Difluorocarbene, reactions

Trifluoromethylzinc compounds can be prepared via the direct reaction of dihaloditluoromethane with zinc powder in DMF [J5] (equation 24) In this reaction, the DMF functions both as solvent and reactant Mechanistic experiments support a difluorocarbene reaction intermediate Indeed, a mixture of zinc and difluorodibromomethane in THF has been used for the synthesis of gewi-difluo-ro-cyclopropane derivatives [34 (equaUon 25)... 

In comparison to other dihalocarbenes, difluorocarbene reactions are less well investigated. Invariably, difluorocarbene is generated thermally and a number of reagents have been investigated.19,45 The method... 

Carboxylic acids, sulfonic acids, and alcohols could also be used as substrates of difluorocarbene reactions, yielding compounds 197,198, and 199 210... 

Thermal Reactions. Those perfluoroepoxides that contain a CF2 group in the epoxide ring undergo a smooth decomposition at relatively mild, neutral conditions (140—220°C) to give a perfluorocarbonyl compound and difluorocarbene (16,17) (eq. 1). 

Perfluoroisobutylene Oxide PIBO has been prepared primarily by the addition of difluorocarbene to hexafluoroacetone or by the reaction... 

Difluoroaminofluorodiazirine (225) extrudes nitrogen at only 75 °C. Intramolecular stabilization gives trifluoromethylenimine (226) added tetrafluoroethylene is cyclopropa-nated. This type of dichotomy is not often found in carbene chemistry alkylcarbenes undergo intramolecular stabilization as a rule, whereas intermolecular stabilization is observed exclusively with alkoxycarbonylcarbenes and with difluorocarbene. In the latter case CF2 attacks its precursor when no other reaction partner is present. 

The reaction of the ethynylestradiol derivative (50) with difluorocarbene represents an equally fascinating series of reactions. The major product obtained in 48% yield is the difluorocyclopropene (51). The latter is hydrolyzed to the cyclopropenone (53), and is readily alkylated at C-21 to (54), which is also obtained by difluoromethylation of the propynyl derivative (57). The cyclopropenone (53) loses carbon monoxide at elevated temperature to... 

Condensatron between lithium acetylides and dibromodifluoromethane [124] or dichlorofluoromethane [125] leads to fluorohaloacetylenes (equation 107) Sodium alkyl malonates are also alkylated by dihalogenodifluoromethanes [124] (equation 108) These reactions involve difluorocarbene as intermediate (for the mechanism of the Cp2Br2 condensation, see equation 15)... 

Copyrolysis of 1,1-diehloroperfluoroindane and chlorodifluoromethane or tetrafluoroethylene gives 1-perfluoromethyleneindane as the major product and three minor products [3] (equation 2) Insertion of difluorocatbene into the benzylic carbon-chlorine bond and subsequent loss of a chlonne molecule is observed in the copyrolysis of chlorodifluoromethane and pentafluorobenzotnchlonde to give a-chloroperfluorostyrene as the major product. Aromatic carbon-chlorine bonds are unreactive to the difluorocarbene in this reaction [4] (equation 3). 

Tnmethyl(trifluororaethyl)tin can also be prepared via in situ formation and capture of tnfluorometbide by trimethyltin chlonde [13, 14] (equation 9) This tin analogue has been used as a precursor for difluorocarbene either by thermal decomposition or by reaction with sodium iodide m 1,2-dimethoxyethane This carbene generation procedure has been used to study difluorocarbene selectivity with steroidal olefins [75] (equation 10). 

Dialkylcadmium reagents are often useful alternatives to the more reactive Gngnard reagents in the preparation of ketones from acyl halides However, bis(trifluotomethyl)cadmium glyme is decomposed by acyl halides and does not give trifluoromethyl ketones [, 124] Nevertheless, this reaction can be used as a low-temperature source of difluorocarbene [S, 124] (equation 102)... 

The phosphonium salt method works best with nucleophilic olefins [//, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19] (Table 1 and equations 1-3) and has been used m mechanistically important studies of difluorocarbene additions to norbornadienes [20 21, 22, 23] that provided the first example of a concerted homo-l,4-addition (equation 4) A recent modification uses catalytic 1,4,7,10,13,16 hexaoxacyclooctadecane (18-crown-6) to shorten reaction times and increase yields with less nucleophilic olefins [12] (Table 1) Neither procedure, however, compares with the use of phenyl(tri-f1uoromethyl)mercury or (trifluoromethyl)trimethyltin reagents [efficient reactions with less nucleophilic olefins (equations 3 and 5) and cyclic dienes [24, 25] (equations 6 and 7)... 

The use of dibromodifluoromethane with zinc [26] or lead metal [27] is a simple, economical method for generating difluorocarbene under mild conditions, but the reaction is limited to highly nucleophilic olefins (equation 8)... 

