Meerwein arylation mechanism

The mechanism of the Meerwein arylation is not completely understood. In his seminal paper, Meerwein proposed the involvement of aryl cations, however, this hypothesis was soon eliminated when J.K. Kochi suggested that aryl... 

Some observations are important for improvement of the yield and for the elucidation of the mechanism of the Meerwein reaction. Catalysts are necessary for the process. Cupric chloride is used in almost all cases. The best arylation yields are obtained with low CuCl2 concentrations (Dickerman et al., 1969). One effect of CuCl2 was detected by Meerwein et al. (1939) in their work in water-acetone systems. They found that in solutions of arenediazonium chloride and sodium acetate in aqueous acetone, but in the absence of an alkene, the amount of chloroacetone formed was only one-third of that obtained in the presence of CuCl2. They concluded that chloroacetone is formed according to Scheme 10-50. The formation of chloroacetone with CuCl2 in the absence of a diazonium salt (Scheme 10-51) was investigated by Kochi (1955 a, 1955 b). Some Cu11 ion is reduced by acetone to Cu1 ion, which provides the electron for the transfer to the diazonium ion (see below). 

The reviews by Rondestvedt (1960, 1976) are outdated so far as the mechanism of the Meerwein reaction is concerned. This statement is substantiated by Rondestvedt s own comment in his 1976 review (p. 226) in which he states that the generally accepted mechanism involves the aryl radical. .., though the manner of its formation and its subsequent reaction are still controversial . Meerwein et al., in their original paper (1939), expressed the opinion that the reaction is ionic in nature. A radical mechanism was first proposed by Koelsch in 1943 (see also Koelsch and Bockelheide, 1944). He received immediate support from Bergmann et al. (1944) and Bergmann and Weizmann (1944), in spite of the fact that Koelsch s claim was based on rather uncertain and vague arguments. 

Kochi (1956a, 1956b) and Dickerman et al. (1958, 1959) studied the kinetics of the Meerwein reaction of arenediazonium salts with acrylonitrile, styrene, and other alkenes, based on initial studies on the Sandmeyer reaction. The reactions were found to be first-order in diazonium ion and in cuprous ion. The relative rates of the addition to four alkenes (acrylonitrile, styrene, methyl acrylate, and methyl methacrylate) vary by a factor of only 1.55 (Dickerman et al., 1959). This result indicates that the aryl radical has a low selectivity. The kinetic data are consistent with the mechanism of Schemes 10-52 to 10-56, 10-58 and 10-59. This mechanism was strongly corroborated by Galli s work on the Sandmeyer reaction more than twenty years later (1981-89). 

There are reasons to explain the catalytic activity of copper(ll) in terms of cation-radical mechanism. This mechanism is confirmed by the unusual direction of Meerwein reaction in some cases, for example, when the replacement of halogen by an aryl radical occurs in the reaction of halo-styrenes with aryldiazonium salts (Obushak et al. 1991). A cation-radical in the system [olefin-Cu(II)] has been detected by UV spectroscopy (Obushak et al. 1991). In the cases of cis isomers of benzylidenacetone (Allard and Levisalles 1972) and maleic esters (Isaev et al. 1972), the unreacted... 

Aryl nitrenes show ring expansion to seven-membered ring. The mechanism of ring expansion involves the Wagner-Meerwein rearrangement (Scheme 2.62). 

Kinetic studies of the Midland reduction confirmed that the reduction of aldehydes is a bimolecular process and the changes in ketone structure have a marked influence on the rate of the reaction (e.g., the presence of an EWG in the para position of aryl ketones increases the rate compared to an EDG in the same position). However, when the carbonyl compound is sterically hindered, the rate becomes independent of the ketone concentration and the structure of the substrate. The mechanism with sterically unhindered substrates involves a cyclic boatlike transition structure (similar to what occurs in the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction). The favored transition structure has the larger substituent (Rl) in the equatorial position, and this model correctly predicts the absolute stereochemistry of the product. 

Another useful approach to styrenes via sp -sp -coupling reactions, which is beyond the scope of this section, is Meerwein-type arylations in which aryldiazonium salts undergo usually copper(I)- or palladium-catalyzed couplings with electron deficient alkenes, indicating a radical-based mechanism.The method is so useful for the synthesis of stilbenes from unsubstituted styrenes 92 or p>silylstyrenes. 93... 

Whenever a carbocation is an intermediate in a mechanism, rearrangements are possible. Besides the study of carbocation structures and reactivity in stable ion media, the majority of the information chemists have on carbocation rearrangements comes from SnI solvolysis reactions. A hydrogen, alkyl, or aryl group on a carbon adjacent (p) to the cationic carbon can shift to form a different carbocation. This is called a Wagner-Meerwein shift. Eq. 11.30 shows a thermoneutral example. 

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