Dihalocarbene

Treatment of geminal dihalocyclopropyl compounds with a strong base such as butyl lithium has been for several years the most versatile method for cumulenes. The dihalo compounds are easily obtained by addition of dihalocarbenes to double--bond systems If the dihalocyclopropanes are reacted at low temperatures with alkyllithium, a cyclopropane carbenoid is formed, which in general decomposes above -40 to -50°C to afford the cumulene. Although at present a number of alternative methods are available , the above-mentioned synthesis is the only suitable one for cyclic cumulenes [e.g. 1,2-cyclononadiene and 1,2,3-cyclodecatriene] and substituted non-cyclic cumulenes [e.g. (CH3)2C=C=C=C(CH3)2]. 

Dihalocarbenes are formed when trihalomethanes are treated with a strong base such as potassium tert butoxide The trihalomethyl anion produced on proton abstraction dissociates to a dihalocarbene and a halide anion... 

The process in which a dihalocarbene is formed from a tnhalomethane is an ehmi nation m which a proton and a halide are lost from the same carbon It is an a elimination When generated m the presence of an alkene dihalocarbenes undergo cycloaddi tion to the double bond to give dihalocyclopropanes... 

The reaction of dihalocarbenes with alkenes is stereospecific and syn addition is observed... 

Thus with dihalocarbenes we have the interesting case of a species that resem bles both a carbanion (unshared pair of electrons on carbon) and a carbocation (empty p orbital) Which structural feature controls its reactivity s Does its empty p orbital cause It to react as an electrophile s Does its unshared pair make it nucleophilic s By compar mg the rate of reaction of CBi2 toward a series of alkenes with that of typical electrophiles toward the same alkenes (Table 14 4) we see that the reactivity of CBi2... 

The reaction of dihalocarbenes with isoprene yields exclusively the 1,2- (or 3,4-) addition product, eg, dichlorocarbene CI2C and isoprene react to give l,l-dichloro-2-methyl-2-vinylcyclopropane (63). The evidence for the presence of any 1,4 or much 3,4 addition is inconclusive (64). The cycloaddition reaction of l,l-dichloro-2,2-difluoroethylene to isoprene yields 1,2- and 3,4-cycloaddition products in a ratio of 5.4 1 (65). The main product is l,l-dichloro-2,2-difluoro-3-isopropenylcyclobutane, and the side product is l,l-dichloro-2,2-difluoro-3-methyl-3-vinylcyclobutane. When the dichlorocarbene is generated from CHCl plus aqueous base with a tertiary amine as a phase-transfer catalyst, the addition has a high selectivity that increases (for a series of diolefins) with a decrease in activity (66) (see Catalysis, phase-TRANSFEr). For isoprene, both mono-(l,2-) and diadducts (1,2- and 3,4-) could be obtained in various ratios depending on which amine is used. 

In dihalocarbene generation by phase-transfer catalysis the following steps seem to be involved (15) formation of CX anions dynamically anchored at the boundary reversible detachment with the help of the catalyst reversible carbene formation [Q+ CX3 ] [Q + X ] + CX2 addition to olefin. 

Carbene Reactions. The best procedure for preparing dihalocarbene adducts of olefins consists in stirring a haloform—methylene chloride solution with an excess of concentrated aqueous caustic soda in the presence of hen 2y1triethy1 amm onium chloride. Even stericahy hindered and electronically deactivated compounds give excellent yields (32). Mixed dihalocarbenes, CXY (X,Y = E, Cl, Br, I), except for CE2, can be prepared. 

In this review an attempt is made to discuss all the important interactions of highly reactive divalent carbon derivatives (carbenes, methylenes) and heterocyclic compounds and the accompanying molecular rearrangements. The most widely studied reactions have been those of dihalocarbenes, particularly dichlorocarbene, and the a-ketocarbenes obtained by photolytic or copper-catalyzed decomposition of diazo compounds such as diazoacetic ester or diazoacetone. The reactions of diazomethane with heterocyclic compounds have already been reviewed in this series. ... 

The only known reaction of a furan with a dihalocarbene is that recently reported between benzofuran and dichlorocarbene in hexane at 0°. The initial adduct (7) could not be isolated but on hydrolysis gave the ring-expanded product 8, possibly via 9, in 15% yield. Benzothiophene was recovered in 92% yield under the same conditions. 2,5-Dihydrofuran reacted with dichloro- and dibromo-carbene to give the products of allylic insertion, 2-dihalogenomethyl-2,5-dihydrofuran, as well as the normal addition products. ... 

