Organomercuric halides

The organomercury compounds can be used in situ or isolated as organomercuric halides. 

This simple, convenient procedure eliminates the use of strong acids which sometimes cause unwanted molecular rearrangements and the isolation and handling of toxic organomercuric halides. It also allows you to apply the borohydride reduction directly to the adduct, without precipitating it as the chloride. The main precursor is any allyl benzene eliminating the need for conversion to a propenyl benzene. 

Another sort of difficulty occurs in the cleavages of organomercuric halides. Unrelated secondary reactions occur at rates which may be comparable with the rates of proton transfer. An example (Kreevoy and Kretchmer, 1964) is given in equations (47) through (51). The... 

Diaryl or dialkyl ketones. Organomercuric halides react with nickel carbonyl in DMF or THF al 60-70 (20 hr.) to give ketones in high yield. Thus phcnylmercuiic chloride or bromide is converted into benzophenone in 92 95% yield ... 

Ketone synthesis. Many organomercuric halides react with dicobalt octacarbonyl in THF solution at room temperature to give symmetrical ketones ... 

Unsymmetrical diaryl-, dialkyl-, and alkyl(aryl)-mercury compounds are conveniently prepared by reaction of organomercuric halides with the necessary Grignard reagent 170... 

Organomercuric halides can also be caused to disproportionate to HgR2 and HgX2 if the mercury halide is bound into a complex K2HgX4 by addition of potassium iodide, cyanide, or thiocyanate 178... 

Diaryl or dialkyl ketones are obtained in good yields by the reaction of nickel carbonyl with organomercuric halides in dipolar solvents (Hirota etai, 1971). 

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