Cyclopropylmethyl ring-opening reaction

As discussed previously, radical ring-opening reactions of three-membered systems via cyclopropylmethyl and oxiranylmethyl radicals represent a fruitful method in organic synthesis [111]. De Kimpe and coworkers have now shown that azirid-ines can also be used, featuring a radical one-step synthesis of pyrrolizidines 3-280... 

A significantly more important tool to decipher the reaction mechanism is probe reactions (Fig. 8). Most commonly used are cyclopropylcarbinyl radical ring opening reactions and radical 5-exo cyclizations to intercept coupling reactions with metal centers. Cyclopropylmethyl bromide 20 is reduced by a metal complex and generates cyclopropylcarbinyl radical 20A. Unimolecular ring opening to... 

Various (cyclopropylmethyl)cobalt complexes have been prepared by reaction of the corresponding iodo- or bromomethylcyclopropanes with a cobalt species generated in situ. The reaction may be accompanied by ring-opening reactions for example ethyl 2-iodomethyl-cyclopropanecarboxylate afforded a 1 1 mixture of cyclopropyl and homoallylic products. A (cyclopropylmethyl)cobalt complex 3 was formed in excellent yield when tosyloxymeth-ylcyclopropane was reacted with Na[Co(salen)] followed by pyridine. " ... 

A novel synthesis of a C-3-branched glycal derivative, by application of a cyclopropylmethyl radical ring-opening reaction, is illustrated in Scheme 4. ... 

The reaction of [H2C(SiMe3)2C]2Si 180 with cyclopropylmethyl chloride proceeds via ring opening and formation of product 192 containing a spirocyclic Si atom, whose formation can be attributed to a radical-reaction pathway... 

MISCELLANEOUS REACTIONS OF DIHYDROPYRIDINES Additional tests for net hydride transfers initiated by single-electron transfer include the use of substrates in which such pathways would necessarily involve readily ring-opened cyclopropylmethyl or readily cyclized 5-hexenyl radicals. Products from these radical reactions are not formed in NAD+/ NADH dependent enzymic reductions or oxidations (Maclnnes et al., 1982, 1983 Laurie et al., 1986 Chung and Park, 1982). Such tests have also been applied in non-enzymic reductions. Thus cyclopropane rings in cyclopropyl 2-pyridyl ketones, or imines of formylcyclopropane (van Niel and Pandit, 1983, 1985 Meijer et al., 1984) survive Mg+2 catalysed reduction by BNAH or Hantzsch esters but are opened by treatment with tributylin hydride. 

Ester, nitrile, or ketone functions are tolerated in the method. Aryl chlorides can be applied with only slightly decreased yields. For 3-bromopropionate the bipyridine ligand was mandatory for the success of the reaction. The involvement of radicals is supported by ring opening occurring when cyclopropylmethyl bromide was used as the substrate (cf. Part 1, Fig. 8). 

Cyclopropropylmethyl radicals.1 Generation of a radical center adjacent to a cyclopropane can result in ring opening of the cyclopropylmethyl system. This reaction can be used to convert allylic cyclohexenols to alkylcyclohexenes, as shown for conversion of 1 into 3 via the phenyl selenide 2. When the cyclopropyl ring is... 

The sodium salt of cyclopropanecarboxaldehyde tosylhydrazone (157) behaves similarly on heating to 125 135°C. Labelling experiments using the lithium cyclopropanecarboxaldehyde-p-tosylhydrazone salt has proved the occurrence of a cyclopropylcarbene-cyclobutene C3 - C4 ring expansion instead of a simple intramolecular carbene insertion in one of the four C-H bonds and bicyclobutane ring-opening . For other examples and discussion of such a rearrangement see Ref. 189. In an apparently related reaction, when cyclopropylmethyl tosylate (158) is treated with potassium t-butoxide in dimethyl sulphoxide at room temperature for 1 h, a quantitative mixture of cyclobutene and methylenecyclopropane is produced in equal amounts (equation 110) °. 

The hydrostannation of carbonyl compounds to give alkoxystannanes (equation 14-5) can follow a homolytic or heterolytic mechanism depending on the structure of the reactants and on the reaction conditions (Section 20.1.3). This existence of alternative mechanisms is elegantly demonstrated in the reduction of cyclopropyl methyl ketone by tributyltin hydride. In methanol, 1-cyclopropylethanol is formed in a polar process, but, with irradiation with UV light, the main product is pentan-2-one, which is formed by ring opening of the cyclopropylmethyl radical by P-scission (Scheme 14-1)14... 

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