Electron-deficient species, diazomethane

Additions to Electron-deficient Species. Diazomethane will also add to highly electrophilic species such as sulfenes or im-minium salts to give the corresponding three-memheredring heterocycles. When the reaction is performed on sulfenes, the products are episulfones which are intermediates in the Ramherg-Backlund rearrangement, and are therefore precursors for the s)mthesis of alkenes via chelotropic extrusion of SO2. The sulfenes are typically prepared in situ by treatment of a sulfonyl chloride with a mild base, such as Triethylamine (eq 47). Similarly, the addition of diazomethane to imminium salts has been used to methyle-nate carbonyls. In this case, the intermediate aziridinium salt is treated with a strong base, such as Butyllithium, in order to induce elimination (eq 48). 

Reactions of fluorinated dipolarophiles. Electron-deficient unsaturated species generally make better dipolarophiles, therefore, fluonnated alkenes become better dipolarophiles when vinylic fluonnes are replaced by perfluoroalkyl groups For example, perfluoro-2-butene is unreactive with diazomethane, but more highly substituted perfluoroalkenes, such as perfluoro-2-methyl-2-pentene, undergo cycloadditions in high yields [5] (equation 2) Note the regiospecificity that IS observed in this reaction... 

Confirmation was provided by the observation that the species produced by the photolysis of two different carbene sources (88 and 89) in acetonitrile and by photolysis of the azirine 92 all had the same strong absorption band at 390 nm and all reacted with acrylonitrile at the same rate (fc=4.6 x 10 Af s" ). Rate constants were also measured for its reaction with a range of substituted alkenes, methanol and ferf-butanol. Laser flash photolysis work on the photolysis of 9-diazothioxan-threne in acetonitrile also produced a new band attributed the nitrile ylide 87 (47). The first alkyl-substituted example, acetonitrilio methylide (95), was produced in a similar way by the photolysis of diazomethane or diazirine in acetonitrile (20,21). This species showed a strong absorption at 280 nm and was trapped with a variety of electron-deficient olefinic and acetylenic dipolarophiles to give the expected cycloadducts (e.g., 96 and 97) in high yields. When diazomethane was used as the precursor, the reaction was carried out at —40 °C to minimize the rate of its cycloaddition to the dipolarophile. In the reactions with unsymmetrical dipolarophiles such as acrylonitrile, methyl acrylate, or methyl propiolate, the ratio of regioisomers was found to be 1 1. 

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