Nucleophilic substitution carbanion intermediates

An a-halosulfone 1 reacts with a base by deprotonation at the a -position to give a carbanionic species 3. An intramolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction, with the halogen substituent taking the part of the leaving group, then leads to formation of an intermediate episulfone 4 and the halide anion. This mechanism is supported by the fact that the episulfone 4 could be isolated. Subsequent extrusion of sulfur dioxide from 4 yields the alkene 2 ... 

Mechanism of nucleophilic aro-malic substitution. The reaction occurs in two steps and involves a resonance-stabilized carbanion intermediate. 

The proposed mechanism of this reaction is composed by an initial S v2-type nucleophilic substitution reaction of 113 with the nucleophilic a-sulfonyl lithium carbanion to give the alkylmagnesium species (114) having a sulfonyl group at the / -position. Then, a -elimination reaction of magnesium sulfinate from the intermediate (114) occurs... 

Probtom 11.24 Write resonance structures to account for activation in addition-elimination aromatic nucleophilic substitution from delocalization of the charge of the intermediate carbanion by the following para substituent groups (a) —NOj, (b) —CN, (c) —N=0, (d) CH==0. -4... 

A probable pathway for the methylthiylation observed is (86MI2) nucleophilic substitution at the sulfur atom in DMSO involving the carbanion 100 (precursor of 1-vinylpyrrole) followed by reduction of the intermediate vinylsulfoxide 101. 

Arenes usually undergo electrophilic substitution, and are inert to nucleophilic attack. However, nucleophile attack on arenes occurs by complex formation. Fast nucleophilic substitution with carbanions with pKa values >22 has been extensively studied [44]. The nucleophiles attack the coordinated benzene ring from the exo side, and the intermediate i/2-cvclohexadienyl anion complex 171 is generated. Three further transformations of this intermediate are possible. When Cr(0) is oxidized with iodine, decomplexation of 171 and elimination of hydride occur to give the substituted benzene 172. Protonation with strong acids, such as trifluoroacetic acid, followed by oxidation of Cr(0) gives rise to the substituted 1,3-cyclohexadiene 173. The 5,6-trans-disubstituted 1,3-cyclohexadiene 174 is formed by the reaction of an electrophile. 

Phosphoranide anions 1 - i.e. species based on pentacoordina-ted phosphorus having a lone pair as one of its five substituents -were proposed by Wittig and Maercker as early as 1967, to act as intermediates or transition states in nucleophilic substitutions at tricoordinated phosphorus ( p. Shortly afterwards in 1969, Hellwinkel brought indirect evidence for the formation of phosphoranide 3 in equilibrium with the carbanion 4, since the action of a base on phosphorane 2 gave, after acidic treatment, a mixture of 5 and 6 in proportions that depend on the experimental conditions (i). 

In the addition-elimination routes, either via a carbanionic intermediate (I) or via a neutral adduct (II), the anionic nucleophile Nu or the neutral nucleophile NuH attacks the /3-carbon with the expulsion of X. In the a,/8-route (IV), the /9,/3-route (VI) and the /8, y- elimination-addition routes (VII), HX is eliminated in the initial step, and the nucleophile and hydrogen are then added to the intermediates. Substitution occurs also by heterolytic C—X bond cleavage in an SN1 process (X). Initial prototropy followed by substitution can also give vinylic substitution products (XII, XIV), as well as two consecutive Sn2 reactions (XV) where the leaving group leaves from an allylic position. 

Routes (i) and (ii) differ only in the life-time of the intermediate, although the intermediate of route (i) might only be a transition state. We will see that the stereochemistry of the product and the element effect can give information on this question. Most of the evidence points to a short-lived carbanionic intermediate, but in some examples an a,j8-adduct seems essential. Since even the direct substitution is in itself an addition-elimination process involving the nucleophile and the leaving group, and since differentiation between the routes of Scheme 2 is not always possible, we will designate all routes of Scheme 2 as addition-elimination . 

All stages of assembly of the compounds, namely CH-acid ionization, carbanion addition to the dithioate group of pyrrolecarbodithioates, ethanethiol elimination, and nucleophilic substitution of the halogen at the C p in the halogenoacetylenes by enethiolate 1425, occur as a one-pot process without isolation of the intermediates. 

The author believes that students are well aware of the basic reaction pathways such as substitutions, additions, eliminations, aromatic substitutions, aliphatic nucleophilic substitutions and electrophilic substitutions. Students may follow undergraduate books on reaction mechanisms for basic knowledge of reactive intermediates and oxidation and reduction processes. Reaction Mechanisms in Organic Synthesis provides extensive coverage of various carbon-carbon bond forming reactions such as transition metal catalyzed reactions use of stabilized carbanions, ylides and enamines for the carbon-carbon bond forming reactions and advance level use of oxidation and reduction reagents in synthesis. 

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