Mercuration intermediates

Mercuration occurs m the 5-position (4501 as demonstrated b the subsequent conversion of the mercurated derivatives (209) to the corresponding 2-amino-5-halothiazoles (Scheme 132) (396. 451). The reaction is favored by the presence of sodium acetate (452). Nitrogen mercurated intermediates have never been isolated. 

Examples involving the use of organomercury reagents as nucleophiles in aqueous media are also known. Bergstrom studied the synthesis of C-5-substituted pyrimidine nucleosides in aqueous media via a mercurated intermediate using Li2PdCl4 as a catalyst (Eq. 6.42).136... 

The phenylphosphonic acid 197 reacts with 5 equiv. of AgC104 to deliver the 1,2-oxa-phosphol-3-ene-2-oxide 198 in an 80% total yield of the Z- and E-isomers (Scheme 15.63) [127]. For related reactions, see also [128]. With a phosphonic acid and Hg(OAc)2, the mercurated intermediate, a 4-acetoxymercury l,2-oxaphosphol-3-ene and the corresponding chloride after ligand exchange were isolated [129]. 

Cross-coupling of organomercurials has been employed the generation of solnble, well-characterized poly(3-alkylthiophene) and poly(3-alkylthienyl ketone). Facile mercuration of 3-alkylthiophenes with HgCl2 prodnces 2,5-bis(chloromercurio)-3-alkylthiophenes. The mercurated intermediates snbseqnently undergo cross-conpling reactions in the presence of Cn and PdCh to yield poly(3-alkylthiophene) and, under CO pressure, poly(3-alkylthienyl ketone) (Scheme 4). 

Cyclization of the triene (161) with mercuric acetate is shown to lead to the mercurated cyclohexanol (162a), which by further treatment with formic acid produces tra 5-hydrindane (163) cyclization of the corresponding non-mercurated intermediate (162b) gives a mixture of cis- and traw -hydrindanes. ... 

Treatment of this same 4, 5 -dibromofluorescein intermediate with mercuric acetate and conversion to the disodium salt yields the hydroxymercuric analogue merbromin or mercurochrome [129-16-8] (41). It was once a widely used antiseptic, especially for skin disinfection, and was even adrninistered internally. However, it has been replaced by more effective antibacterial agents. 

The iodination reaction can also be conducted with iodine monochloride in the presence of sodium acetate (240) or iodine in the presence of water or methanolic sodium acetate (241). Under these mild conditions functionalized alkenes can be transformed into the corresponding iodides. AppHcation of B-alkyl-9-BBN derivatives in the chlorination and dark bromination reactions allows better utilization of alkyl groups (235,242). An indirect stereoselective procedure for the conversion of alkynes into (H)-1-ha1o-1-alkenes is based on the mercuration reaction of boronic acids followed by in situ bromination or iodination of the intermediate mercuric salts (243). 

Mercuration. Mercury(II) salts react with alkyl-, alkenyl-, and arylboranes to yield organomercurials, which are usehil synthetic intermediates (263). For example, dialkyhnercury and alkyhnercury acetates can be prepared from primary trialkylboranes by treatment with mercury(II) chloride in the presence of sodium hydroxide or with mercury(II) acetate in tetrahydrofuran (3,264). Mercuration of 3 -alkylboranes is sluggish and requires prolonged heating. Alkenyl groups are transferred from boron to mercury with retention of configuration (243,265). 

Mercuric chloride is widely used for the preparation of red and yellow mercuric oxide, ammoniated mercury/7(9/USP, mercuric iodide, and as an intermediate in organic synthesis. It has been used as a component of agricultural fungicides. It is used in conjunction with sodium chloride in photography (qv) and in batteries (qv), and has some medicinal uses as an antiseptic. 

Methylation of avermectins B and B2 leads to the corresponding derivatives of the A series (49). A procedure involving the oxidation of the 5-methoxy group with mercuric acetate and NaBH reduction of the 5-keto-intermediate allows the conversion of the A to the B components (50). The 23-hydroxy group of the "2" components, after selective protection of the other secondary hydroxy groups, is converted to a thionocarbonate, which can be elirninated to give the 22,23-double bond of the "1" components alternatively it can be reduced with tributyltin hydride to the 22,23-dihydro derivatives (= ivermectins) (51). 

In a similar manner to the formation of pyridazines from AT-aminopyrroles, cinnolines or phthalazines are obtainable from the corresponding 1-aminooxindoles or 2-amino-phthalimides. If the relatively inaccessible 1-aminooxindoles are treated with lead tetraacetate, mercuric acetate, r-butyl hypochlorite (69JCS(C)772) or other agents, cinnolones are formed as shown in Scheme 105. The reaction was postulated to proceed via an intermediate... 

