Mercury alkenes

This following article was sent to Strike by Osmium and Feck (are they the same person ). It involves the direct addition of azide to a terminal alkene (you-know-who) by the in situ production of the reactant mercury (II) azide from mercuric acetate and sodium azide (please don t ask) [80]. 

The reaction of alkenyl mercurials with alkenes forms 7r-allylpalladium intermediates by the rearrangement of Pd via the elimination of H—Pd—Cl and its reverse readdition. Further transformations such as trapping with nucleophiles or elimination form conjugated dienes[379]. The 7r-allylpalladium intermediate 418 formed from 3-butenoic acid reacts intramolecularly with carboxylic acid to yield the 7-vinyl-7-laCtone 4I9[380], The /i,7-titisaturated amide 421 is obtained by the reaction of 4-vinyl-2-azetidinone (420) with an organomercur-ial. Similarly homoallylic alcohols are obtained from vinylic oxetanes[381]. 

Intramolecular alkylnitrene addition to an alkenic moiety situated S,e to the electron deficient center has been utilized for the preparation of bi- and tri-cyclic aziridines (Scheme 11) (68JA1650). Oxidation of the primary alkylamine can be effected cleanly with NCS, LTA or mercury(II) oxide. 

Mercury(II) trifluoroacetate is a good electrophile that is highly reactive toward carbon-carbon double bonds [52, 53, 54] When reacting with olefins in nucleophilic solvents, it usually gives exclusively mercurated solvoadducts, but never products of skeletal rearrangement Solvomercuration-demercuratton of alkenes with mercury(II) trifluoroacetate is a remarkably effective procedure for the preparation of esters and alcohols with Markovnikov s regiochemistry [52, 5J] (equation 24)... 

In the laboratory, alkenes are often hydrated by the oxymercuration procedure. When an alkene is treated with mercury(II) acetate Hg(02CCH3)2, usually abbreviated Hg(OAc)2l in aqueous tetrahydrofuran (THF) solvent, electrophilic addition of Hg2+ to the double bond rapidly occurs. The intermediate orgnnomercury compound is then treated with sodium borohydride, NaBH4, and an alcohol is produced. For example ... 

Like alkenes (Sections 7.4 and 7.5), alkynes can be hydrated by either of two methods. Direct addition of water catalyzed by mercury(II) ion yields the Markovnikov product, and indirect addition of water by a hydroboration/ oxidation sequence yields the non-Markovnikov product. 

The chemistry of alkynes is dominated by electrophilic addition reactions, similar to those of alkenes. Alkynes react with HBr and HC1 to yield vinylic halides and with Br2 and Cl2 to yield 1,2-dihalides (vicinal dihalides). Alkynes can be hydrated by reaction with aqueous sulfuric acid in the presence of mercury(ll) catalyst. The reaction leads to an intermediate enol that immediately isomerizes to yield a ketone tautomer. Since the addition reaction occurs with Markovnikov regiochemistry, a methyl ketone is produced from a terminal alkyne. Alternatively, hydroboration/oxidation of a terminal alkyne yields an aldehyde. 

Free radical cyclization of alkenes with tin or mercury halides... 

Subshtuted 3-alken-l-ynes can be hydroaminated with primary or secondary aliphahc or aromatic amines at the alkynyl sites or at the alkynyl and at the alkenyl sites in the presence of Hg(ll) salts. However, the reachon is essentially stoichiometric in nature, even if the mercury compound can be recycled without apparent loss of achvity [262-264]. 

The nucleophiles that are used for synthetic purposes include water, alcohols, carboxylate ions, hydroperoxides, amines, and nitriles. After the addition step is complete, the mercury is usually reductively removed by sodium borohydride, the net result being the addition of hydrogen and the nucleophile to the alkene. The regio-selectivity is excellent and is in the same sense as is observed for proton-initiated additions.17... 

Intermolecular photocycloadditions of alkenes can be carried out by photosensitization with mercury or directly with short-wavelength light.179 Relatively little preparative use has been made of this reaction for simple alkenes. Dienes can be photosensitized using benzophenone, butane-2,3-dione, and acetophenone.180 The photodimerization of derivatives of cinnamic acid was among the earliest photochemical reactions to be studied.181 Good yields of dimers are obtained when irradiation is carried out in the crystalline state. In solution, cis-trans isomerization is the dominant reaction. 

In a process known as peroxymercuration, hydrogen peroxide and alkyl hydroperoxides can be alkylated by alkenes in the presence of a suitable mercury(II) salt... 

Alkene Linkages. Using (250-350)-nm irradiation (30,31) or the unfiltered light from a high-pressure mercury lamp (32), Balandier and Decker have measured quantum yields under nitrogen... 

In 1978, Corey reported a general synthetic route for the conversion of alkenes to conjugated nitroalkenes via nitro-mercuration and demercuration.74 Since then, many chemists have used this method for the preparation of cyclic nitroalkenes such as 1-nitrocyclohexene. However, the use of mercury salts is not recommended even for the small-scale preparation of nitroalkenes. This reaction is not as clean as expected, and formidable efforts are required to remove the mercury in the waste. 

Alkenes react with Hg(OAc)2 in a mixture of THF and water to produce (hydroxyalkyl)mercury compounds. 

Mercury 7r-complexes with alkene and alkyne ligands 447... 

For asymmetric alkenes such as 90, the diastereoselectivity of the initial mercuration directs the stereochemistry in the final product. The presence of a coordinating ether group in 90 increases the selectivity as illustrated in Equation (35).114 The coordination of the mercury by the oxygen of the OTBDPS functionality tends to favor the ry -diastereomer 91 over the A-diastereomer 92.115... 

Application of catalysts allows sometimes executing this addition/elimination process even with alkenes without any electron-deficient substituent attached. Such case is illustrated by an example in Scheme 15. In the presence of mercury-(n) acetate and trifluoroacetic acid, 1,2,3-triazoles 146 react with vinyl acetate at 70 °G to give vinyl derivatives 148 in good yields (70-88%) <2002RJ01056>. Adducts 147 are presumed to be intermediates in this process. 

The solvomercuration reaction is thought to be a two-step process. In the first step (equation 147), electrophilic attachment of mercury ion to the alkene produces a positively charged intermediate. In the second step (equation 148), a nucleophile (generally a solvent molecule) reacts with the intermediate leading to the organomercury compound. 

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