Dichlorocarbene, formation

Claisen rearrangement, 660 conjugate carbonyl addition reaction, 725-726 Curtius rearrangement, 935 cyanohydrin formation, 707 dichlorocarbene formation, 227 Dieckmann cyclization reaction, 892-893... 

Electron deficient species can attack the unshared electron pairs of heteroatoms, to form ylides, such as in the reaction of thietane with bis(methoxycarbonyl)carbene. The S —C ylide rearranges to 2,2-bis(methoxycarbonyl)thiolane (Section 5.14.3.10.1). A"-Ethoxycar-bonylazepine, however, is attacked by dichlorocarbene at the C=C double bonds, with formation of the trans tris-homo compound (Section 5.16.3.7). 

The reaction of iminium salts such as 66 with salts of trichloroacetic acid has been shown to yield amides such as 84 on hydrolysis 126). It was suggested that the reaction proceeds by addition of dichlorocarbene to give an aziridinium intermediate (85), which was opened by trichloroacetate followed by hydrolysis to give the observed products 126). The observed products from the reaction can be accounted for by formation of CCI3,... 

The idea that dichlorocarbene is an intermediate in the basic hydrolysis of chloroform is now one hundred years old. It was first suggested by Geuther in 1862 to explain the formation of carbon monoxide, in addition to formate ions, in the reaction of chloroform (and similarly, bromoform) with alkali. At the end of the last century Nef interpreted several well-known reactions involving chloroform and a base in terms of the intermediate formation of dichlorocarbene. These reactions included the ring expansion of pyrroles to pyridines and of indoles to quinolines, as well as the Hofmann carbylamine test for primary amines and the Reimer-Tiemann formylation of phenols. 

During the next fifty years the interest in derivatives of divalent carbon was mainly confined to methylene (CHg) and substituted methylenes obtained by decomposition of the corresponding diazo compounds this phase has been fully reviewed by Huisgen. The first convincing evidence for the formation of dichlorocarbene from chloroform was presented by Hine in 1950. Kinetic studies of the basic hydrolysis of chloroform in aqueous dioxane led to the suggestion that the rate-determining step was loss of chloride ion from the tri-chloromethyl anion which is formed in a rapid pre-equilibrium with hydroxide ions ... 

The actual formylation process is preceded by the formation of dichlorocarbene 3 as the reactive species. In strongly alkaline solution, the chloroform is deproto-nated the resulting trichloromethide anion decomposes into dichlorocarbene and a chloride anion ... 

Mechanism of the formation of dichlorocarbene by reaction of chloroform with strong base,... 

Benzodiazepines undergo addition of dichlorocarbene, produced from chloroform and sodium hydroxide under phase-transfer conditions (see Houben-Weyl, Vol. El9b, p 1 523 fif) to give 2H-bisazirino[l,2-a 2, Y-d 1,5]benzodiazepines, e.g. formation of 28.301... 

The catalytic conditions (aqueous concentrated sodium hydroxide and tetraalkylammonium catalyst) are very useful in generating dihalo-carbenes from the corresponding haloforms. Dichlorocarbene thus generated reacts with alkenes to give high yields of dichlorocyclopropane derivatives,16 even in cases where other methods have failed,17 and with some hydrocarbons to yield dicholromethyl derivatives.18 Similar conditions are suited for the formation and reactions of dibromocar-benc,19 bromofluoro- and chlorofluorocarbene,20 and chlorothiophenoxy carbene,21 as well as the Michael addition of trichloromethyl carbanion to unsaturated nitriles, esters, and sulfones.22... 

The most common example is formation of dichlorocarbene by treatment of chloroform with a base (see Reaction 10-3) and geminal alkyl dihalides with Me3Sn but many other examples are known, such as... 

This reaction can proceed by 1,1-proton abstraction to form a carbene radical anion, but can also occur by l,n-abstraction to form the negative ion of a diradical. Thus, reaction of O with methylene chloride results in the formation of CCI2 (Eq. S.Sa), reaction with ethylene gives vinylidene radical anion, H2CC (Eq. 5.8b), and the reaction with acetonitrile gives the radical anion of cyanomethylene, HCCN (Eq. 5.8c) Investigations of these ions have been used to determine the thermochemical properties of dichlorocarbene, CCI2, vinylidene, and cyanomethylene. ... 

