Diazomethane complexes

These reactions occur via the initial photodissociation of at least one Nj followed by reaction of the coordinatively unsaturated intermediate with the alkyl bromide . Photolysis of the W species in the presence of dibromomethane gives a diazomethane complex " ... 

There is a reasonably extensive reported chemistry for diazomethane complexes obtained by oxidative addition of a diazomethane to relatively low oxidation state metal complexes. A representative example is given in equation (176). ... 

The reactions of [W(N2)2(diphos)2] with RBr are clearly catalyzed by visible light. The homolytic fission of the R— Br bond that takes place at the metal center is preceded by the loss of one N2 molecule. The resulting C—bond is formed by an alkyl radical attack on the remaining coordinated dinitrogen. Product distribution in these photocatalyzed reactions depends on the solvent and the stability of the free radical. This mechanism is strongly supported by flash photolysis experiments. When gem-dibromides are used in the photo-catalyzed reaction, diazoalkanes are produced. With CH2Br2 for example, the diazomethane complex [WBr(diphos)2(N2CH2)]Br is obtained. More recently it has been shown that some of the diazoalkanes do not react with protonic acids, but that the unique carbon atom is attacked by nucleophiles such as MeLi to yield diazenido complexes. ... 

These compounds generally exist in carbonyl forms. The oxygen function can be converted into halogen by phosphorus halides. Reactions with electrophiles are quite complex. Thus urazole (511) reacts with diazomethane quickly to yield (512), which is more slowly converted into (513). 1-Phenylurazole gives (514) however, 4-phenylurazole yields (515). Oxadiazolinones of type (516) can be alkylated at both O- and N-atoms. 

Cyclic hydroxamic acids and V-hydroxyimides are sufficiently acidic to be (9-methylated with diazomethane, although caution is necessary because complex secondary reactions may occur. N-Hydroxyisatin (105) reacted with diazomethane in acetone to give the products of ring expansion and further methylation (131, R = H or CH3). The benzalphthalimidine system (132) could not be methylated satisfactorily with diazomethane, but the V-methoxy compound was readil3 obtained by alkylation with methyl iodide and potassium carbonate in acetone. In the pyridine series, 1-benzyl-oxy and l-allyloxy-2-pyridones were formed by thermal isomeriza-tion of the corresponding 2-alkyloxypyridine V-oxides at 100°. 

The foregoing investigations which demonstrate the equilibrium character of the primary step in methylation with diazomethane necessitate the additional assumption for Eq. (9) that the complex 1 shows the properties of an oriented ion pair (there is evidence " which can be thus interpreted) and the formation of 1 is reversible. It should be noted that in no stage of the process (including complex 1) is a mesomeric anion formed. A direct methylation is only possible when the compound retains a fixed structure throughout the reaction. 

O Neill and Rooney 90) found that the Mo03-CoO-A1208 catalyst converts diazomethane into nitrogen and ethene under conditions where propene undergoes metathesis. However, because many catalysts are active for this conversion 91), their results cannot be considered as supporting the hypothesis that the metathesis reaction of alkenes proceeds via carbene complexes. 

The first [3S+2C] cycloaddition reaction using a Fischer carbene complex was accomplished by Fischer et al. in 1973 when they reported the reaction of the pentacarbonyl(ethoxy)(phenylethynyl)carbene complex of tungsten and diazomethane to give a pyrazole derivative [45]. But it was 13 years later when Chan and Wulff demonstrated that in fact this was the first example of a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction [46,47a]. The introduction of a bulky trime-thylsilyl group on the diazomethane in order to prevent carbene-carbon olefi-nation leads to the corresponding pyrazole carbene complexes in better yields (Scheme 15). 

The reaction of diazo compounds with amines is similar to 10-15. The acidity of amines is not great enough for the reaction to proceed without a catalyst, but BF3, which converts the amine to the F3B-NHR2 complex, enables the reaction to take place. Cuprous cyanide can also be used as a catalyst. The most common substrate is diazomethane, in which case this is a method for the methylation of amines. Ammonia has been used as the amine but, as in the case of 10-44, mixtures of primary, secondary, and tertiary amines are obtained. Primary aliphatic amines give mixtures of secondary and tertiary amines. Secondary amines give successful alkylation. Primary aromatic amines also give the reaction, but diaryl or arylalkyl-amines react very poorly. 

The reaction of bis(trifluoromethyl)diazomethane with either Ni(CNBu )4 or [Pd(CNR)2] (R = Bu, Cy), also gave interesting complexes (XL) the structure of an analogous species, Pt(PPhj)2(CF3)4C2N2, was determined by X-ray crystallography (43). 

Diazirine is a cyclic isomer of diazomethane. According to the organometallic literature, scission of both C-N and N-N bonds can occur when diazirines interact with metal complexes. The formation of carbene ligands arises from selective cleavage of the C-N bond, whereas selective N-N bond scission results in the formation... 

