Diazoalkane cyclopropanation

Some diazoalkanes cyclopropanate olefins in the absence of any catalyst [658-660]. Thus, for instance, upon generation from A -cyclopropyl-A -nitrosourea at 0 °C diazocyclopropane spontaneously cyclopropanates methylenecyclopropanes [658]. Thermal, uncatalyzed cyclopropanations of unactivated olefines with aryldiazome-thanes can already occur at only slightly elevated temperatures (e.g. at 80 °C with 1-naphthyldiazomethane [661]). Henee, for enantioselective cyclopropanations with a chiral catalyst, low reaction temperatures should be chosen to minimize product formation via the uncatalyzed pathway. 

Carbene itself ( CH2) is extremely reactive and gives many side reactions, especially insertion reactions (12-21), which greatly reduce yields. This competition is also true with rhodium-catalyzed diazoalkane cyclopropanations (see below). When it is desired to add CH2 for preparative purposes, free carbene is not used, but the Simmons-Smith procedure (p. 1241) or some other method that does not involve free carbenes is employed instead. Halocarbenes are less active than carbenes, and this reaction proceeds quite well, since insertion reactions do not interfereThe absolute rate constant for addition of selected alkoxychlorocar-bene to butenes has been measured to range from 330 to 1 x 10 A few of the many ways in which halocarbenes or carbenoids are generated for... 

PFAU - PLATTNER Cyclopropane synthesis DIazoalkane insertion Into olelins wtth lormation of cyclopropanes or ring enlargement ol aromatics to cydoheptatnenes see also lormation ol pyrazoHnes (von Pechman). 

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. 

The q1-coordinated carbene complexes 421 (R = Ph)411 and 422412) are rather stable thermally. As metal-free product of thermal decomposition [421 (R = Ph) 110 °C, 422 PPh3, 105 °C], one finds the formal carbene dimer, tetraphenylethylene, in both cases. Carbene transfer from 422 onto 1,1-diphenylethylene does not occur, however. Among all isolated carbene complexes, 422 may be considered the only connecting link between stoichiometric diazoalkane reactions and catalytic decomposition [except for the somewhat different results with rhodium(III) porphyrins, see above] 422 is obtained from diazodiphenylmethane and [Rh(CO)2Cl]2, which is also known to be an efficient catalyst for cyclopropanation and S-ylide formation with diazoesters 66). 

Taking together the results of reactivity and stereoselectivity comparisons, one may conclude that the cyclopropanation mechanism as such is quite similar in all cases and involves a metal carbene, but that the stereoselectivity is determined by the nature of the diazoalkane substituent. Doyle has developed a mechanistic scheme which accounts for these observations (Scheme 44). 

By analogy with cyclopropane formation from carbenes and C=C bonds, azo compounds might be expected to give diaziridines in their reaction with carbenes. Although acyclic ADC compounds react readily with diazoalkanes... 

The experimental ratio of ds- to trans-cyclopropane 43 46, i.e. the stereo-specifity of the reaction cannot be considered as a simple indication of singlet or triplet percentage of RaC , since the stereochemistry of the cyclo-addition depends on many factors. Photolysis produces the exdted 5i-state of the diazoalkane 41. This compound can lose nitrogen and form the singlet carbene 42 (So-state). 42 can add directly in a stereospecific manner if ki is large. If, however, intersystem crossing 42 45 (Aisc is large) competes favorably with... 

The transition metal-catalyzed cyclopropanation of alkenes is one of the most efficient methods for the preparation of cyclopropanes. In 1959 Dull and Abend reported [617] their finding that treatment of ketene diethylacetal with diazomethane in the presence of catalytic amounts of copper(I) bromide leads to the formation of cyclopropanone diethylacetal. The same year Wittig described the cyclopropanation of cyclohexene with diazomethane and zinc(II) iodide [494]. Since then many variations and improvements of this reaction have been reported. Today a large number of transition metal complexes are known which react with diazoalkanes or other carbene precursors to yield intermediates capable of cyclopropanating olefins (Figure 3.32). However, from the commonly used catalysts of this type (rhodium(II) or palladium(II) carboxylates, copper salts) no carbene complexes have yet been identified spectroscopically. 

Diazoalkanes are the carbene complex precursors most commonly used for the catalytic cyclopropanation of alkenes. Reactions involving this type of ylide will be discussed in this section. 

In cyclopropanations with electrophilic carbene complexes, yields of cyclopropanes tend to improve with increasing electron density of the alkene. As illustrated by the examples in Table 3.5, cyclopropanations of enol ethers with aryldiazomethanes often proceed in high yields. Simple alkyl-substituted olefins are, however, more difficult to cyclopropanate with diazoalkanes. A few examples of the cyclopropanation of enamines with diazoalkanes have been reported [650]. 

The transition metal-catalyzed reaction of diazoalkanes with acceptor-substituted alkenes is far more intricate than reaction with simple alkenes. With acceptor-substituted alkenes the diazoalkane can undergo (transition metal-catalyzed) 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to the olefin [651-654]. The resulting 3//-pyrazolines can either be stable or can isomerize to l//-pyrazolines. 3//-Pyrazolines can also eliminate nitrogen and collapse to cyclopropanes, even at low temperatures. Despite these potential side-reactions, several examples of catalyzed cyclopropanations of acceptor-substituted alkenes with diazoalkanes have been reported [648,655]. Substituted 2-cyclohexenones or cinnamates [642,656] have been cyclopropanated in excellent yields by treatment with diazomethane/palladium(II) acetate. Maleates, fumarates, or acrylates [642,657], on the other hand, cannot, however, be cyclopropanated under these conditions. 

The limitations of cyclopropanation with diazoalkanes are mainly determined by the nature of the latter, which are hazardous to handle. The use of isolated diazoalkanes is confined to small-scale laboratory applications. 

Most electrophilic carbene complexes with hydrogen at Cjj will undergo fast 1,2-proton migration with subsequent elimination of the metal and formation of an alkene. For this reason, transition metal-catalyzed cyclopropanations with non-acceptor-substituted diazoalkanes have mainly been limited to the use of diazomethane, aryl-, and diaryldiazomethanes (Tables 3.4 and 3.5). 

The most common byproducts encountered in cyclopropanations with diazoalkanes as carbene precursors are azines and carbene dimers , i.e. symmetric olefins resulting from the reaction of the intermediate carbene complex with the diazoalkane. The formation of these byproducts can be supressed by keeping the concentration of diazoalkane in the reaction mixture as low as possible. For this purpose, the automated, slow addition of the diazoalkane to a mixture of catalyst and substrate (e.g. by means of a pump or a syringe motor) has proven to be a very valuable technique. 

Sulfonium ylides R2S=CR 2 [672,673] and metallated sulfones [674-676] can cyclopropanate simple alkenes upon catalysis with copper and nickel complexes (Table 3.6). Because of the increased nucleophilicity and basicity of these ylides, compared with diazoalkanes, these reagents are prone to numerous side-reactions,... 

Table 3.5. Transition-metal-catalyzed cyclopropanations with diazoalkanes.

Rhodium(I) and ruthenium(II) complexes containing NHCs with hemilabile ether moieties were successfully applied as catalysts for the cyclopropanation of olefins with diazoalkanes [Eq. (53)]. ... 

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