Diazo compounds stability

Electron-withdrawing substituents generally increase diazo compounds stability toward decomposition. Dicarbonyl diazomethane, which bears two carbonyl groups flanking the diazomethane carbon, are more stable than diazo compounds with only one carbonyl substituent. In general, metal catalysed decomposition of dicarbonyl diazomethane requires higher temperature than does monocarbonyl substituted diazomethane. As indicated before, rhodium(II) carboxylates are the most active catalysts for diazo decomposition. With dicarbonyl diazomethane, the rhodium(II) carboxylate-promoted cyclopropanation process can also be carried out under ambient conditions to afford a high yield of products. 

This synthetic appproach has been used in a few cases for the preparation of pyridazines from diazo compounds and cyclopropenes. In general, cycloadducts (176) are formed first and these rearrange in the presence of acid or alkali to pyridazines (Scheme 98) (69TL2659, 76H(5)40l). Tetrachlorocyclopropene reacts similarly and it was found that the stability of the bicyclic intermediates is mainly dependent on substitution (78JCR(S)40, 78JCR(M)0582>. 

The photolysis of chlorodiazirine was investigated in several cases. From chloromethyl-diazirine (232) vinyl chloride was formed as the stable primary product of stabilization of chloromethylcarbene, with acetylene and hydrogen chloride as secondary products. Some 1,1-dichloroethane was assumed to have been formed through a linear diazo compound by reaction with HCl. Added HBr yielded 1-bromo-l-chloroethane (76MI5Q800). 

Such diazo compounds 3 however, that contain two electron-withdrawing substituents, are unstable under these reaction conditions. They further react by hydrolytic cleavage of one carbonyl substituent to give an anionic species 6, that is stabilized by resonance, and which yields the hydrazone 4 upon acidic workup ... 

Cyclization of the diazo compounds 1 a or 1 b, obtained from 2,4,6-trimethylpyrylium tetra-fluoroborate and ethyl diazoacetate or dimethyl diazomethanephosphonate, respectively, thus gives 1//-1,2-diazepines 2, which are stabilized by hydrogen bonding.71... 

Nevertheless, a more traditional approach to the stabilization of carbenes and the investigation of their spectral properties deals with the direct generation of carbenes in low-temperature matrices, e.g. by the photolysis of diazo-compounds or ketenes. The method allows stabilization of carbenes in their ground electronic state, prevents intramolecular isomerization and also facilitates direct spectroscopic monitoring of their chemical transformations in low-temperature matrices. 

In all cases the formation of carbenes was accompanied by partial photoisomerization of the precursor diazirines [53] into the corresponding diazo compounds [55] which possess a higher photochemical stability than the diazirines. 

Cycloadditions of nitrones, nitrile oxides or diazo compounds to thiete dioxides do not show the high stereoselectivity observed with acyclic vinyl sulfones, and mixtures of the two possible adducts are formed . The charge-transfer stabilization energy calculated according to the Klopman-Salem perturbational approach is able to account for the experimental trends of the isomer ratio in terms of the major stereochemical structural differences between the acyclic vinyl sulfones and the four-membered ring sulfones (see Section IV.B.3). 

Carbenes from Diazo Compounds. Decomposition of diazo compounds to form carbenes is a quite general reaction that is applicable to diazomethane and other diazoalkanes, diazoalkenes, and diazo compounds with aryl and acyl substituents. The main restrictions on this method are the limitations on synthesis and limited stability of the diazo compounds. The smaller diazoalkanes are toxic and potentially explosive, and they are usually prepared immediately before use. The most general synthetic routes involve base-catalyzed decomposition of V-nitroso derivatives of amides, ureas, or sulfonamides, as illustrated by several reactions used for the preparation of diazomethane. 

The study on 2,7-di-rerf-butylthiepin has recently been extended to explore more simply substituted thiepins 58). The palladium-catalyzed reaction of the diazo compound 107 lacking a 4-methyl substituent gives exclusively the exo-methylene compound 108 whereas the acid-catalyzed reaction of the same precursor 107 resulted in the formation of 2,7-di-/er/-butyl-4-ethoxycarbonylthiepin (109)58). Due to the substantial thermal stability of 109 it is possible to transform the ethoxy-carbonyl group into the hydroxymethyl (110), trimethylsilyloxymethyl (111) and formyl group (112)58). 