More useful for synthetic purposes, however, is the combination of the zinc-copper couple with methylene iodide to generate carbene-zinc iodide complex, which undergoes addition to double bonds exclusively to form cyclopropanes (7). The base-catalyzed generation of halocarbenes from haloforms (2) also provides a general route to 1,1-dihalocyclopropanes via carbene addition, as does the nonbasic generation of dihalocarbenes from phenyl(trihalomethyl)mercury compounds. Details of these reactions are given below. 

Haloforms react with potassium /-butoxide to form dihalocarbenes, which add smoothly to olefins giving 1,1-dihalocyclopropanes (2). The reaction does not appear... 

III. Dihalocarbenes from Phenyl(trihalomethyl)mercury Compounds... 

Seyferth (7) discovered that phenyl(trihalomethyl)mercury compounds decompose when heated in a solvent giving dihalocarbenes. When the solvent contains a suitable olefin, carbene addition occurs giving 1,1-dihalocyclopropane derivatives. The reaction has the advantage that strong base is not required in the reaction mixture, and base-... 

Diphenylcyclopropenone has also been prepared by the action of phenylchlorocarbcne on phenylketene acetal4 and by the reaction of dihalocarbene with diphenylacetylene.5 The present procedure 6 is the most convenient on a preparative scale. 

W. E. Parham and H. E. Reiff, J. Amer. Client. Soe., 77, 1177 (1955) and subsequent papers on the reaction of mdenes with dihalocarbenes to yield /Mialonaphthalenes. 

The cycloaddition reactions of dihalocarbenes (CF2, CCI2, CBr2) with pairs of alkenes have also been studied ... 

Carbenes and substituted carbenes add to double bonds to give cyclopropane derivatives ([1 -f 2]-cycloaddition). Many derivatives of carbene (e.g., PhCH, ROCH) ° and Me2C=C, and C(CN)2, have been added to double bonds, but the reaction is most often performed with CH2 itself, with halo and dihalocarbenes, " and with carbalkoxycarbenes (generated from diazoacetic esters). Alkylcarbenes (HCR) have been added to alkenes, but more often these rearrange to give alkenes (p. 252). The carbene can be generated in any of the ways normally used (p. 249). However, most reactions in which a cyclopropane is formed by treatment of an alkene with a carbene precursor do not actually involve free carbene... 

Dihalocarbenes and carbenoids, which readily add to C=C bonds (15-62), do not generally add to the C=0 bonds of ordinary aldehydes and ketones. See also 16-56. 

Ihe A -benzoyl ester 117 undergoes dihalocarbene addition to yield the cycloadduct 118 <96JCS(P1)2553>. Attempted ring-expansions of 118 were unsuccessful. 

Dihalocarbene complexes are useful precursors to new carbenes by nucleophilic displacement of the chlorine substituents. This has been nicely illustrated for Fe(TPP)(=CCl2) by its reaction with two equivalents of Re(CO)5J to give the unusual /t-carbido complex Fe(TPP)=C=Re(CO)4Re(CO)5 which also contains a rhenium-rhenium bond. " The carbido carbon resonance was observed at 211.7 ppm in the C NMR spectrum. An X-ray crystal structure showed a very short Fe=C bond (1.605(13) A, shorter than comparable carbyne complexes) and a relatively long Re=C bond (1.957( 12) A) (Fig. 4, Table III). " ... 

Before our studies, high temperatures (>600°C) had usually been used to generate dichlorocarbene in the gas phase. Based on trapping experiments we have shown that the trihalomethyl mercury derivatives RHgCHals, which were successfully used earlier as sources of dihalocarbenes in solution (Seyferth, 1972), are also convenient precursors of carbenes in the gas phase (Mal tsev etaL, 1971a,b). 

The preference for formation of dihalocarbenes (but not the trihalomethyl radicals) upon thermolysis of trihalomethyl mercury, silicon and germanium derivatives seems to be a result of intermolecular coordination, of type [1], and of a thermodynamic preference for the carbene-forming pathway. The... 

In contrast to the compounds CI3MCCI3 (M = Si, Ge) and Si2Cl6, hexahaloethanes [100] do not produce dihalocarbenes under vacuum pyrolysis. Instead, homolysis of the C—C bond takes place, giving the radicals, or dehalogenation of [100] yields the corresponding tetrahaloethylenes (Nefedov et al., 1976 Svyatkin et al., 1977). 

Cyclic polyethylene oxides) ( Crown ethers ), Potassium hydroxide Le Goaller, R. etal., Synth. Comm., 1982, 12, 1163-1169 Crown ethers promote dihalocarbene formation from chloroform or bromoform and potassium hydroxide. However, in absence of diluent dichloromethane, dropwise addition of bromoform to the base in cyclohexane led to explosions. 

---