Insertion reactions intermediates

The main example of a category I indole synthesis is the Hemetsberger procedure for preparation of indole-2-carboxylate esters from ot-azidocinna-mates[l]. The procedure involves condensation of an aromatic aldehyde with an azidoacetate ester, followed by thermolysis of the resulting a-azidocinna-mate. The conditions used for the base-catalysed condensation are critical since the azidoacetate enolate can decompose by elimination of nitrogen. Conditions developed by Moody usually give good yields[2]. This involves slow addition of the aldehyde and 3-5 equiv. of the azide to a cold solution of sodium ethoxide. While the thermolysis might be viewed as a nitrene insertion reaction, it has been demonstrated that azirine intermediates can be isolated at intermediate temperatures[3]. 

The catalytic cycle (Fig. 5) (20) is well estabUshed, although the details of the conversion of the intermediate CH COI and methanol into the product are not well understood the mechanism is not shown for this part of the cycle, but it probably involves rhodium in a catalytic role. The CH I works as a cocatalyst or promoter because it undergoes an oxidative addition with [Rh(CO)2l2]% and the resulting product has the CO ligand bonded cis to the CH ligand these two ligands are then poised for an insertion reaction. 

Intermediate arylamidine, 6S, is prepared by the aluminum chloride-catalyzed addition of aniline to the nitrile function of 4-cyanothiazole (67), Amidine, 65, is then converted to its N-chloro analog (69) by means of sodium hypochlorite. On base treatment, this apparently undergoes a nitrene insertion reaction to produce thiabendazole (70), ... 

Additional work on alkyl platinum reactions has been completed which mostly supports the generality of these observed insertion reactions. Treichel and Wagner 153) have varied the choice of phosphine ligand utilizing the complexes Pt(phos)2(CH3)X (phos = PEtj, X = Br, I and phos = PPhMe2, X = I) both ionic intermediate and inserted products were obtained. 

Additional complications with regard to recognition of an insertion reaction may arise if the acyl produced defies isolation by undergoing a further transformation. Equations (17)-(19) 78, 134, 115) provide diversified examples of such behavior (the postulated CO insertion intermediates are enclosed in brackets). The intermediacy of acyl complexes in these reactions can sometimes be inferred through examination of the infrared or NMR spectra of reaction solutions. In a number of cases, however. 

These reactions have very low activation energies when the intermediate is a free carbene. Intermolecular insertion reactions are inherently nonselective. The course of intramolecular reactions is frequently controlled by the proximity of the reacting groups.113 Carbene intermediates can also be involved in rearrangement reactions. In the sections that follow we also consider a number of rearrangement reactions that probably do not involve carbene intermediates, but lead to transformations that correspond to those of carbenes. 

Insertion reactions are processes in which a reactive intermediate, in this case a carbene, interposes itself into an existing bond. In terms of synthesis, this usually involves C—H bonds. Many singlet carbenes are sufficiently reactive that insertion can occur as a one-step process. 

Owing to the high reactivity of the intermediates involved, intermolecular carbene insertion reactions are not very selective. The distribution of products from the photolysis of diazomethane in heptane, for example, is almost exactly that expected on a statistical basis.211... 

These intermediates undergo addition reactions with alkenes and aromatic compounds and insertion reactions with saturated hydrocarbons.254... 

Sulfonylnitrenes are formed by thermal decomposition of sulfonyl azides. Insertion reactions occur with saturated hydrocarbons.255 With aromatic compounds the main products are formally insertion products, but they are believed to be formed through addition intermediates. 

Chapter 10 considers the role of reactive intermediates—carbocations, carbenes, and radicals—in synthesis. The carbocation reactions covered include the carbonyl-ene reaction, polyolefin cyclization, and carbocation rearrangements. In the carbene section, addition (cyclopropanation) and insertion reactions are emphasized. Recent development of catalysts that provide both selectivity and enantioselectivity are discussed, and both intermolecular and intramolecular (cyclization) addition reactions of radicals are dealt with. The use of atom transfer steps and tandem sequences in synthesis is also illustrated. 

The migratory insertion reactions of the Ta-C functionalities in complexes 113-115 are presented in Scheme 22.9 In the reaction of 113-115 with both CO or Bu NC, the migration, under mild conditions (i.e., room temperature), of both alkyl or aryl groups to form r 2-ketones 116-118 and T 2-imino derivatives, 119-121, has been observed. Unlike the case of [Cp2M] or polyphenoxo derivatives of Ta, migration of the second alkyl or aryl group to the intermediate r 2-acyl or T 2-iminoacyl derivatives is very fast, which prevents the interception of the... 

The equilibrium interconversion between an ethylene phosphite and a bicyclic spirophosphorane is shown to proceed by the insertion of the phosphite into the labile O-H bond of the hydroxyethyl ester. The mechanism is similar to the insertion of carbenes or nitrenes. Energy relationships of reaction intermediates were studied by MO RHF, MP2(full), MP4SDTQ, and DFT calculations. In most cases, they predicted that hydroxyethyl ethylene phosphates were more stable than the strained spirophosphoranes, which is not supported by the experimental evidence. The best correspondence to experimental data was obtained by DFT calculations with Perdew-Wang correlation functions <2003JST35>. 

The CJS insertion reaction was suppressed completely upon catalytic decomposition of diazoketones 361, where the sulfur substituent was alkyl, acyl or thioacyl. It is presumed that sulfonium ylides occur as intermediates which give cepham (or cephem) derivatives in all cases270,343) rather than products of a Stevens rearrangement. 

The fact that both the thermal and the photochemical insertion reactions yield the same products via formation of charge-transfer complexes leads to the conclusion that the reactive ion-radical pair in equation (52) is the common intermediate for both activation processes. Such a conclusion is further verified by the direct observation of anion-radical intermediates from the thermal reaction of TCNE and DDQ with various metal hydrides.188... 

Reactions a and b in Scheme 8 represent different ways of coordination of butadiene on the nickel atom to form the transoid complex 27a or the cisoid complex 27b. The hydride addition reaction resulted in the formation of either the syn-7r-crotyl intermediate (28a), which eventually forms the trans isomer, or the anti-7r-crotyl intermediate (28b), which will lead to the formation of the cis isomer. Because 28a is thermodynamically more favorable than 28b according to Tolman (40) (equilibrium anti/syn ratio = 1 19), isomerization of the latter to the former can take place (reaction c). Thus, the trans/cis ratio of 1,4-hexadiene formed is determined by (i) the ratio of 28a to 28b and (ii) the extent of isomerization c before addition of ethylene to 28b, i.e., reaction d. The isomerization reaction can affect the trans/cis ratio only when the insertion reaction d is slower than the isomerization reaction c. 

The hydrogens within the octahedral olefin-dihydride intermediate are transferred consecutively with overall cis addition, and the rate-determining step (k9) is olefin insertion to give the alkyl- hydride. Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters for nearly all the steps of Fig. 1 have been estimated for the cyclohexene system. Because the insertion reaction is generally believed to require a cis disposition of the hydride and olefin... 

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