Section D illustrates formation of carbenes from halides by a-elimination. The carbene precursors are formed either by deprotonation (Entries 14 and 17) or halogen-metal exchange (Entries 15 and 16). The carbene additions can take place at low temperature. Entry 17 is an example of generation of dichlorocarbene from chloroform under phase transfer conditions. 

Furthermore, the addition of dichlorocarbene to ene-ynes proved to be remarkably sensitive to substituent effects. Trans-1,4-diphenyl butenyne gave only the cyclopropenone 17 via hydrolysis of dichlorocyclopropene 16, however, 2-methyl-pentene-l-yne-3 favored the formation of the dichlorocyclopropane 18 with only traces of products resulting from addition to the triple bond ... 

The methods summarized by Eqs. 8 and 9 have both been applied to halocarbenes. The proton affinities obtained by ICR bracketing125 (Table 6) are consistently lower than those derived from enthalpies of formation (Table 7). The case of dichlorocarbene, with a difference in AH of 15 kcal/mol), is particularly disturbing and has been analysed in some detail.134 Notably, the PA of CCl2 from an earlier bracketing experiment126 was closer to the enthalpy-derived PA. The discrepant results from similar experiments125126 indicate that HCClJ is not a good substrate for proton transfer studies. 

Compared with the classical procedures, which employ chloroform and dry potassium /ert-butoxide, Makosza s method is several magnitudes superior, in spite of the normally recognized requirements that the dichlorocarbene should be produced under totally anhydrous conditions. Several early reports of the reactions of dichlorocarbene, generated by Makosza s procedure, led to suggestions that the activity of the carbene was considerably greater than that of the classically produced carbenes. This assumption was based on the overall higher yields of dichlorocyclopropanes derived from the reaction with alkenes, and upon the observation that weakly activated alkenes reacted with Makosza carbenes, but not with the classically produced carbenes. A consideration of the mechanism of formation of the carbenes under phase-transfer catalytic conditions exposes the fallacies in the assumptions. 

Solidtliquid phase-transfer catalysed formation and reaction of dichlorocarbene... 

When a carbonyl group and an amino group are present within the same molecule, reaction with dichlorocarbene favours, somewhat unexpectedly, electrophilic attack on the carbonyl group [ 14, 15]. Although no confirmatory evidence is available, such a reaction pathway (Scheme 7.17) would explain the formation of the ring... 

Diols generally react with dichlorocarbene to produce a mixture of alkenes and chlorinated cyclopropanes or chloroalkanes, depending on the reaction conditions whereas, under phase-transfer catalysed conditions, the major products are the alkenes and epoxides produced by ring closure of the initial adduct (Scheme 7.20) [14]. When an excess of chloroform is used, further reaction of the alkenes with dichlorocarbene produces the cycloadducts. In addition to the formation of the alkene and epoxide, 1,2-dihydroxycyclooctane yields cyclooctanone, via a 1,2-hydride shift within the intermediate carbenium ion. 

Although the extraction of primary amines from a basic medium with chloroform is an inadvisable procedure, on account of the formation of trace amounts of the pungent isonitriles, the specific synthesis of isonitriles by the two-phase reaction of primary amines with chloroform is unreliable. However, the application of the phase-transfer technique [e.g. 1 -5] for the controlled release of dichlorocarbene facilitates the synthesis of isonitriles in relatively high yields (Table 7.12). 

Compared with primary and secondary amines, tertiary amines are virtually unreac-tive towards carbenes and it has been demonstrated that they behave as phase-transfer catalysts for the generation of dichlorocarbene from chloroform. For example, tri-n-butylamine and its hydrochloride salt have the same catalytic effect as tetra-n-butylammonium chloride in the generation of dichlorocarbene and its subsequent insertion into the C=C bond of cyclohexene [20]. However, tertiary amines are generally insufficiently basic to deprotonate chloroform and the presence of sodium hydroxide is normally required. The initial reaction of the tertiary amine with chloroform, therefore, appears to be the formation of the A -ylid. This species does not partition between the two phases and cannot be responsible for the insertion reaction of the carbene in the C=C bond. Instead, it has been proposed that it acts as a lipophilic base for the deprotonation of chloroform (Scheme 7.26) to form a dichloromethylammonium ion-pair, which transfers into the organic phase where it decomposes to produce the carbene [21]. 

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