Dihalocarbenes, reactions

Trichloromethyl lithium (generated from BrCCl3 and CH3Li at —100 °C) adds to dialkyl acetylenes and to monoalkyl acetylenes23, thus monoalkyl cyclopropenones became accessible which could not be obtained from terminal acetylenes by reaction with the above carbene sources. The 3,3-dihaIogeno-A1,2-cycIopropenes formed as primary products in the dihalocarbene reactions are usually not isolated, but are hydrolyzed directly to cyclopropenones. 

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. 

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... 

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... 

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). " ... 

Dihalocarbene ligands, like other neutral 2-e donor carbon ligands, are expected to participate in migratory-insertion reactions when bound adjacent to a rx-bound alkyl or hydride ligand. An example is provided by the following reaction (119) ... 

Independently Volpin17 synthesized diphenyl cyclopropenone from diphenyl-acetylene and dibromo carbene (CHBr3/K-tert.-butoxide). This reaction principle of (2 + 1) cycloaddition of dihalocarbenes or appropriate carbene sources ( caibenoids ) to acetylenic triple bonds followed by hydrolysis was developed to a general synthesis... 

Reaction Chemistry of CF2. The reactions of CF2 that have been studied to date fall conveniently into two categories reaction in solution and reaction in the gas phase. Recently, however, there have also been some investigations of the reactions of matrix-isolated CF2. No attempt will be made in this article to recount the large number of investigations into solution-phase dihalocarbene chemistry a brief summary of dihalocarbene solution chemistry will be given in the following section. The interested reader is directed to several reviews of this subject 4 ... 

The advantages of this method of carbene synthesis are that reaction can be carried out in neutral solution, and that reaction yields are often dramatically improved. Thus, although reactions of dihalocarbenes generally do not give rise to products corresponding to single bond insertion, Seyferth has reported insertion of phenyl (trihalomethyl) mercury-generated carbenes into... 

Much of the literature regarding dihalocarbenes is concerned with reactions of CX2 with olefinic substrates to give 1,1-dihalocyclopropane derivatives. These reactions occur with retention of stereospecificity, as expected for singlet carbenes. Dihalocarbenes also exhibit strong electrophilic behavior towards olefins, and will often not react with weakly nucleophilic species if stronger nucleophiles are present. 

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