheme 1). 

The vinylcyclopropane 10 is a useful chiral building block for organic synthesis, as the vinyl group can be oxidatively cleaved if desired and further functionahzed (Scheme 14.1). Either diastereomer 20 or 21 of the cyclopropane analog of phenylalanine can be readily prepared from 10 [40]. Corey has reported another elegant appHcation of the vinylcyclopropane 10 in the asymmetric synthesis of the antidepressant (-i-)-sertraline 22 [52]. 

The reactions of vinyl ethers with vinyldiazoacetates unsubstituted at the vinyl terminus result in a very interesting outcome because either regioisomer of the [3 + 2] cycloadduct can be obtained (Scheme 14.16) [104]. An example is the reaction with 2,3-dihydrofuran where regioisomer 122 is formed via the established ring-opening reaction of the donor/acceptor-substituted vinylcyclopropane 121 under Lewis acidic conditions (Scheme 14.14) [104, 105]. The cyclopropanation step has been optimized to... 

Asymmetric induction is possible in the two-step [3-1-2] cycloaddition by starting the sequence with an asymmetric cyclopropanation (Scheme 14.15) [106]. The Rh2(S-DOSP)4-catalyzed reactions gave the desired vinylcyclopropanes 126 with high enan-tioselectivities [106]. Partial or complete racemization occurred in the vinylcyclopro-pane rearrangement of monocyclic vinylcyclopropanes, but the fused vinylcyclopropanes 128-133 rearrange to form 134-139 with virtually no racemization. 

A more detailed evaluation of the diverse structures proposed for the secondary species goes beyond the scope of this review. We mwely emphasize that the ESR results provide detailed evidence for the nature of the radical center, but fail to elucidate the cationic site. The identity of this center is left to secondary considerations or speculation. We also note that any alternative structure has the virtue of not contradicting the ab irutio calculations the potential c ture of chloride ion has precedent in the nucleophilic substitution at a cyclopropane carbon (see Section 7). Another type of ring-opened structure has been postulated as an intermediate in the aminium radical cation catalyzed rearrangement of l-aryl-2-vinylcyclopropanes (see Section 5). 

In general, radical cations of alkenes or cyclopropanes produce nonconjugated radicals, while those of dienes give rise to allyl radicals, and those of vinylcyclopropane or vinylcyclobutane systems generate either allylic or nonconjugated radicals with an additional element of unsaturation. In contrast to the most thoroughly characterized nucleophilic substitution of appropriate neutral molecules. 

The nature of vinylcyclopropane radical cations was elucidated via the electron transfer induced photochemistry of a simple vinylcyclopropane system, in which the two functionalities are locked in the anri-configuration, viz., 4-methylene-l-isopropylbicyclo[3.1.0]hexane (sabinene, 39). Substrates, 39 and 47 are related, except for the orientation of the olefinic group relative to the cyclopropane function trans for 39 versus cis for 47. The product distribution and stereochemistry obtained from 39 elucidate various facets of the mechanism and reveal details of the reactivity and structure of the vinylcyclopropane radical cation 19 . 

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