Electrophilic allylation mechanism

Electrochemistry (Continued) purely organic compounds, 342 sulfide oxidation, 361 Electrode materials, 342 Electrophilic allylation, 192 attractive interaction, 196 mechanism, 192, 197 turnover-limiting step, 197 Electroreaction, asymmetric, 342 Electrostatic interaction, 328 Elimination and insertion, 3 Enamide reactions ... 

Most electrophilic allylic rearrangements involve loss of hydrogen, but they have also been observed with metallic leaving groups. Sleezer, Winstein, and Young found that crotylmercuric bromide reacted with HCl 10 times faster than n-butyl-mercuric bromide and the product was >99% 1-butene. " These facts point to an SeI mechanism (lUPAC designation cyclo- l >ID k nk ... 

Fig. 23. Mechanism of nucleophilic and electrophilic allyl coupling reactions catalyzed by Ru complexes.

Heterolytic cleavage of the tin-carbon bond is reviewed in references (94-96). Cleavage by electrophiles (e.g, HgXj or halogen) is dominated by electrophilic attack at carbon, and cleavage by nucleophiles principally involves nucleophilic attack at tin. Much of the interest in these processes centers on the intermediate mechanisms that may exist between these extremes, in which electrophilic attack is accompanied by some nucleophilic assistance, and vice versa. Allylic, al-lenic, and propargylic compoimds show a special reactivity by a special (Se2 or SE2y) mechanism. 

This type of process is analogous to the nucleophilic allylic rearrangements discussed in Chapter 10 (p. 420). There are two principal pathways. The first of these is analogous to the SeI mechanism in that the leaving group is first removed, giving a resonance-stabilized allylic carbanion, and then the electrophile attacks. 

This reaction, for which the termprototmpic rearrangement is sometimes used, is an example of electrophilic substitution with accompanying allylic rearrangement. The mechanism involves abstraction by the base to give a resonance-stabilized carbanion, which then combines with a proton at the position that will give the more... 

The mechanism is usually electrophilic (see p. 972), but when free-radical initiators (or UV light) are present, addition can occur by a free-radical mechanism. Once Br-or Cl- radicals are formed, however, substitution may compete (14-1 and 14-2). This is espiecially important when the alkene has allylic hydrogens. Under free-radical conditions (UV light) bromine or chlorine adds to the benzene ring to give, respectively, hexabromo- and hexachlorocyclohexane. These are mixtures of stereoisomers (see p. 161). ... 

Both allenes141 and alkynes142 require special consideration with regard to mechanisms of electrophilic addition. The attack by a proton on allene might conceivably lead to the allyl cation or the 2-propenyl cation. 

Allylic silanes and stannanes react with various electrophiles with demetallation. These reactions can occur via several related mechanisms. Both types of reactants can deliver alkylic groups to electrophilic centers such as carbonyl and iminium. 

There are, however, serious problems that must be overcome in the application of this reaction to synthesis. The product is a new carbocation that can react further. Repetitive addition to alkene molecules leads to polymerization. Indeed, this is the mechanism of acid-catalyzed polymerization of alkenes. There is also the possibility of rearrangement. A key requirement for adapting the reaction of carbocations with alkenes to the synthesis of small molecules is control of the reactivity of the newly formed carbocation intermediate. Synthetically useful carbocation-alkene reactions require a suitable termination step. We have already encountered one successful strategy in the reaction of alkenyl and allylic silanes and stannanes with electrophilic carbon (see Chapter 9). In those reactions, the silyl or stannyl substituent is eliminated and a stable alkene is formed. The increased reactivity of the silyl- and stannyl-substituted alkenes is also favorable to the synthetic utility of carbocation-alkene reactions because the reactants are more nucleophilic than the product alkenes. 

Selenium dioxide is a useful reagent for allylic oxidation of alkenes. The products can include enones, allylic alcohols, or allylic esters, depending on the reaction conditions. The mechanism consists of three essential steps (a) an electrophilic ene reaction with Se02, (b) a [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement that restores the original location of the double bond, and (c) solvolysis of the resulting selenium ester.183... 

The palladium-catalyzed multicomponent coupling reactions have attracted considerable interest.12,12a 12e A reaction using allylstannane 39 and allyl chloride 40 was applied to the three-component diallylation of benzylidenema-lonitrile and its congeners by Yamamoto et al 2 Analogous diallylation of isocyanate 41 was studied by Szabo et al. (Scheme 7).12a The reaction mechanism can be explained by formation of an amphoteric bis-allylpalladium intermediate 43 which undergoes an initial electrophilic attack on one of the allyl moieties followed by a nucleophilic attack on the other. 

The group R1 can be allyl, acyl, or alkynyl, and arynes can also act as the acceptors. The catalysts are usually Ni(cod)2, or ligated palladium. The mechanisms are not understood in detail, but a catalytic cycle involving the product of oxidative addition, Sn-M-R1, is thought to be involved. The stannylalkenes that are formed can then be subjected to reaction with electrophiles (e.g., AczO or RCH=0), or to coupling reactions in the presence of transition metals (e.g., the Stille reaction). 

Good diastereoselectivity was obtained with BQ as the oxidant in acidic media but the reaction times were relatively long (1-2 days at 40 °C). Using the copper(II)-oxy-gen system in slightly basic media permits a much faster reaction (0.5-1 h at 20 °C) with better isolated yields but with poor or even reversed diastereoselectivity. The slower reaction with BQ as oxidant is due to the fact that this oxidant requires an acidic medium, which lowers the nucleophilicity of the acid moiety. It is also likely that BQ or copper(II) has to coordinate to palladium(II) before the second nucleophile can attack to make the Jt-allyl complex more electrophilic. Coordination of cop-per(II) would make a more electrophilic intermediate than coordination of BQ. The relation between reaction time and diastereoselectivity supports a mechanism analogous to that in Scheme 17.7. 

One possible mechanism is electrophilic attack of the complexed carbene carbon atom at the terminal carbon of the diene. The resulting zwitterionic intermediate can now eliminate the metallic group (CO)5M directly, or, alternatively, the metallic group can migrate to yield a new, more stable zwitterion (stabilization of the allyl cation by the heteroatom X). 

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