Iodine atom transfer

Cyclizations involving iodine-atom transfers have been developed. Among the most effective examples are reactions involving the cyclization of 6-iodohexene derivatives. The 6-hexenyl radical generated by iodine-atom abstraction rapidly cyclizes to a cyclo-pentylmethyl radical. The chain is propagated by iodine-atom transfer. 

These reactions result in iodine atom transfer and introduce a potential functional group into the product. The trialkylborane method of radical generation can also be used in conjunction with either tri-n-butyl stannane or fnT-(trimethylsilyl)silane, in which case the product is formed by hydrogen atom transfer. 

Reaction conditions have been developed in which the cyclized radical can react in some manner other than hydrogen atom abstraction. One such reaction is an iodine atom transfer. The cyclization of 2-iodo-2-methyl-6-heptyne is a structurally simple example. 

The fact that the cyclization is directed toward an acetylenic group and leads to formation of an alkenyl radical is significant. Formation of a saturated iodide could lead to a more complex product mixture because the cyclized product could undergo iodine atom transfer and proceed to add to a second unsaturated center. Vinyl iodides are much less reactive and the reaction product is unreactive. Owing to the potential... 

These cyclizations can also be carried out without a hydrogen donor, in which case the chain is propagated by iodine atom transfer.331 If necessary, ethyl iodide can be added to facilitate iodine atom transfer. 

Scheme 3.32. Products and mechanism of an iodine atom transfer radical domino reaction.

Triethylborane in combination with oxygen provides an efficient and useful system for iodine atom abstraction from alkyl iodide, and thus is a good initiator for iodine atom transfer reactions [13,33,34]. Indeed, the ethyl radical, issued from the reaction of triethylborane with molecular oxygen, can abstract an iodine atom from the radical precursor to produce a radical R that enters into the chain process (Scheme 13). The iodine exchange is fast and efficient when R is more stable than the ethyl radical. 

Scheme 13 Mechanism of the Et3B-mediated iodine atom transfer reaction...

Scheme 14 Intermolecular additions through iodine atom transfer...

Examples of tandem intermolecular addition-cyclization under iodine atom-transfer conditions are depicted in Scheme 16 [38,41],... 

All the examples presented under Sect. 4.1 used an iodine atom transfer to generate the desired radicals. Another approach involving abstraction of hydrogen atom is also reported. For instance, ethers and acetals undergo direct intermolecular addition to aldehydes under treatment with Et3B/air... 

Cyclizable radical-probe experiments have been extensively used in ET versus Spj2 investigations (see Ashby, 1988, and references cited therein). Attention has, however, been recently drawn to causes of possible misinterpretation, particularly in the case of iodides, where an iodine-atom-transfer chain mechanism is able to convert most of the starting linear iodide into the cyclized iodide, even if only a minute amount of linear-chain radical is present in 7-8 2 reactions (Newcomb and Curran, 1988). Rather puzzling results were found in the reaction of (CH3)3Sn ions with secondary bromides, which should not be involved in atom-exchange chain reactions... 

By contrast, for iodide 18 having the triple bond activated by a phenyl group, conversion to the cyclic organozinc species 25 occurred effectively and the latter could be efficiently functionalized, provided that traces of moisture were excluded by pre-treatment of zinc powder with Mel. The substituted benzylidene cyclopentanes 26 and 27 were respectively obtained after iodinolysis and palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction with benzoyl chloride (equation 10). However, it could not be assessed whether the formation of organozinc 25 was attributable to an anionic or a radical cyclization pathway (or both) as, had iodide 26 been produced by a radical iodine atom-transfer, it would have been converted to 25 by reaction with metallic zinc due to the presence of the activating phenyl group21. 

Iodine atom transfer reactions between alkyl radicals and iodocarbonyls are very rapid (107 M-1 s-1 to 109 M-1 s-1).130 This means that, even when these iodides are cyclized by the tin hydride method, iodine atom transfer may supersede hydrogen transfer, and the reductively cyclized product will ultimately be derived from the reduction of a cyclic iodide. Tin hydride cyclizations of halocarbonyls also often require very low concentration to avoid reduction of the initial radical prior to cyclization. For these reasons, reductively cyclized products are best formed by atom transfer cyclization at high concentration, followed by reduction of the product in situ. In a recent full paper, we have described in detail the preparative and mechanistic features of these cyclizations,19 and Jolly and Livinghouse have reported a modification of our reaction conditions that appears to be especially useful for substrates that cyclize very slowly.131 Cyclizations of a-iodocarbonyls can also be promoted by palladium.132... 

Radical cyclization with iodine atom transfer of a highly functionalized propiolic ester 103 using dibenzoyl peroxide as an initiator gave the a-methylene-y-butyrolactone 104 in good yield [95T11257]. The relative stereochemistry at carbon atoms 4 and 5 are established during the reaction. The intermediate 104 has been converted to the anti-tumor agent (-)-methylenolactocin 105. 

In the presence of an alkyl iodide, selective alkyl radical addition to the C-atom of the imine generated in situ occurs, overcoming the competitive phenylation reaction (Equation 14.20) [30]. The Ph- radical, generated by decomposition of the diazonium salt, as described before, generates the alkyl radical by selective iodine atom transfer (Equation 14.21). 

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