Metal mediated, acylation reagents

The organoindium reagent, prepared from indium metal and bromoacetonitrile, reacts with carbonyl compounds in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane to give /3-hydroxy nitriles (Scheme 93),336 337 Similarly, indium-mediated coupling of bromoacetonitrile or 2-bromopropionitrile with a variety of aromatic acyl cyanides affords the corresponding aromatic a-cyanoketones in moderate to good yields under mild and neutral conditions (Equation (86)).338 Carbonyl compounds are efficiently transformed into 2,2-dichloro-3-hydroxynitriles by the action of trichloroaceto-nitrile and indium(i) bromide (Scheme 94).339 Bromocyanomethylation of carbonyl compounds is also achieved by the reaction of dibromoacetonitrile and indium(i) bromide.340... 

The method was made considerably more general by inclusion of a catalytic amount of a palladium(O) complex during addition of the organometallic. Alkenylcopper reagents actually react relatively slowly with acid halides but, in a fashion analogous to other alkenyl metal species (see Section 1.13.4), they may be readily transmetallated to form an acylpalladium(II) complex which then undergoes reductive elimination to the product (Scheme 29)." A further discussion of acylation mediated by palladium complexes is included in Section 1.13.4. Interestingly, a,P-unsaturated acid chlorides react under these conditions to form divinyl ketones. 

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