Electrophilic cyclopropanes reaction with halides

While a large number of studies have been reported for conjugate addition and Sn2 alkylation reactions, the mechanisms of many important organocopper-promoted reactions have not been discussed. These include substitution on sp carbons, acylation with acyl halides [168], additions to carbonyl compounds, oxidative couplings [169], nucleophilic opening of electrophilic cyclopropanes [170], and the Kocienski reaction [171]. The chemistry of organocopper(II) species has rarely been studied experimentally [172-174], nor theoretically, save for some trapping experiments on the reaction of alkyl radicals with Cu(I) species in aqueous solution [175]. 

In contrast to the allyl halides with one EWG, nucleophilic attack on double bond activated allyl halides (291) normally gives rise to substituted electrophilic cyclopropanes (293) or compounds derived therefrom (equation 87). The formation of these cyclopropanes is strongly dependent on the reaction conditions, the nature of the nucleophiles, the... 

The reaction of electrophilic allyl halides with active methylene functions give a completely different course although intermediate electrophilic cyclopropanes (327) play a crucial role. Ring-opening of the cyclopropanes affords compounds 328 in which the electron-withdrawing groups are rearranged to the allylic position (equation 102) . This... 

In particular cases the reaction of electrophilic cyclopropanes with inorganic halides gives rise to ring cleavage products. In DMF-0.1 M LiBr at 126°C in a sealed tube the cyclopropane 488 affords a mixture of 670 and 671. The latter product arises from bromide ion attack on the methyl group of the ester to produce methyl bromide and the carboxylate anion which cyclizes, while the former cyclopropane compound 670 results... 

In most cases, treatment of allylic halides containing one ASG with a nucleophile does not result in formation of electrophilic cyclopropanes (MIRC product) instead, other reaction pathways are followed, e.g. addition, substitution, rearrangement and elimination reactions.However, with certain alkenes or nucleophiles or under the appropriate conditions a conjugate addition-nucleophilic substitution pathway is favored, resulting in cyclopropanes substituted with one ASG. Representative examples are compiled in Tables 20 and 21 where organometallic compounds or active methylene compounds are used as the nucleophilic species in combination with allyl bromides containing an ester or a sulfone as ASG. 

In contrast to allyl halides substituted with one ASG, the cyclopropanation reaction proceeds relatively smoothly when a second ASG is present. Generally, the best results are obtained with sodium borohydride, sodium cyanide, potassium cyanide, and the sodium salts of alcohols or thiols as the nucleophilic species (Table 22, entries 3-26). Even spiroalkanes can be synthesized with the nucleophiles described above (Table 23). Examples illustrating this route are the conversion of a tetracyclic enamino ester with potassium cyanide to the corresponding electrophilic cyclopropane 2, and the facile one-pot synthesis of 1,1 -bis(hydroxymethyl)cyclo-propanes 3 by reduction of halogenated alkylidene malonates with lithium aluminium hydride. ... 

One of the more commonly used organotin reagents in both free-radical reactions and Lewis acid-mediated reactions is allyltributyltin [3, 7]. This reagent permits the construction of new carbon-carbon bonds from free radical precursors such as alkyl halides however, reactions with a-ketocydopropanes were poorly understood. Tin(IV) enolates generated from a-ketocyclopropane 44 and allyltributyltin undergo both radical allylation and electrophilic quench as shown in Scheme 11, forming O-stannyl ketyl 45 with allyltributyltin and subsequent scission of the cyclopropane... 

The reaction of acceptor-substituted carbene complexes with alcohols to yield ethers is a valuable alternative to other etherification reactions [1152,1209-1211], This reaction generally proceeds faster than cyclopropanation [1176], As in other transformations with electrophilic carbene complexes, the reaction conditions are mild and well-suited to base- or acid-sensitive substrates [1212], As an illustrative example, Experimental Procedure 4.2.4 describes the carbene-mediated etherification of a serine derivative. This type of substrate is very difficult to etherify under basic conditions (e.g. NaH, alkyl halide [1213]), because of an intramolecular hydrogen-bond between the nitrogen-bound hydrogen and the hydroxy group. Further, upon treatment with bases serine ethers readily eliminate alkoxide to give acrylates. With the aid of electrophilic carbene complexes, however, acceptable yields of 0-alkylated serine derivatives can be obtained. 

Similar cyclopropanation procedures involving copper catalysis are encountered in the reaction of olefins with dibromomalonic esters (217) and Cu in dimethyl sulphoxide and the reaction of olefins with monobromomalonic esters in the presence of DBU and catalytic amounts of copper(II) halide (equation 62) The reaction of ethyl dibromo-acetoacetate (219) with styrene and copper produces the corresponding electrophilic... 

During the reaction of the doubly activated allyl halides with primary and secondary amines no 2-amino-substituted cyclopropane derivatives could be isolated, but instead ring-opened products are formed. Primary amines give rise to the formation of aldimines (332) while secondary amines afford formally substitution products (333) . The formation of these products can be explained by ring cleavage of non-isolable electrophilic 2-aminocyclopropanes (331) as outlined in equation 104. 

Another modification, involving a destannylation, gave cyclopropane 12. In this case, treatment of a but-3-en-l-yistannane with an electrophilic reagent gave initially the addition product 11 which then underwent 1,3-elimination. In a similar manner, reaction of (but-3-en-l-yl)trimethylsilane with an acyl halide gave cyclopropyl ketones 13. ... 

It is often difficult to make a comparison between the various results obtained for the same polyenes as different reaction conditions (ratio of reactants, temperature, time) were used in each case. The addition of dichlorocarbene (chloroform/base/phase-transfer catalysis) to straight chain and cyclic unconjugated di- and trienes, carried out under identical conditions but varying the catalysts, showed the peculiar properties of tetramethylammonium chloride. Under precisely tailored conditions, either highly selective mono- or polyaddition of dichlorocarbene to the polyenes is possible tetramethylammonium chloride was the most efficient catalyst for monocyclopropanation. (For the unusual properties of tetramethylammonium salts on the phase-transfer catalyzed reaction of chloroform with electrophilic alkenes see Section 1.2.1.4.2.1.8.2. and likewise for the reaction of bromoform with allylic halides, see Section 1.2.1.4.3.1.5.1.). For example, cyclopropanation of 2 with various phase-transfer catalysts to give mixtures of 3, 4, and 5, ° of 6 to give 7 and 8, ° and of 9 to give 10 and 11. °... 

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