Bonding organolithium compounds

RR C=NLi) . They can be prepared in high yield either by the addition of an organolithium compound across the triple bond of a nitrile (equation (1)) or by lithiation of a ketimine (equation (2)). 

Although the effective functionality of CISi-PaMeSt was less than one, attempts were made to obtain block copolymers by coupling with living polyisoprenyllithium and a,w-disodium polyisobutylene glycolate. These particular coupling reactions were selected because it is known that Si-Cl bonds readily react with organolithium compounds and sodium alkoxides43 45 . 

J-Oxygen-functionalised sp3 organolithium compounds react with alkenyl-carbene complexes to generate the corresponding cyclic carbene complexes in a formal [3+3] process (see Sect. 2.8.1). In those cases where the organolithium derivative contains a double bond in an appropriate position, tricyclic ether derivatives are the only products isolated. These compounds derive from an intramolecular cyclopropanation of the corresponding cyclic carbene complex intermediate [89] (Scheme 83). 

Ge—metal bonds can be built in analogy as described for Ge—C bonds by the reaction of organolithium compounds with metal halides. With trans-dichlorobis(triethylphosphine)platinum(II), new germyl transition metal complexes were synthesized (equation 36)41. 

Although the resulting vinylallenes 48 were usually obtained as mixtures of the E and Z isomers, complete stereoselection with regard to the vinylic double bond was achieved in some cases. In addition to enyne acetates, the corresponding oxiranes (e.g. 49) also participate in the 1,5-substitution (Scheme 2.18) and are transformed into synthetically interesting hydroxy-substituted vinylallenes (e.g. 50) [42], Moreover, these transformations can also be conducted under copper catalysis by simultaneous addition of the organolithium compound and the substrate to catalytic amounts of the cuprate (see Section 3.2.3). 

Unsymmetrical dienynes react regioselectively with organolithium compounds at the less substituted double bond (Scheme 2.37). Thus, addition of n-butyllithium to 2-methylhexa-l,5-dien-3-yne (107) led after hydrolysis to vinylallene 108, whereas the corresponding carbolithiation of the linear isomer 109 furnished product 110 with 55% yield [68]. 

Dehydrohalogenation reactions appeared to be a convenient route to double bond germanium nitrogen species and were commonly carried out with an organolithium compound as a base.3,4 5b 6 7 96,97 123 Accordingly, the synthesis of two moderately hindered stable germanimines Mes2Ge = NR 136 and 137 has been reported.59 Stabilization in these cases is achieved... 

A further synthetic approach to carbon-metal double bonds is based on the acid-catalyzed abstraction of alkoxy groups from a-alkoxyalkyl complexes [436 -439] (Figure 3.11). These carbene complex precursors can be prepared from alk-oxycarbene complexes (Fischer-type carbene complexes) either by reduction with borohydrides or alanates [23,55,63,104,439-445] or by addition of organolithium compounds (nucleophilic addition to the carbene carbon atom) [391,446-452]. 

Grignard reaction and similar transformations allow C-C bond formation without a palladium catalyst. Grignard reagents and organolithium compounds are very versatile carbanion sources used in the synthesis of acyclic, heterocychc and carbo-cychc compounds. The esters, ketones and aldehydes are more stable when the reaction takes place on solid supports than in the hquid-phase, because this immo-bihzed components are not so sensitive towards water or oxygen. In the total synthesis of (S)-zearalenone (155) on solid supports the Grignard reaction is one of the key steps (Scheme 3.16) [120]. 

Many reactions exhibited by organolithium compounds are studied theoretically. The structure, energy and bonding discussed above have direct consequences in determining the reaction paths. The large variety of the reactions of organolithium compounds studied theoretically are discussed below. 

The magnitude of the chemical shift anisotropy depends on the bonding situation and the nucleus gyromagnetic ratio. Since the bonds formed by lithium in organolithium compounds or other lithiated systems are mainly ionic, the anisotropy of the lithium chemical shift is generally small. It is more pronounced for Li than for Li. Li spectra are dominated by the quadrupolar effect and the CSA contribution to the Li lineshape is often negligible. Exceptions are compounds with poly-hapto bound lithium, such as... 

In their papers Rodionov and coworkers described the polymerization of organolithium compounds in terms of the formation of lithium bonds (Scheme 1), analogous to hydrogen bonds, which brought about cyclic or linear association of these compounds in solution . However, the strong association of alkyllithium compounds, persisting even in the vapour phase, indicates that their association takes place through the formation of... 

The complex formation between ethyl and t-butyllithium in benzene was later investigated by Weiner and West by spectroscopic methods. The new organolithium compounds differ from any pure component, but contain both types of alkyl groups bonded to lithium. 

Only the most reactive organolithium compound, e.g. f-BuLi, is able to attack the carbon-nitrogen triple bond at temperatures below —20°C. For the other less reactive species, namely PhLi and n-BuLi, higher temperatures in ordinary solvents like pentane would be more appropriate to synthesize their lithiated Schiff bases. Flowever, for their detection IR spectroscopy seems to be unsuitable, since the relevant C=N stretching mode will be hidden by strong CH deformation modes of the solvent. 

---