Lithium organolithium catalysts

Conjugated Dienes and Other Monomers. Alkyllithiums such as n-butyllithium—and even the growing polyethylene carbon-lithium bond complexed with chelating diamines such as TMEDA—are effective initiators for the polymerization of conjugated dienes such as 1,3-butadiene and isoprene. A polybutadiene of high 1,2-content can be produced from butadiene in hydrocarbon solvents using these N-chelated organolithium catalysts. 

Organolithium compounds can add to a, (3-unsaturated ketones by either 1,2- or 1,4-addition. The most synthetically important version of the 1,4-addition involves organocopper intermediates, and is discussed in Chap 8. However, 1,4-addition is observed under some conditions even in the absence of copper catalysts. Highly reactive organolithium reagents usually react by 1,2-addition, but the addition of small amounts of HMPA has been found to favor 1,4-addition. This is attributed to solvation of the lithium ion, which attenuates its Lewis acid character toward the carbonyl oxygen.111... 

The dynamic behavior of various solid organolithium complexes with TMEDA was investigated by variable-temperature and CP/MAS and Li MAS NMR spectroscopies. Detailed analysis of the spectra of the complexes led to proposals of various dynamic processes, such as inversion of the five-membered TMEDA-Li rings and complete rotation of the TMEDA ligands in their complex with the PhLi dimer (81), fast rotation of the ligands in the complex with cyclopentadienyllithium (82) and 180° ring flips in the complex with dilithium naphthalene (83) °. The significance of the structure of lithium naphthalene, dilithium naphthalene and their TMEDA solvation coiMlexes, in the function of naphthalene as catalyst for lithiation reactions, was discussed . ... 

Meanwhile, development of coordination catalyst was proceeding full scale. The polyisoprene prepared using this coordination catalyst (TiClj, AIR ) proved to be more suitable in physical properties than the one made by lithium metal or organolithium compounds in hydrocarbon media. The Ziegler polyisoprene, as it was called, has greater stereoregularity and stress-induced crystallization properties than polyisoprene made by the alkyl lithium catalyst. How-... 

The addition of Grignard reagents or organolithiums (alkenyl, alkyl, alkynyl, allyl or aryl) to nitroenamines (281)213 was reported by Severin to afford P-substituted-a-nitroalkenes.214 b Similarly, ketone enolates (sodium or potassium), ester enolates (lithium) and lactone enolates (lithium) react to afford acr-nitroethylidene salts (294) which, on hydrolysis with either silica gel or dilute acid, afford 7-keto-a,(3-unsaturated esters or ketones (295)2l4c-d or acylidene lactones (296).214 Alternatively, the salts (294, X s CH2) can be converted to -y-ketoketones (297) with ascorbic acid and copper catalyst. 

The lithium and alkyllithium initiation of diene polymerization has, from the earliest times, remained in the shadow of other, apparently more important, initiator systems. However, it has now become clear that the alkyllithium catalyst is the most efficient, initiator system at present available for diene polymerization. That organolithium initiators are not used much more widely is due largely to economic considerations,... 

E. Organometallics — Preparation and reactions of Grignard and organolithium reagents, lithium organocuprates, and other modern main group and transition metal reagents and catalysts... 

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