Methyl bromide construction materials

Methyl bromide, when dry (<100 ppm water), is inert toward most materials of construction. Carbon steel is recommended for storage vessels, piping, pumps, valves, and fittings. Copper, brass, nickel, and its alloys are sometimes used. Aluminum, magnesium, zinc, and alloys of these metals should not be used because under some conditions dangerous pyrophoric compounds may be formed. Many nonmetallic materials are also useful for handling methyl bromide, but nylon and polyvinyl chloride should be avoided. 

Methyl 2-bromo-2-cyclopropylideneacetate (11a) has never been tested in these reactions, but has been used as a starting material for the stepwise construction of 1,6-heptadienes with methylenecyclopropane units for intramolecular Heck reactions. Thus, bromo ester 11a, after reduction, subsequent conversion of the resulting alcohol to the bromide and coupling with enolates of substituted malonates, was transformed into dienes of the type 254 (Scheme 73) - versatile synthetic blocks for the preparation of functionally substituted spirocyclopropanated bicyclo[4.3.0]nonenes 255a-d by a domino Heck-Diels-Alder reaction [122a]. 

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