Main group carbenoid reactions

Free Carbenes or Main Group Carbenoids Reactions. 206... 

Two approaches have been used in the synthesis of these types of compounds. Small boron-phosphorus ring compounds can serve as building blocks, and addition and elimination reactions with other main group elements can then extend the cage structure (see Schemes 23 and 24, Section 12.12.6.4.5). Alternatively, an unsaturated carbenoid fragment can be added to the bicyclic fragment as illustrated in Scheme 31 <1998IC490>. 

An extension of the synthetic applicability of lithium halomethanes is achieved by the simultanous presence of another main group heteroatom at the same carbon. Thus, if one of the chlorine atoms of dichloromethyllithium is replaced by a sulfonylamin group, the following products are obtained by reaction with electrophiles (Eq. (23)) 25). The substituted carbenoid can be converted to normal carbonyl adducts as well as to olefins and cyclopropanes. 

Similar to the intramolecular insertion into an unactivated C—H bond, the intermolecular version of this reaction meets with greatly improved yields when rhodium carbenes are involved. For the insertion of an alkoxycarbonylcarbene fragment into C—H bonds of acyclic alkanes and cycloalkanes, rhodium(II) perfluorocarb-oxylates 286), rhodium(II) pivalate or some other carboxylates 287,288 and rhodium-(III) porphyrins 287 > proved to be well suited (Tables 19 and 20). In the era of copper catalysts, this reaction type ranked as a quite uncommon process 14), mainly because the yields were low, even in the absence of other functional groups in the substrate which would be more susceptible to carbenoid attack. For example, CuS04(CuCl)-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate in a large excess of cyclohexane was reported to give 24% (15%) of C/H insertion, but 40% (61 %) of the two carbene dimers 289). 

Very interesting results were obtained from the reaction of magnesium alkylidene carbenoids with mefa-substituted arylamines (Table 8) . The reaction of magnesium alkylidene carbenoids 157 and 161 with three mefa-substituted anilines was carried out and the results are summarized in Table 8. The reaction of 157 with meta-anisidine gave two products 163 and 164 (in a 30 13 ratio) in 43% yield. The main product was found to have the alkenyl group at the more hindered position (163). As shown in the Table, all the other meto-substituted aniline derivatives also gave the more hindered alkenylated compounds as the main product in variable ratio. 

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