Allenes react with other typical electrophiles such as the halogens and mercuric ion. In systems where bridged-ion intermediates would be expected, nucleophilic capture generally occurs at the allylic position. This pattern is revealed, for example, in the products of solvent capture in halogen additions and by the structures of mercuration products. ... 

A rather special procedure for the preparation of 21-hydroxy-20-ketopreg-nanes starts with the 17a-ethoxyethynyl-17 -hydroxy steroids described earlier. Free radical addition of ethanethiol to the triple bond, followed by acid-catalyzed hydrolysis and dehydration gives the 20-thioenol ether 21-aldehyde. This can be reduced with lithium aluminum hydride to the C-21 alcohol and then hydrolyzed to the C-20 ketone in the presence of mercuric chloride. The overall yield, without isolation of intermediates, is in the order of 50% ... 

The previous sections have dealt with stable C=N-I- functionality in aromatic rings as simple salts. Another class of iminium salt reactions can be found where the iminium salt is only an intermediate. The purpose of this section is to point out these reactions even though they do not show any striking differences in their reactivity from stable iminium salts. Such intermediates arise from a-chloroamines (133-135), isomerization of oxazolidines (136), reduction of a-aminoketones by the Clemmensen method (137-139), reductive alkylation by the Leuckart-Wallach (140-141) or Clarke-Eschweiler reaction (142), mercuric acetate oxidation of amines (46,93), and in reactions such as ketene with enamines (143). 

Another iminium intermediate that has been proposed is in the mercuric acetate oxidation of amines (46,9J). This reaction is discussed in the... 

Swain and Eddy have queried the wide applicability of the S l and Sif2 mechanisms and favored a push-pull termolecular process for the reaction of pyridine with methyl bromide in benzene solution for example, they have suggested that the effects observed on the addition of methanol, phenol, p-nitrophenol, and mercuric bromide to the reaction mixture can be explained by an intermediate of type 168. ... 

Iodine acetate would seem to be unambiguously present in the iodination of pentamethylbenzene in acetic acid by iodine and mercuric acetate, since the latter components form an equilibrium mixture of iodine acetate and acetoxy-mercuric iodide and mercuric acetate speeds up the iodination332. Second-order rate coefficients of 0.078 (25 °C) and 0.299 (45 °C) were obtained, and these values are intermediate between those obtained for the reaction of bromine acetate with benzene (2.5 xlO-3) and toluene (1.2) at 25 °C, indicating that bromine acetate is the stronger electrophile. 

Even more scrambling was found in trifluoroacetolysis of 1-propyl l- " C-mercuric perchlorate. " However, protonated cyclopropane intermedi... 

A. Synthetic Methods.—There have been no strikingly new approaches to the general problem of phosphorylation, but several ingenious methods of preparing suitable active esters under mild conditions have been reported. Typical of these is the reactive intermediate (1) formed from reaction of a mono- or di-ester of phosphoric acid with (2), itself produced by reaction of triphenylphosphine with bis(2-pyridyl) disulphide (preferably in the presence of mercuric ion as scavenger for the 2-mercaptopyridine liberated). 

The addition reactions discussed in Sections 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 are initiated by the interaction of a proton with the alkene. Electron density is drawn toward the proton and this causes nucleophilic attack on the double bond. The role of the electrophile can also be played by metal cations, and the mercuric ion is the electrophile in several synthetically valuable procedures.13 The most commonly used reagent is mercuric acetate, but the trifluoroacetate, trifluoromethanesulfonate, or nitrate salts are more reactive and preferable in some applications. A general mechanism depicts a mercurinium ion as an intermediate.14 Such species can be detected by physical measurements when alkenes react with mercuric ions in nonnucleophilic solvents.15 The cation may be predominantly bridged or open, depending on the structure of the particular alkene. The addition is completed by attack of a nucleophile at the more-substituted carbon. The nucleophilic capture is usually the rate- and product-controlling step.13,16... 

The reductive replacement of mercury using sodium borohydride is a free radical chain reaction involving a mercuric hydride intermediate.18... 

The most synthetically valuable method for converting alkynes to ketones is by mercuric ion-catalyzed hydration. Terminal alkynes give methyl ketones, in accordance with the Markovnikov rule. Internal alkynes give mixtures of ketones unless some structural feature promotes regioselectivity. Reactions with Hg(OAc)2 in other nucleophilic solvents such as acetic acid or methanol proceed to (3-acetoxy- or (3-methoxyalkenylmercury intermediates,152 which can be reduced or solvolyzed to ketones. The regiochemistry is indicative of a mercurinium ion intermediate that is opened by nucleophilic attack at the more positive carbon, that is, the additions follow the Markovnikov rule. Scheme 4.8 gives some examples of alkyne hydration reactions. 

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