Other Terminal Alkenes

The Ir complexes 83 or [lr(lMes)Cl2Cp ], in the presence of NaOAc and excess of (Bcat), catalyse the diboration of styrene, at high conversions and selectivities for the diborated species, under mild conditions. Other terminal alkenes react similarly. The base is believed to assist the heterolytic cleavage of the (cat)B-B(cat) bond and the formation of Ir-B(cat) species, without the need of B-B oxidative addition [66]. 

A range of other terminal alkenes has been hydrogenated with ruthenium-diphosphine catalysts. The first set of substrates (Fig. 30.7 Table 30.5) was hydrogenated with Ru-BINAP in dichloromethane (DCM) at 30°C. Products of double bond migration were also detected [5]. 

Polystyrene cross-linked with 1-2% DVB is sufficiently flexible to allow intermediates attached to it to react with each other. Terminal alkenes linked to this support can therefore undergo self-metathesis to yield symmetrical, internal alkenes when treated with a suitable catalyst [133,134]. Self-metathesis of support-bound /V-alke-noylated peptides has been used by Conde-Frieboes et al. [133] for the preparation of symmetrical peptidomimetics (Figure 5.17). Various peptides were prepared on cross-... 

There are few reports of photocycloaddition reactions of di- and poly-ynes which involve more than one of the alkyne groups, but the production of toluene or other alkylbenzenes in the irradiation of butadiyne with propene or other terminal alkenes (equation 60) is one such process. ... 

On the contrary, a wide variety of other terminal alkenes having allylic alkoxy or methyl group afforded unn -diols after the ethylmagnesation followed by the same workup [Eq. (20)]. In these cases, virtually no change of diastereoselectivities was observed by switching the solvent from THF to ether, showing that the origin of this diastereoselection comes from steric repulsion of substituents around the reaction center. 

When applied to other terminal alkenes, these conditions lead to methyl ketones. 

Since the migration reaction is always toward the end of a chain, terminal alkenes can be produced from internal ones, so the migration is often opposite to that with the other methods. Alternatively, the rearranged borane can be converted directly to the alkene by heating with an alkene of molecular weight higher than that of the product (17-14). Photochemical isomerization can also lead to the thermodynamically less stable isomer. ... 

Diboration of terminal alkenes has also been studied with other d " metals (Fig. 2.12) including the Ag and Au complexes 75-77 and the Pt" complexes 78-79. Styrene is diborylated with 100% selectivity and good conversions in THF (46% for 75 and 94% for 77 at 5 mol%, 60 h) using equimolecular amounts of (Bcat)j. The difference in activity between the Ag and Au complexes has been ascribed to the increased lability of the Ag-NHC bond, which may lead to catalyst decomposition under the reaction conditions, hi both catalytic systems it is believed that the active species involves only one coordinated NHC ligand. Complex 77 is less active than 74 and 75, possibly due to steric reasons. The enantioselectivity of 77 in the diboration of prochiral alkenes is very low [63]. 

Hydroalumination of terminal alkenes using EtjAl as the hydride source must be carried out with titanium catalysts [24], since zirconium compounds lead to the formation of alumacyclopentanes [60, 61] (Scheme 2-11) and carbometallated products [62]. Suitable substrates for hydroalumination include styrene, allylnaphthalene and vinylsilanes. Only one of the ethyl groups in EtjAl takes part in these reactions, allowing the synthesis of diethylalkylalanes, which are difficult to obtain by other methods. 

The success of the cross-metathesis reactions involving styrene and acrylonitrile led to an investigation into the reactivity of other Ji-substituted terminal alkenes [27]. Vinylboranes, enones, dienes, enynes and a,p-unsaturated esters were tested, but all of these substrates failed to undergo the desired cross-metathesis reaction using the molybdenum catalyst. 

The widely studied [RhCl(PPh3)3] complex, usually known as Wilkinson s catalyst, was discovered independently in 1965 by Wilkinson (a recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1973) and other groups [14]. This compound catalyzes the chemo-specific hydrogenation of alkenes in the presence of other easily reduced groups such as N02 or CHO, and terminal alkenes in the presence of internal alkenes [16]. The rate of hydrogenation parallels their coordination ability (Scheme 1.4), but tetrasubstituted alkenes are not reduced. 

The only other alkenyl carbenoid with a proton trans to the halide that can readily be generated by deprotonation is the parent 1-lithio-l-chloroethene 57 [43] (Scheme 3.13). Insertion into organozirconocenes arising from hydrozirconation of alkenes and alkynes, followed by protonation, affords terminal alkenes and ( )-dienes 59, respectively [38]. The latter provides a useful complement to the synthesis of 54 in Scheme 3.12 since the stereocontrol is >99%. 

Preliminary mechanistic studies on the methoxycarbonylation of 1-octene showed that two pathways to methyl nonanoate occur, one involving the direct carbonylation of 1-octene to the linear ester, the other the alkene isomerisation in competition with the first one. Subsequently, the linear product forms by tandem isomerisation of the internal alkenes, with the terminal alkyl intermediate being trapped by migration to CO at a higher rate than any branched alkyl species. This has been confirmed by the analysis of products... 

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