Lithium acetylide

The stability of the various cumulenic anions depends to a large extent upon the nature of the groups linked to the cumulenic system. Whereas solutions of lithiated allenic ethers and sulfides in diethyl ether or THF can be kept for a limited period at about O C, the lithiated hydrocarbons LiCH=C=CH-R are transformed into the isomeric lithium acetylides at temperatures above about -20 C, probably via HC C-C(Li )R R Lithiated 1,2,4-trienes, LiCH=C=C-C=C-, are... 

A mixture of 0.40 mol of propargyl chloride and 150ml of dry diethyl ether was cooled at -90°C (liquid nitrogen bath) and a solution of 0.40 mol of ethyl-lithium (note 1) in about 350 ml of diethyl ether (see Exp. 1) was added with vigorous stirring and occasional cooling (note 2). The temperature of the reaction mixture was kept between -70 and -90°C. The formation of the lithium derivative proceeded almost instantaneously, so that the solution obtained could be used directly after the addition of the ethyl 1ithium, which was carried out in 15-20 min. This lithium acetylide solution is very unstable and must be kept below -60°C. 

Hove 1. The procedure described in Ref. 1 was modified. To a solution of 2.0 mol of lithium acetylide in 1.2 1 of liquid ammonia in a 4-1 round-bottomed, three-necked flask (see Fig. 2) was added 1.5 mol of freshly distilled benzaldehyde with cooling at about -45°C. After an additional 30 min finely powdered ammonium chloride (2 mol) was introduced in 15 min. The ammonia was allowed to evaporate, then water (1.1 1) was added and the product was extracted with diethyl ether. After drying over magnesium sulfate the extract was concentrated in a water-pump vacuum. High-vacuum distillation,... 

The 2-alken-4-ynylamine analogues (A. Stiitz, 1987) are best synthesized by Grignard-type additions of lithium acetylides to propenal and either... 

Zinc acetylides, prepared in situ by the treatment of lithium acetylides with ZnCF, are widely used. The zinc acetylide 311, prepared in situ, reacts with (Z)-3-iodo-2-buten-l-ol (312) with nearly complete retention of stereochemistry to afford an important intermediate 313 for carotenoid synthesis[227]. 

Lithium Acetylide. Lithium acetyhde—ethylenediamine complex [50475-76-8], LiCM7H -112X01120112X112, is obtained as colodess-to-light-tan, free-flowing crystals from the reaction of /V-lithoethylenediamine and acetylene in an appropriate solvent (131). The complex decomposes slowly above 40°O to lithium carbide and ethylenediamine. Lithium acetyhde—ethylenediamine is very soluble in primary amines, ethylenediamine, and dimethyl sulfoxide. It is slightly soluble in ether, THF, and secondary and tertiary amines, and is insoluble in hydrocarbons. 

Dicaesium acetylide Copper(ll) acetylide Dicopper(l) acetylide Silver acetylide Caesium acetylide Potassium acetylide Lithium acetylide Sodium acetylide Rubidium acetylide Lithium acetylide-ammonia Dipotassium acetylide Dilithium acetylide Disodium acetylide Dirubidium acetylide Strontium acetylide Silver trifluoromethylacetylide Sodium methoxyacetylide Sodium ethoxyacetylide... 

An alternate ethynylating reagent is the lithium acetylide-ethylene-diamine complex which is available commercially. This reagent in dimethyl sulfoxide solution has been used to ethynylate 11 j -hydroxyestrone and its 3-methyl ether. 

An ethynylation reagent obtained by decomposition of lithium aluminum hydride in ethers saturated with acetylene gives a satisfactory yield of (64), Best results are obtained with the lithium acetylide-ethylene diamine complex in dioxane-ethylenediamine-dimethylacetamide. Ethynylation of (63) with lithium acetylide in pure ethylenediamine gives (64) in 95% yield. 

Both sodium acetylide in xylene (Air Reduction Corporation) and lithium acetylide-ethylenediamine complex (Foote Mineral Co.) are now commercially available, and have been used successfully for the ethynylation of 17-keto steroids. 