Reaction of the carbonyl complex 26 with the mercury diazomethane 27 gives the highly reactive 17e intermediate carbyne complex 28 which dimerizes to form the / -biscarbyne complex 30. In this case, the intermediate terminal carbyne complex 28 has been trapped by reaction with the mercury diazomethane 29 to form the cyclic vinylidene complex 31. 31 was also characterized by a single crystal X-ray structure analysis. 

Reactions with Other Substrate Complexes. The ruthenium analog of 45, coordinatively unsaturated RuCl(NO)(PPh3)2, also yields methylene and ethylidene complexes on treatment with diazomethane and diazoethane (39,85). 

The reaction of Vaska s compound (46) with diazomethane was reported in 1966 (81). A diethyl ether suspension of 46 afforded chloromethyl complex 52 on treatment with CH2N2 at -30°C, and a d6 iridium methylene complex 51 was proposed as the likely intermediate ... 

Diazomethane is also decomposed by N O)40 -43 and Pd(0) complexes43 . Electron-poor alkenes such as methyl acrylate are cyclopropanated efficiently with Ni(0) catalysts, whereas with Pd(0) yields were much lower (Scheme 1)43). Cyclopropanes derived from styrene, cyclohexene or 1-hexene were formed only in trace yields. In the uncatalyzed reaction between diazomethane and methyl acrylate, methyl 2-pyrazoline-3-carboxylate and methyl crotonate are formed competitively, but the yield of the latter can be largely reduced by adding an appropriate amount of catalyst. It has been verified that cyclopropane formation does not result from metal-catalyzed ring contraction of the 2-pyrazoline, Instead, a nickel(0)-carbene complex is assumed to be involved in the direct cyclopropanation of the olefin. The preference of such an intermediate for an electron-poor alkene is in agreement with the view that nickel carbenoids are nucleophilic 44). 

The homologation of selenoesters 379 with diazomethane in the presence of Cu or Cul to give a-selenoketones is thought not to involve a carbenoid pathway and an Se-ylide intermediate but rather a tetrahedral species resulting from nucleophilic attack of CH2N2 at the carbonyl carbon atom. The role of the catalyst is seen in facilitating nucleophilic attack at C=0 by complexation at the selenium atom. 

The Lewis acid-Lewis base interaction outlined in Scheme 43 also explains the formation of alkylrhodium complexes 414 from iodorhodium(III) meso-tetraphenyl-porphyrin 409 and various diazo compounds (Scheme 42)398), It seems reasonable to assume that intermediates 418 or 419 (corresponding to 415 and 417 in Scheme 43) are trapped by an added nucleophile in the reaction with ethyl diazoacetate, and that similar intermediates, by proton loss, give rise to vinylrhodium complexes from ethyl 2-diazopropionate or dimethyl diazosuccinate. As the rhodium porphyrin 409 is also an efficient catalyst for cyclopropanation of olefins with ethyl diazoacetate 87,1°°), stj bene formation from aryl diazomethanes 358 and carbene insertion into aliphatic C—H bonds 287, intermediates 418 or 419 are likely to be part of the mechanistic scheme of these reactions, too. 

In 1986, Pfaltz et al. introduced a new type of pseudo C2-symmetrical copper-semicorrin complex (68) as the catalyst (Scheme 60).227 228 The complexes (68) are reduced in situ by the diazo compound or by pretreatment with phenylhydrazine to give monomeric Cu1 species (69), which catalyze cyclopropanation. Of the semicorrin complexes, complex (68a) (R = CMe2OH) showed the best enantioselectivity in the cyclopropanation of terminal and 1,2-disubstituted olefins.227,228,17 It is noteworthy that complex (68a) catalyzes cyclopropanation, using diazomethane as a carbene source, with good enantioselectivity (70-75% ee).17... 

An asymmetric synthesis of the spiropentanes 630, albeit with low enantiomeric excess, was achieved by the reaction of allenes 629 with diazomethane in the presence of an optically pure copper (II) chelate complex (R) or (S)-631 (Scheme 94) [170],... 

The reaction of CO2 with 1,3-butadienes in the presence of Ni catalysts usually gave an isomeric mixture of carboxylic acids 89 and 90 after hydrolysis (Scheme 32).47,48 The oxa-7r-allylnickel complexes 87 and 88 might be the reaction intermediates, which could be formed through oxidative cyclization of Ni(0) with C02 and the dienes. When Me2Zn was used as a transmetallation agent to react with the oxa-7r-allylnickel intermediates under a C02 atmosphere, further carboxylation took place at the 7r-allylnickel unit. Thus, the 1,4-diesters 95 were obtained after acidic hydrolysis and treatment with diazomethane as shown in Scheme 32.47... 

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