Example Carbene Addition to an Olefin

Copyright 2001 John Wiley Sons, Inc. ISBNs 0-471-35833-9 (Hardback) 0-471-22041-8 (Electronic) 

Orbital Interaction Theory of Organic Chemistry, Second Edition. Arvi Rauk 

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Cheletropic reactions, in which a single atom is added or extruded, comprise a special case of cycloaddition reactions. Figure 14.4 displays correlation diagrams for two typical cheletropic reactions, the loss of SO2 from a thiirane dioxide (Figure 14.4a) and the loss of CO from a norbornadienone (Figure 14.4b). The addition of a carbene to an olefin is another example which is discussed below (Figure 14.9a). 

Olefin additions to bridging alkylidenes yield dimetallacyclopentanes . These reactions also provide a mechanism for olefin metathesis, a topic not discussed here. Although addition of an olefin to a metal carbone, a 2n + In addition, would be symmetry forbidden in organic chemistry, ab initio calculations " of the conversion of a metal carbene-alkene to a metallocyclobutane show it to be a barrierless reaction. Metal d orbitals relax the symmetry restrictions for the In + 2n addition. The mechanism of reaction (p) has not been widely considered for the olefin polymerization, but it may be relevant to olefin dimerization and oligomerization—reaction (s), for example ... 

Tebbe found that titanocene complexes promoted olefin metathesis in addition to carbonyl olefination. Despite the fact that these complexes have low activity, they proved to be excellent model systems. For example, the Tebbe complex exchanges methylene units with a labeled terminal methylene at a slow rate that can be easily monitored (Eq. 4.6) [54]. This exchange is the essential transformation of olefin metathesis. When reactions with olefins are performed in the presence of a Lewis base, the intermediate titanium metallacycle can be isolated and even structurally characterized (Eq. 4.7) [61] These derivatives were not only the first metathesis-active metallacyclobutane complexes ever isolated, but they were also the first metallacyclobutanes isolated from the cycloaddition of a metal-carbene complex with an olefin. These metallacycles participate in all the reactions expected of olefin metathesis catalysts, especially exchange with olefins... 

MisceUaneous Polycyclic Systems.—Formation of cyclopropane rings by carbene addition to olefins, and subsequent elaboration by rearrangement or addition reactions, is an important method of generation of both polycyclic and bicyclic systems. Examples of carbene additions are shown in Scheme 43 296,298—301,304 Subsequent transformation by reduction or rearrangement as noted in Scheme 44 is possible. Not only does lithium aluminium... 

In case (ui) let us assume that Xyz (e.g. SO2 in reaction (3.25)) is formed in the singlet ground state the two electrons are thus placed in a single atomic or molecular orbital. Triplet species are excluded simply because their reactions are unlikely to be stereospecific. Consider, for example, the addition of a triplet carbene to an olefinic C=C bond, reaction (3.26). Because of the conservation of spin multiplicity an intermediate (triplet state) diradical is formed. 

Additions include the attachment of two univalent atoms or groups (called addends) to an unsaturated system, e. g., to olefins, carbonyl groups, aromatic systems, carbenes, etc. (Rule 2.1). For example, the addition of hydrocyanic acid to the car-... 

The common by-products obtained in the transition-metal catalyzed reactions are the formal carbene dimers, diethyl maleate and diethyl fumarate. In accordance with the assumption that they owe their formation to the competition of olefin and excess diazo ester for an intermediate metal carbene, they can be widely suppressed by keeping the actual concentration of diazo compound as low as possible. Usually, one attempts to verify this condition by slow addition of the diazo compound to an excess (usually five- to tenfold) of olefin. This means that the addition rate will be crucial for the yields of cyclopropanes and carbene dimers. For example, Rh6(CO)16-catalyzed cyclopropanation of -butyl vinyl ether with ethyl diazoacetate proceeds in 69% yield when EDA is added during 30 minutes, but it increases to 87 % for a 6 h period. For styrene, the same differences were observed 65). 

Many substituted carbenes have been prepared in situ by heating the tolyl hydrazones of aldehydes and ketones with alkali in aprotic solvents. Intermediates are diazo compounds which then decompose thermally to give nitrogen and a carbene. In the carbene, a-H or a-R migration readily occurs to give an olefin product and some intramolecular cyclization is observed. If no a-H or a-R are available, possible fates of the carbene include dimerization, insertion, and addition to the substrate. Some examples are... 

