Diazoalkanes, preparation

Other catalytic applications of HBF4 include alkene isomerizations, alkylation of alcohols with diazoalkanes, preparations of substituted pyridines, hydrolysis of a-hydroxyketene or a-(methylthio)ketene thioacetals to a,p-unsaturated thioesters, and terpene formation from isoprenic precursors. ... 

N-Alkylations, especially of oxo-di- and tetra-hydro derivatives, e.g. (28)->(29), have been carried out readily using a variety of reagents such as (usual) alkyl halide/alkali, alkyl sulfate/alkali, alkyl halide, tosylate or sulfate/NaH, trialkyloxonium fluoroborate and other Meerwein-type reagents, alcohols/DCCI, diazoalkanes, alkyl carbonates, oxalates or malon-ates, oxosulfonium ylides, DMF dimethyl acetal, and triethyl orthoformate/AcjO. Also used have been alkyl halide/lithium diisopropylamide and in one case benzyl chloride on the thallium derivative. In neutral conditions 8-alkylation is observed and preparation of some 8-nucleosides has also been reported (78JOC828, 77JOC997, 72JOC3975, 72JOC3980). 

Reactions offluorinated dipoles. In recent years, much effort has been devoted to the preparation of tnfluoromethyl-substituted 1,3-dipoles with the goal of using them to introduce trifluoromethyl groups into five-membered nng heterocycles Fluorinated diazoalkanes were the first such 1,3-dipoles to be prepared and used in synthesis A number of reports of cycloadditions of mono- and bis(tnfluo-romethyl)diazomethane appeared prior to 1972 [9] Other types of fluonne-substi-tuted 1,3-dipoles were virtually unknown until only recently However, largely because of the efforts of Tanaka s group, a broad knowledge of the chemistry of tnfluoromethyl-substituted nitrile oxides, nitnle imines, nitnle ylides, and nitrones has been accumulated recently... 

Route b involves the formation of one carbon-carbon bond and one carbon-sulfur bond. It belongs to the category of sulfene chemistry143. Sulfene intermediates react readily with diazoalkanes to produce, after the loss of nitrogen, thiirane dioxides. So far, this appears to be the method of choice for the preparation of thiirane dioxides of all types. 

When diazo ketones are treated with HBr or HCl, they give the respective a-halo ketones, but HI does not give the reaction, since it reduces the product to a methyl ketone (10-87). a-Fluoro ketones can be prepared by addition of the diazo ketone to polyhydrogen fluoride-pyridine. This method is also successful for diazoalkanes. 

An alternative preparation of aziridines reacts an alkene with iodine and chloramine-T (see p. 1056) generating the corresponding A-tosyl aziridine. Bromamine-T (TsNBr Na ) has been used in a similar manner." Diazoalkanes react with imines to give aziridines." Another useful reagent is NsN=IPh, which reacts with alkenes in the presence of rhodium compounds or Cu(OTf)2 to give N—Ns aziridines. Manganese salen catalysts have also been used with this reagent. ... 

Various N-nitroso-AT-alkyl compounds undergo elimination to give diazoalkanes. One of the most convenient methods for the preparation of diazomethane involves base treatment of V-nitroso-V-methyl-p-toluenesulfonamide (illustrated above, with... 

Diazoalkanes are u.seful is precursors to ruthenium and osmium alkylidene porphyrin complexes, and have also been investigated in iron porphyrin chemistry. In an attempt to prepare iron porphyrin carbene complexes containing an oxygen atom on the /(-carbon atom of the carbene, the reaction of the diazoketone PhC(0)C(Ni)CH3 with Fe(TpCIPP) was undertaken. A low spin, diamagnetic carbene complex formulated as Fe(TpCIPP)(=C(CH3)C(0)Ph) was identified by U V-visible and fI NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Addition of CF3CO2H to this rapidly produced the protonated N-alkyl porphyrin, and Bit oxidation in the presence of sodium dithionitc gave the iron(II) N-alkyl porphyrin, both reactions evidence for Fe-to-N migration processes. ... 

To date, several well-established methods are available for the convenient preparation of thiirane oxides, the two main ones being the controlled oxidation of thiiranes and the reaction of sulfenes with diazoalkanes ... 

The diazoalkanes are toxic substances and aay explode on contact with rough surfaces. Consequently, aany workers prefer not to sake large quantities of these aaterials when only snail quantities are needed for derivatization reactions. Sinple aicro-diazoalkane generators capable of rapidly preparing snail quantities of the reagents, as required, are coaaercially available [499-501]. 

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. 

Alkylidene sulfenes (75), generally prepared by the dehydrohalogenation of alkylsulfonyl chlorides, add readily to electron-rich multiple bonds. For example, with enamines, the thietane dioxide (e.g., 76) is formed diazoalkanes yield thiirane dioxides (episulfones) and imines (Schiff bases) afford 1,2-thiazetidine 1,1-dioxides. There are available numerous reviews of sulfenes, including cycloaddition reactions.102... 

The ruthenium carbene complexes 1 discussed in the previous chapter have set the standards in the field of olefin metathesis and are widely appreciated tools for advanced organic synthesis [3]. A serious drawback, however, relates to the preparation of these compounds requiring either 3,3-diphenylcyclopropene or diazoalkanes, i.e. reagents which are rather difficult to make and/or fairly hazardous if used on a large scale [60]. Therefore, a need for metathesis catalysts persists that exhibit essentially the same activity and application profile as 1 but are significantly easier to make. 

It has been shown that [(r]6-arene)RuCl2]2 6 and [(r 6-arene)RuCl2] PR3 7 complexes can be activated in situ to afford active metathesis catalysts, either on treatment with diazoalkanes [15] or by UV irradiation [16]. The structure of the active species thus formed is unknown, but it initiates the ring opening metathesis polymerization reactions (ROMP) of various cycloalkenes very efficiently. Therefore these in situ recipes may also be useful in the context of preparative organic chemistry. 

The alkylation of acids with triazenes is superior to alkylation with diazomethane and other diazoalkanes in that the triazenes are crystalline, stable materials which are easy to prepare and store. Alkylations with triazenes are unlikely to be accompanied by side reactions, such as addition to strained or conjugated double bonds, which are frequently observed in alkylations with diazoalkanes. 

F5TeO(CH2)2OTeF5, cis-[0(CH2)20]TeF4, and related compounds are formed in reactions of TeF with ethylene glycol and other polyhydric alcohols (69). The alkoxotellurium(VI) fluorides isolated so far are distillable liquids with considerable stability against hydrolysis. Some of these compounds have been prepared more easily by reacting diazoalkanes with pentafluoroorthotelluric acid (174), as in Eq. (11) ... 

Fluoroalkanes have been prepared by the catalytic reaction of fluoride ion with diazoalkanes, but little synthetic use has been made of the process [38],... 

Fig. 3.19. First preparation of a stable carbene complex from a diazoalkane [498].

Numerous carbene complexes have since been prepared by this method [1,52,60,499-503], even utilizing highly reactive diazoalkanes such as diazomethane [504], Because of their high nucleophilicity and reactivity, non-acceptor-substituted diazoalkanes can displace even strongly bound ligands, such as phosphines. Examples of such reactions are shown in Figure 3.20. 

Experirnental Procedure 3.1.3. Preparation of a Ruthenium Carbene Complex from a Diazoalkane DichIoro-bis(tiicyelohexylphosphine)benzylidenemthenium... 

Fig. 3.20. Examples of the preparation of non-heteroatom-substituted carbene complexes from diazoalkanes [60,504-506].

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. 

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