In cases where steric hindrance at the 17-ketone is increased by alkyl groups other than methyl at C-13, lithium acetylide in aniline or dimethylacetamide is more satisfactory than conventional methods. ... 

The use of lithium acetylide in tetrahydrofuran has recently been recommended for base-sensitive 17-keto steroids, ... 

Condensatron between lithium acetylides and dibromodifluoromethane [124] or dichlorofluoromethane [125] leads to fluorohaloacetylenes (equation 107) Sodium alkyl malonates are also alkylated by dihalogenodifluoromethanes [124] (equation 108) These reactions involve difluorocarbene as intermediate (for the mechanism of the Cp2Br2 condensation, see equation 15)... 

Acetylene was passed into a stirred solution of 3.05 grams (0.44 mol) of lithium in 300 ml of liquid ammonia until the blue color exhibited by the mixture had disappeared. Ethyl /3-chlorovinyl ketone (47.4 grams 0.40 mol) dissolved in 50 ml dry ether was then added to the resulting solution of lithium acetylide over a period of 20 minutes, during which the color deepened through yellow to reddish-brown. The mixture was stirred under reflux maintained with a Dry Ice condenser for 2 hours. Thereafter, dry ether (200 ml) was added and the ammonia was permitted to evaporate with stirring overnight. 

The addition of lithium acetylides can also be carried out enantioselectively in the presence of 22-24 ]vjucieophiiic addition of the unsubstituted lithium acetylide led to the alkynyl alcohol with lower enantioselectivity than the addition ofsilyl-substituted acetylides. The trimethylsilyl substituted acetylides gave the best results. 

The monolithium salt of 4-hydroxy-4-(phenylethynyl)-2.5-cyclohexadienone (12), prepared in situ by the addition of lithium acetylide to /7-benzoquinone, was treated with methylmagnesium chloride in l HF-TMEDA or in THF —DMPU. The syn-, 4-addition adduct 13, derived from intramolecular delivery of the carbon nucleophile by the hydroxy oxygen, as well as the <7s-1,4-diol 14, obtained via intermolecular 1,2-addition, were obtained in varying amounts depending on the conditions. The selectivity on 1,4- to 1,2-addition increased by the addition of cation chelating agents such as DMPU, TMEDA, and 15-crown-5. Although the 1,4 to 1,2... 

We see from these examples that many of the carbon nucleophiles we encountered in Chapter 10 are also nucleophiles toward aldehydes and ketones (cf. Reactions 10-104-10-108 and 10-110). As we saw in Chapter 10, the initial products in many of these cases can be converted by relatively simple procedures (hydrolysis, reduction, decarboxylation, etc.) to various other products. In the reaction with terminal acetylenes, sodium acetylides are the most common reagents (when they are used, the reaction is often called the Nef reaction), but lithium, magnesium, and other metallic acetylides have also been used. A particularly convenient reagent is lithium acetylide-ethylenediamine complex, a stable, free-flowing powder that is commercially available. Alternatively, the substrate may be treated with the alkyne itself in the presence of a base, so that the acetylide is generated in situ. This procedure is called the Favorskii reaction, not to be confused with the Favorskii rearrangement (18-7). ... 

The violent reaction of lithium with ethylene is explained by formation of lithium acetylide the metal glows. 

A classical chiral resolution method was established, prior to investigation of the asymmetric addition of lithium acetylide to the ketimine 5. 

While ephedrine derivatives showed some selectivity, the most promising results were obtained with cinchona alkaloids. Lithium alkoxides and lithium acetylides (n-BuLi or LiHMDS used to deprotonate both the acetylene and the alcohol) gave better results than the corresponding sodium or magnesium salts. Higher enan-tioselectivity was obtained in THF (homogeneous) than in toluene or diethyl ether (heterogeneous). 

The scope and limitations were briefly studied. Unfortunately the scope of the reaction was rather narrow, as shown in Table 1.4. The Emit of generality may originate from differences in aggregation of each individual lithium acetylide. For instance, changing 2-pyridyl to 3-pyridyl, the ee dropped to 36%. Furthermore, changing to 4-pyridyl, the ee further decreased to 13%. Fortunately, asymmetric addition of a TMS protected acetylide provided the desired adduct in 82% ee. Since... 

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