Organometallic compounds from alkyl halides

The properties of organometallic compounds are much different from those of the other classes we have studied to this point Most important many organometallic com pounds are powerful sources of nucleophilic carbon something that makes them espe cially valuable to the synthetic organic chemist For example the preparation of alkynes by the reaction of sodium acetylide with alkyl halides (Section 9 6) depends on the presence of a negatively charged nucleophilic carbon m acetylide ion... 

Grignard reagents react with ethylene oxide to yield primary alcohols containing two more carbon atoms than the alkyl halide from which the organometallic compound was prepared... 

Grignard reagents are a very important class of organometallic compounds. For their preparation an alkyl halide or aryl halide 5 is reacted with magnesium metal. The formation of the organometallic species takes place at the metal surface by transfer of an electron from magnesium to a halide molecule, an alkyl or aryl radical species 6 respectively is formed. Whether the intermediate radical species stays adsorbed at the metal surface (the A-modelf, or desorbs into solution (the D-model), still is in debate ... 

It might be mentioned that matters are much simpler for organometallic compounds with less-polar bonds. Thus Et2Hg and EtHgCl are both definite compounds, the former is a liquid and the latter is a solid. Organocalcium reagents are also known, and they are formed from alkyl halides via a single electron transfer (SET) mechanism with free-radical intermediates. "... 

Organometallic compounds or carbanions undergo a number of reactions in which the carbanion or carbanion-like moiety of the organometallic compound acts as a nucleophilic displacing agent. Examples are the formation of hydrocarbons from alkyl halides, alkyl halides from halogens, and ketones from acid chlorides or esters. The latter two reactions are closely related to the base-catalyzed condensations and are perhaps additions as well as displacement reactions. Related addition reactions are the carbonation of organometallic compounds and the addition to ketones or aldehydes. 

Many organometallic compounds are best prepared by this reaction, which involves replacement of a metal in an organometallic compound by another metal. RM can be successfully prepared only when M is above M in the electromotive series, unless some other way is found to shift the equilibrium. That is, RM is usually an unreactive compound and M is a metal more active than M. Most often, RM is R2Hg, since mercury alkyls372 are easy to prepare and mercury is far down in the electromotive series.397 Alkyls of Li, Na, K, Be, Mg, Al, Ga, Zn, Cd, Te, Sn, etc. have been prepared this way. An important advantage of this method over 2-38 is that it ensures that the organometallic compound will be prepared free of any possible halide. This method can be used for the isolation of solid sodium and potassium alkyls.39R If the metals lie too close together in the series, it may not be possible to shift the equilibrium, For example, alkylbismuth compounds cannot be prepared in this way from alkylmercury compounds. 

One requirement is diat the pKa of die new organometallic compound is lower than die pKa of die starting organometallic. This in essence means that the equilibrium is driven to products by die formation of a more stable anion. This metiiod is commonly used to make vinyl lithiums from vinyl halides and alkyl lithiums and aryl lithiums from aryl halides and alkyl litiiiums because the electron pair in an sp2 orbital of a vinyl or aryl litiiium compound is more stable than the electron pah in an sp3 orbital of an alkyl lithium. 

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