Mechanism carbonyl methylenation with

The mechanism of carbonyl methylenation with dimethyltitanocene 30 is one of the major subjects of discussion in titanium-carbene chemistry. Two reaction pathways have been proposed. Based on the observation of H/D scrambling in reactions using a deuterated ester and Cp2Ti(CD3)2, Petasis proposed that the reaction proceeds by methyl transfer to form the adduct 31 and subsequent elimination of methane and titanocene oxide (Scheme 4.29, Path A) [64]. Later, a detailed study by Hughes and co-workers using and D-labeled compounds showed that the methylenation of esters with 30 proceeds via a titanium carbene mechanism (Path B) [82]. 

Scheme 4.29. Plausible mechanisms for carbonyl methylenation with dimethyltitanocene.

The mechanism is postulated to involve the initial formation of a Schiff base 17 from the condensation of the anilinic amine 16 with the carbonyl-containing substrate. This is followed by a Claisen condensation between the benzylic carbonyl and the activated a-methylene of the imine. ... 

The term Knoevenagel reaction however is used also for analogous reactions of aldehydes and ketones with various types of CH-acidic methylene compounds. The reaction belongs to a class of carbonyl reactions, that are related to the aldol reaction. The mechanism is formulated by analogy to the latter. The initial step is the deprotonation of the CH-acidic methylene compound 2. Organic bases like amines can be used for this purpose a catalytic amount of amine usually suffices. A common procedure, that uses pyridine as base as well as solvent, together with a catalytic amount of piperidine, is called the Doebner modification of the Knoevenagel reaction. 

The reaction of ethyl 2,2-diethoxyacrylate with alkynylalkoxycarbene complexes affords 6-ethoxy-2H-2-pyranylidene metal complexes [92] (Scheme 48). The mechanism that explains this process is initiated by a [2+2] cycloaddition reaction (see Sect. 2.3), followed by a cyclobutene ring opening to generate a tetracarbonylcarbene complex. This complex can be isolated and on standing for one day at room temperature renders the final 6-ethoxy-2Ff-pyranylidene pentacarbonyl complex. This last transformation requires the formal transfer of one carbonyl group and one proton from the diethoxy methylene moiety to the metal and to the C3 2H-pyranylidene ring, respectively, with concomitant cyclisation. Further studies on this unusual transformation have been extensively performed by Moreto et al. [93]. 

In Carmack s mechanism, the most unusual movement of a carbonyl group from methylene carbon to methylene carbon was proposed to go through an intricate pathway via a highly reactive intermediate with a sulfur-containing heterocyclic ring. The sulfenamide serves as the isomerization catalyst ... 

The base-catalyzed condensation of azides with activated methylene compounds is a well-established route to IJT-triazoles. In particular, it is the best route to triazoles bearing a 5-amino or hydroxy substituent and an aryl or carbonyl-containing function in the 4-position. The addition is regiospecific. The reaction is a stepwise one, since anomerism of glycosyl azides has been observed in their reaction with activated methylene compounds, indicating the presence of an intermediate. The mechanism can be envisaged as a nucleophilic attack by the car-banion on the terminal nitrogen of the azide, followed by cyclization to a... 

A possible mechanism of oxidation of methylene groups to carbonyl groups involves autoxidation (oxidation by molecular oxygen) at the benzylic position. Autoxidation of arylalkanes is a facile reaction with low activation energies for example, 6.0 kcal/mole for 1,1-diphenylethane and 13.3 kcal/mole for toluene. ... 

Dithioacetals derived from heteropine 177 smoothly react with methylene iodide in the presence of a zinc-copper couple in refluxing ether to give the corresponding fused thiophenes 178. The suggested mechanism involves formation of an ylide which undergoes intramolecular aldol-type condensation assisted by coordination of zinc with a carbonyl followed by demethylation of the S-methylthiophenium species (Scheme 35 (1989TL3093)). 

There are a series of communications about the formation of dihydroazines by direct reaction of urea-like compounds with synthetic precursors of unsaturated carbonyls—ketones, containing an activated methyl or methylene group. The reaction products formed in this case are usually identical to the heterocycles obtained in reactions of the same binuclephiles with a,(3-unsatu-rated ketones. For example, interaction of 2 equiv of acetophenone 103 with urea under acidic catalysis yielded 6-methyl-4,6-diphenyl-2-oxi- 1,6-dihydro-pyrimidine 106 and two products of the self-condensation of acetophenone— dipnone 104 and 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene 105 [100] (Scheme 3.32). When urea was absent from the reaction mixture or substituted with 1,3-dimethylurea, the only isolated product was dipnon 104. In addition, ketone 104 and urea in a multicomponent reaction form the same pyrimidine derivative 106. All these facts suggest mechanism for the heterocyclization shown in Scheme 3.32. 

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