A simple example of the examination of a proposed structure through synthesis is provided in this section. In 2005, Takita12 proposed the structure of the male-produced aggregation pheromone of the stink bug Eysarcoris lewisi as the sesquisabinene alcohol, ( )-2-methyl-6-(4 -methylenebicyclo[3.1.0]hexyl)hept-2-en-l-ol (8) (Scheme 1). Mori13 synthesized (61 )-8 and (6S)-8 from the enantiomers of citronellal (10). The key steps were the intramolecular addition of an ct-keto carbene to the alkene bond (11—>12) and ( )-selective olefination of 13 to give 14. The 1H- and 13C-NMR spectra of 8 around the trisubstituted double bond at C-2 were different from those of the natural pheromone. 

What about a nucleophilic carbene, for which negative charge should build up on the olefinic carbon atoms during the carbene addition cf. 5 With ArCH=CH2 substrates, electron-withdrawing aryl substituents would stabilize such a transition state and the p value should be positive. There are several examples of this phenomenon. For example, cycloheptatrienylidene, 10, adds to / -substituted styrenes with p = -t-1.02 - 1.05 (vs. a) consistent with a nucleophilic selectivity that seems to implicate the aromatic resonance form 10a as an important feature of the carbene. [45] It is satisfying to compare this result with p = -0.76 (vs. a) or -0.46 (vs. a" ") for additions to styrenes of cyclopentadienylidene, 11, where contributions of the cyclopentadienide form (11a) would render the carbene electrophilic. [46] However, these conclusions are too facile. There is reason to believe that the chemistry attributed to 10 might in fact be due to its allenic isomer 12. [47] And the electronic structure of 11 is also more complicated than the simple depiction above. [48]... 

Many additional routes to metal-alkyl complexes other than transmetallation and alkylation are discussed in later chapters of this text. For example, metal-alkyl complexes are generated by insertion of an olefin into a metal-hydride or or metal-hydrocarbyl species. Such insertion reactions are discussed in Chapter 9, but an example of the synthesis of a zirconium alkyl by olefin insertion into a zirconium hydride is shown in Equation 3.9. Metal-alkyl complexes are also generated by nucleophilic attack on coordinated olefins (Equation 3.10) or carbene ligands (Equation 3.11). These reactions are presented in detail in Chapter 11. 

Ru-catalyzed AROM/CM sequences served as a key step in the total synthesis of baconipyrone C (163, Scheme 24.42), a marine polyketide isolated from Siphonaria baconi The employed Ru carbene [Ru]-VI is generated in situ by treatment of the achiral Ru-PCya complex with Ag-based V-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) and Nal. And then, the [Ru]-VI-catalyzed AROM/RCM of oxabicycle 161 with styrene (8 equiv) afforded the fully substituted pyran 162 in 62% yield and in 88% ee. The additional transformations led to 163 in good overall yield. Although this application of AROM/CM process to 161 was the first and rare example of Ru-catalyzed enantioselective olefin metathesis process, very recently, an application of enantioselective RCM reaction catalyzed by [Ru]-VII to the synthesis of (—)-5-e/>/-citreoviral has been reported by Funk. ... 

Heteroatom Wittig chemistry also includes reactions of N-sulfonyl imines. It was demostrated that these compounds underwent olefination reactions with nonstabilized phosphonium ylides under mild conditions to afford an array of both Z- and E-isomers of 1,2-disubstituted alkenes, allylic alcohols, and allylic amines.Additionally, studies of the reactions of 5-bromo-4,6-dimethyl-2-thioxo-l,2-dihydropyridine-3-carboni-trile and thiazolidinone with phosphorus ylides have proved the formation of new phosphonium ylides. Annulations via P-ylides are a common occurrence in the literature. For example, on photochemical irradiation, phosphonium-iodonium ylides were shown to undergo 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions with triple bonds, via a carbene intermediate, to yield furans. " Even more common are the reactions of Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) acetates and carbonates. Zhou et al. demostrated that these substrates were able to generate very reactive 1,3-dipoles in the presence of tertiary phosphines the dipoles then underwent cycloaddition reactions to yield annulation products (Scheme 16). ... 

Quite recently, ruthenium carbene complexes more typically known as olefin metathesis catalysts have been shown to act as alkyne hydrosilylation catalysts.78,79 7Vzz r-addition is the major product with trialkylsilanes, even in a single example with an internal alkyne.78 This result represents one of the very few examples of fra r-hydrosilylation of internal alkynes. 

The Darzens reaction is the base-promoted generation of epoxides XIII from aldehydes (or ketones) XI and alkyl halides XII, the latter carrying an electron withdrawing group, for example the carbonyl, nitrile, or sulfonyl, in the a-position (Scheme 6.83) [188, 189]. It is, formally, addition of a carbene to the C=0 double bond (Scheme 6.83, path B) and thus complements oxygen atom transfer to olefins... 

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