Lithium organometallic compounds

Unless otherwise known, the toxicides of lithium organometallic compounds should be regarded as those of lithium compounds and of organometallic compounds in general. The latter were discussed in Section 12.4. Lithium oxide and hydroxide are caustic bases, and they may be formed by the combustion of lithium organometallic compounds or by their reaction with water. 

In general, how should the toxicities of lithium organometallic compounds be regarded Do they have any unique toxicity characteristics ... 

The most general synthetic route to ketones uses the reaction of carboxylic acids (or their derivatives) or nitriles with organometallic compounds (M.J. Jorgenson, 1970). Lithium car-boxylates react with organolithium compounds to give stable gem-diolates, which are decom-... 

Organometallic compounds of copper were known for a long time before their versatil ity in synthetic organic chemistry was fully appreciated The most useful ones are the lithium dialkylcuprates which result when a copper(I) halide reacts with two equivalents of an alkyllithium in diethyl ether or tetrahydrofuran... 

In contrast to pyridine chemistry, the range of nucleophilic alkylations that can be effected on neutral azoles is quite limited. Lithium reagents can add at the 5-position of 1,2,4-oxadiazoles (Scheme 16) (70CJC2006). Benzazoles are attacked by organometallic compounds at the C=N a-position unless it is blocked. 

From a synthetic point of view, direct alkylation of lithium and magnesium organometallic compounds has largely been supplanted by transition-metal-catalyzed processes. We will discuss these reactions in Chapter 8 of Part B. 

Benzyne can also be generated from o-dihaloaromatics. Reaction of lithium amalgam or magnesium results in formation of a transient organometallic compound that decomposes with elimination of lithium halide. l-Bromo-2-fluorobenzene is the usual starting material in this procedure. 

Following fragmentation, the alkyl radical rapidly combines with a lithium atom to fonn the organometallic compound. 

In recent years this simple picture has been completely transformed and it is now recognized that the alkali metals have a rich and extremely varied coordination chemistry which frequently transcends even that of the transition metals. The efflorescence is due to several factors such as the emerging molecular chemistry of lithium in particular, the imaginative use of bulky ligands, the burgeoning numbers of metal amides, alkoxides, enolates and organometallic compounds, and the exploitation of multidentate... 

Many other kinds of organometallic compounds can be prepared in a manner similar to that of Grignard reagents. For instance, alkyllithium reagents, RLi, can be prepared by the reaction of an alkyl halide with lithium metal. Alkyllithiums are both nucleophiles and strong bases, and their chemistry is similar in many respects to that of alkylmagnesium halides. 

E. Reacticms Involving Organometallic Compounds 1. Reaction of lithium alkyls with organic halides... 

The first example of chemically induced multiplet polarization was observed on treatment of a solution of n-butyl bromide and n-butyl lithium in hexane with a little ether to initiate reaction by depolymerizing the organometallic compound (Ward and Lawler, 1967). Polarization (E/A) of the protons on carbon atoms 1 and 2 in the 1-butene produced was observed and taken as evidence of the correctness of an earlier suggestion (Bryce-Smith, 1956) that radical intermediates are involved in this elimination. Similar observations were made in the reaction of t-butyl lithium with n-butyl bromide when both 1-butene and isobutene were found to be polarized. The observations were particularly significant because multiplet polarization could not be explained by the electron-nuclear cross-relaxation theory of CIDNP then being advanced to explain net polarization (Lawler, 1967 Bargon and Fischer, 1967). 

Other organometallic compounds that are hydrolyzed by water are those of sodium, potassium, lithium, zinc, and so on, the ones high in the electromotive series. Enantioselective protonation of lithium enolates and cyclopropyllithium compounds have been reported. When the metal is less active, stronger acids are required. For example, R2Zn compounds react explosively with water, R2Cd slowly, and R2Hg not at all, though the latter can be cleaved with concentrated HCl. How-... 

The new silazane 5 may be reacted with activated metals, organometallic compounds or simple metal amides, or may first be transformed to its lithium salt and then reacted with metal(II) chlorides [11]. In all these cases, metal derivatives of 5 are obtained with the general formula j [Mc (/BuO)Si 9N(9M, which have no further base coordinated to the metal. So far we have synthesized amides with M = Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sr, Ba, all elements in oxidation state +2. X-ray structure determinations have been performed on the calcium, manganese, iron, zinc, and barium derivatives. 

Studies of the effects of low frequency ultrasonic waves on a broad range of synthetically useful reactions are summarized. Discussion is centered on the results obtained in our laboratory where we have concentrated on the reactions of metals with functionalized organic and organometallic compounds. Special emphasis is on lithium and zinc with organic and organosilicon halides. 

The carbonates, sulfates, nitrates, and phosphates of the group IA and IIA metals are important materials in inorganic chemistry. Some of the most important compounds of the group IA and IIA elements are organometallic compounds, particularly for lithium, sodium, and magnesium, and Chapter 12 will be devoted to this area of chemistry. 

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