Interaction of an electrophilic carbene or carbenoid with R—S—R compounds often results in the formation of sulfonium ylides. If the carbene substituents are suited to effectively stabilize a negative charge, these ylides are likely to be isolable otherwiese, their intermediary occurence may become evident from products of further transformation. Ando 152 b) has given an informative review on sulfonium ylide chemistry, including their formation by photochemical or copper-catalyzed decomposition of diazocarbonyl compounds. More recent examples, including the generation and reactions of ylides obtained by metal-catalyzed decomposition of diazo compounds in the presence of thiophenes (Sect. 4.2), allyl sulfides and allyl dithioketals (Sect. 2.3.4) have already been presented. 

Of course, bulky substituents kinetically stabilize carbenes, but interestingly, during the course of our study, we realized that the stability of carbenes is often inversely proportional to the stability of the starting diazo compounds,27 as illustrated in Table I. 

Acceptor-substituted diazomethanes can be explosive, and low-molecular-weight diazo compounds, in particular, should be handled with care. Ethyl diazoacetate has a half-life of 109h at 100°C in inert solvents [984, p 425], but traces of acid or catalytically active salts can dramatically accelerate the thermal decomposition. Monoacyldiazomethanes are thermally less stable than diazoacetates [985], whereas bis-acceptor-substituted diazomethanes generally have high thermal and chemical stability. 

Laser flash photolysis of phenylchlorodiazirine was used to measure the absolute rate constants for intermolecular insertion of phenylchlorocarbene into CH bonds of a variety of co-reactants. Selective stabilization of the carbene ground state by r-complexation to benzene was proposed to explain the slower insertions observed in this solvent in comparison with those in pentane. Insertion into the secondary CH bond of cyclohexane showed a primary kinetic isotope effect k ikY) of 3.8. l-Hydroxymethyl-9-fluorenylidene (79), generated by photolysis of the corresponding diazo compound, gave aldehyde (80) in benzene or acetonitrile via intramolecular H-transfer. In methanol, the major product was the ether, formed by insertion of the carbene into the MeO-H bond, and the aldehyde (80) was formed in minor amounts through H-transfer from the triplet carbene to give a triplet diradical which can relax to the enol. 

The reaction of (trialkylsilyl)vinylketenes with nucleophilic carbenoid reagents, such as sulfur ylides and diazo compounds, has been used for synthesis of substituted cyclopentenones by stereoselective 4 + 1-annulation (Scheme 12). The strategy relies on the remarkable ability of silyl substituents to stabilize ketenes and suppress their tendency to undergo dimerization and 2 - - 2-cycloaddition. 

Homolytic cleavage of diazo compounds such as AIBN is also driven by the stability of a neutral molecule, this time molecular nitrogen, and two alkyl radicals are produced. 

All the studies on the elucidation of the structure of diazoazoles lead unequivocally to a mesoionic structure in which the negative charge is localized in the azole ring. Of primary importance were C-NMR and IR spectra, as well as X-Ray crystal diffraction data. With regard to the stability in the solid state of diazoazoles and in solution in the pH range where they are not protonated, the presence of ortho ring nitrogens destabilizes the diazo compounds. 

The preparation of thiiranes is most conveniently performed in solution. However, there are also protocols reported for reaction in the gas and solid phase. By using diazo and thiocarbonyl compounds in ether as solvent, both alkyl and aryl substituted thiiranes are accessible. As indicated earlier, aryl substituents destabilize the initially formed 2,5-dihydro-1,3,4-thiadiazole ring and, in general, thiiranes are readily obtained at low temperature (13,15,35). On the other hand, alkyl substituents, especially bulky ones, enhance the stability of the initial cycloadduct, and the formation of thiiranes requires elevated temperatures (36 1,88). Some examples of sterically crowded thiiranes prepared from thioketones and a macro-cyclic diazo compound have been published by Atzmiiller and Vbgtle (106). Diphenyldiazomethane reacts with (arylsulfonyl)isothiocyanates and this is followed by spontaneous N2 elimination to give thiirane-2-imines (60) (107,108). Under similar conditions, acyl-substituted isothiocyanates afforded 2 1-adducts 61 (109) (Scheme 5.23). It seems likely that the formation of 61 involves a thiirane intermediate analogous to 60, which subsequently reacts with a second equivalent... 

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