Halides reaction with alkenes

Another important type of reactivity of palladium, namely oxidative addition to Pd(0), is the foundation for several methods of forming carbon-carbon bonds. Aryl126 and alkenyl127 halides react with alkenes in the presence of catalytic amounts of palladium to give net substitution of the halide by the alkenyl group. The reaction, known as the Heck reaction,128 is quite general and has been observed for simple alkenes, aryl-substituted alkenes, and substituted alkenes such as acrylate esters, vinyl ethers, and A-vinylamides.129... 

The reactive intermediates under some conditions may be the carbenoid a-haloalkyllithium compounds or carbene-lithium halide complexes.158 In the case of the trichloromethyllithium to dichlorocarbene conversion, the equilibrium lies heavily to the side of trichloromethyllithium at — 100°C.159 The addition reaction with alkenes seems to involve dichlorocarbene, however, since the pattern of reactivity toward different alkenes is identical to that observed for the free carbene in the gas phase.160... 

RMn(CO)5.3 Alkylmanganese pentacarbonyl complexes are obtained by reaction of alkyl halides with NaMn(CO),. Under pressures of 2-10 kbar, these complexes undergo an insertion reaction with alkenes to give usually a single manganacycle in which the electron-withdrawing group of the alkene is attached to the same carbon atom as the metal. Demetallation is accomplished by photolysis... 

The relative ease with which hydrogen halides react with alkenes is in the order HI > HBr > HCl > HF. This is the same as their relative acidities (see Section 4.3.2) and indicates that protonation of the alkene is the rate-limiting step for the addition reaction. 

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