Halides organozinc compounds

The study of the Schlenk equilibrium for organozinc compounds represents a major chapter in the understanding of these reagents in general [26]. Before elaborating the studies on zinc carbenoids, it is appropriate to briefly review the definitive investigations on organozinc halides themselves. 

Organozinc compounds are also useful in palladium-catalyzed coupling with aryl and alkenyl halides. Procedures for arylzinc,156 alkenylzinc,157 and alkylzinc158 reagents have been developed. The ferrocenyldiphosphine dppf has been found to be an especially good Pd ligand for these reactions.159... 

Functionalized organozinc halides are best prepared by direct insertion of zinc dust into alkyl iodides. The insertion reaction is usually performed by addition of a concentrated solution (approx. 3 M) of the alkyl iodide in THF to a suspension of zinc dust activated with a few mol% of 1,2-dibromoethane and MeaSiCl [7]. Primary alkyl iodides react at 40 °C under these conditions, whereas secondary alkyl iodides undergo the zinc insertion process even at room temperature, while allylic bromides and benzylic bromides react under still milder conditions (0 °C to 10 °C). The amount of Wurtz homocoupling products is usually limited, but increases with increased electron density in benzylic or allylic moieties [45]. A range of poly-functional organozinc compounds, such as 69-72, can be prepared under these conditions (Scheme 2.23) [41]. 

Although the simple alkylzinc halides RZnX (R = Me or Et, X = Cl, Br, I) were among the first known organozinc compounds, for a long time nothing was known about the actual structures of such compounds in solution or in the solid state. The constitution of these compounds in solution seemed to depend on the particular solvent employed " . It should be noted that in ethereal solutions, the possibility of the presence of a Schlenk equilibrium should always be considered. In these solvents the organozinc halides most... 

The stereocontrolled (at the C—Zn center) preparation and reactions of organozinc compounds are, however, an active field of research. Diastereomeric cyclic secondary organozinc halides were prepared as mixtures of isomers that appear to be configurationally stable under the experimental reaction conditions used, although the distribution of products can be electrophile-dependent Other cyclic and acyclic diastereomerically... 

Benzylic acetates are unreactive toward organozinc compounds. However, various ferrocenyl acetates, such as 236, react with dialkylzinc halides in the presence of BF3 OEt2 with retention of configuration leading to the chiral ferrocenyl derivatives like 237 (Scheme 68) . 

In addition, the organozinc compound obtained from ethyl 4-bromobutanoate reacts under similar conditions to those described previously, with 4-bromoacetophenone, to give the corresponding product in good yield15. The preparation of organozinc compounds and their cross-coupling with aryl halides can be carried out in one step (equation 7). 

The synthesis of organozinc compounds by electrochemical processes from either low reactive halogenated substrates (alkyl chlorides) or pseudo-halogenated substrates (phenol derivatives, mesylates, triflates etc.) remains an important challenge. Indeed, as mentioned above, the use of electrolytic zinc prepared from the reduction of a metal halide or from zinc(II) ions does not appear to be a convenient method. However, recent work reported by Tokuda and coworkers would suggest that the electroreduction of a zinc(II) species in the presence of naphthalene leads to the formation of a very active zinc capable of reacting even with low reactive substrates (equation 23)11. 

C. Electrochemical Preparation of Organozinc Compounds using Cobalt Halides as Catalysts... 

The electrochemical preparation of organozinc compounds obtained from the corresponding aromatic halides and with the use of a nickel complex as catalyst is only efficient in dimethylformamide as solvent. Moreover, in most cases and as described previously, the reaction requires the presence of excess 2,2 -bipyridine (five molar equivalents with respect to nickel) to achieve the transmetallation reaction leading to the organozinc compound and to avoid the formation of biaryl, Ar-Ar (equation 53). 

This led us to find new catalytic systems able to turn the electrochemical process to the synthesis of organozinc compounds. In this context, a simple cobalt halides salt can be used advantageously6. As a matter of fact, the work devoted to the study of the... 

---