Similarly, fluorosulfonyldifluoroacetic acid can be decarboxylated easily to give difluoromethanesulfonic acid by using catalytic amounts of sodium chloride, but the reaction can proceed readily to the next step, resulting in loss of sulfur dioxide and formation of difluorocarbene [101, 102] (equations 68 and 69)... 

The common side reaction in most thermal studies of fluorine-substituted cyclopropanes is difluorocarbene extrusion Increasing the number of fluonne substituents on the cyclopropane ring significantly increases the rate of difluorocarbene extrusion [135, 136, 137]... 

It is well known that azomethine ylides, which are usually formed in situ, are very good substrates for 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. The group of Novikov and Khlebnikov [328] generated such a 1,3-dipol by reaction of difluorocarbene formed from CBr2F2 (2-626) with the imine 2-627. Cycloaddition of the obtained 2-629 with an ac-... 

Although highly reactive, 2/7-azirines are of considerable synthetic interest and serve as a source of the 3-fluoro-4//-l, 3-diazepines 86. Reaction of 80 with difluorocarbene in the presence of furfural gave 86, rather than the expected furfural-derived products 83. Rearrangement of the initial 1,3-dipolar intermediate 81 to 84 and then cycloaddition of 84 with 80 are proposed as key steps in the reaction the intermediate cycloadduct 85 gave 86 on base-induced elimination of HF. Nucleophilic displacement of the fluoro group in 86 provided access to further substituted 1,3-diazepines <06TL639>. 

The metathesis reaction of fluorinated alkyl iodides with reagents such as CdMe2 is a well-established procedure for the synthesis of fluoroalkyl cadmium derivatives. A recent application of this method has allowed for the synthesis of compound 186, as shown in Scheme 22.248 This reaction is accompanied by formation of 187, which results from the insertion of the difluorocarbene in the methyl-cadmium bond. Presumably, the difluorocarbene is generated by a radicalar process involving HCF2I and CdMe2. 

Regioselective N-difluoromethylation of 3-phenyl 1,2,4-triazole 39 has been achieved using chlorodifluoromethane in the presence of a base. The reaction yielded a mixture of the three possible products 40-42 and proceeds by the insertion of a difluorocarbene into an N-H bond (Equation 10) <1998JFC(92)141>. 

Domino reactions of imines with difluorocarbene in the presence of electron-deficient alkynes lead to 2-fluoropyrroles. For instance, reaction of A-benzylideneaniline (18) with difluorocarbene yields an intermediate azomethine ylide 19 capable of undergoing 1,3-... 

Di-0-isopropylidene-a-D-rtbo-hexofuranos-3-ulose (100) was treated with (chlorofluoromethylene)triphenylphosphorane (prepared by reaction of triphenylphosphine on difluorocarbene generated in situ by reaction of potassium ferf-butoxide with dichloro-fluoromethane), to give cis- and rans-3-C-(chlorofluoromethylene)-3-deoxy-l,2 5,6-di-0-isopropylidene-a-D-ribo- (101 and 103) and -xyfo-hexofuranoses (105 and 107), which, on treatment with lithium aluminum hydride, gave cis- and frans-3-deoxy-3-C-(fluoromethyl)-1,2 5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-a-D-rtbo- (102 and 104) and -xyZo-hexofura-... 

Difluorocarbene cannot be generated (<1%) under liquiddiquid phase-transfer catalytic conditions [29] owing to the rapid hydrolysis of the carbene at the interface [30], although it has been indicated that it is possible to obtain low yields of 1,1-difluorocyclopropanes under soliddiquid conditions [1]. More successful is the reaction of dibromomethane and dibromodifluoromethane under basic conditions. It is assumed that the initially formed dibromomethyl anion is transported into the organic phase where an equilibrium reaction with dibromodifluoromethane produces the bromodifluoromethyl anion and, subsequently, the difluorocarbene [31]. 

CVD processes can also be used to grow polymers from nanocarbons. An important example is the coating of a CNT forest with a thin layer of poly(tetrafluorethlylene) (PTFE) via hot filament CVD to produce a superhydrophobic substrate [245]. Here, a vertically aligned MWCNT forest was prepared and placed in a CVD reaction chamber. Hexafluorpropylene oxide gas was then thermally decomposed to form the reactive radical difluorocarbene (CF2) and flowed over the CNT substrate along with a small amount of initiator where direct polymerization of PTFE onto the CNTs occurred [245]. 

The much greater stability of difluorocarbene than methylene allows it to undergo many collisions in the gas phase without reaction, and has therefore been found to be a prominent specie in plasmas excited in fluorocarbons. In contrast to this, plasmas excited in hydrocarbons are often dominated by a high partial pressure of hydrogen. 

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