Reactions dialkylzincs

The most important reaction with Lewis acids such as boron trifluoride etherate is polymerization (Scheme 30) (72MI50601). Other Lewis acids have been used SnCL, Bu 2A1C1, Bu sAl, Et2Zn, SO3, PFs, TiCU, AICI3, Pd(II) and Pt(II) salts. Trialkylaluminum, dialkylzinc and other alkyl metal initiators may partially hydrolyze to catalyze the polymerization by an anionic mechanism rather than the cationic one illustrated in Scheme 30. Cyclic dimers and trimers are often products of cationic polymerization reactions, and desulfurization of the monomer may occur. Polymerization of optically active thiiranes yields optically active polymers (75MI50600). 

Ligand exchange reactions can be used to prepare perfluoroalkylzinc compounds Solvated trifluoromethylzinc compounds can be synthesized via the reaction of dialkylzincs with bis(trifluoromethyl)mercury [36] (equation 27) A similar exchange process with bis(trif]uorometliyl)cadinium and diraethylzinc gives a mixture of tnfluoromethylcadmium and zinc compounds [77]... 

The reaction of iodopentafluorobenzene with dialkylzinc in the presence of Lewis bases quantitatively gives the pentafluorophenylzinc complexes [32], The pentafluorophenylzinc complexes can be prepared more easily via the direct reaction of bromopentafluorobenzene with zinc powder in DMF [/22] (equations 94 and 95). 

Since the addition of dialkylzinc reagents to aldehydes can be performed enantioselectively in the presence of a chiral amino alcohol catalyst, such as (-)-(1S,2/ )-Ar,A -dibutylnorephedrine (see Section 1.3.1.7.1.), this reaction is suitable for the kinetic resolution of racemic aldehydes127 and/or the enantioselective synthesis of optically active alcohols with two stereogenic centers starting from racemic aldehydes128 129. Thus, addition of diethylzinc to racemic 2-phenylpropanal in the presence of (-)-(lS,2/ )-Ar,W-dibutylnorephedrine gave a 75 25 mixture of the diastereomeric alcohols syn-4 and anti-4 with 65% ee and 93% ee, respectively, and 60% total yield. In the case of the syn-diastereomer, the (2.S, 3S)-enantiomer predominated, whereas with the twtf-diastereomer, the (2f ,3S)-enantiomer was formed preferentially. 

The tridentate ligands C, L and M are effective catalysts for the enantioselective addition of dialkylzincs to aromatic aldehydes16,17. In particular, ligands L and M qualify as members of the chemical enzyme (chemzyme) class of synthetic reagents17, since they function in a predictable, clear-cut mechanistic way. As demonstrated by X-ray diffraction, the actual catalyst is a monomeric zinc chelate 2 formed in toluene at 50 C by reaction of L or M with one equivalent of diethylzinc. 

The polymer-bound catalysts A-C. (Table 31) are prepared by reaction of the corresponding amino alcohols with partially chloromethylated 1 -2% cross-linked polystyrene. In the case of A, the enantioselectivity of the addition of dialkylzincs to aldehydes is higher than with the corresponding monomeric ephedrine derivatives (vide supra). Interesting insights into the mechanism of the alkylation of aldehydes by dialkylzinc reagents can be obtained from the experi-... 

Kitamura and Noyori have reported mechanistic studies on the highly diastere-omeric dialkylzinc addition to aryl aldehydes in the presence of (-)-i-exo-(dimethylamino)isoborneol (DAIB) [33]. They stated that DAIB (a chiral (i-amino alcohol) formed a dimeric complex 57 with dialkylzinc. The dimeric complex is not reactive toward aldehydes but a monomeric complex 58, which exists through equilibrium with the dimer 57, reacts with aldehydes via bimetallic complex 59. The initially formed adduct 60 is transformed into tetramer 61 by reaction with either dialkylzinc or aldehydes and regenerates active intermediates. The high enantiomeric excess is attributed to the facial selectivity achieved by clear steric differentiation of complex 59, as shown in Scheme 1.22. 

Further optimization of this reaction was carried out with TFE as an achiral adduct, since reaction with TFE is much faster than that with neopentyl alcohol. We found that dimethyl- and diethylzinc were equally effective, and the chiral zinc reagent could be prepared by mixing the chiral modifier, the achiral alcohol and dialkylzinc reagent in any order without affecting the conversion and selectivity of the reaction. However, the ratio of chiral to achiral modifier does affect the efficiency of the reaction. Less than 1 equiv of the chiral modifier lowered the ee %. For example with 0.8 equiv of 46 the enantiomeric excess of 53 was only 58.8% but with 1 equiv of 46 it was increased to 95.6%. Reaction temperature has a little effect on the enantiomeric excess. Reactions with zinc alkoxide derived for 46 and TFE gave 53 with 99.2% ee at 0°C and 94.0% ee at 40°C. 

Tanaka et al.28 have synthesised a series of (S)-chiral Schiff bases as the highly active (yield 69-99%) and enatioselective (ee 50-96%) catalysts in the reaction of addition of dialkylzinc to aldehydes. The stereochemistry of the asymmetric addition was suggested. In a transition state when S-chiral Schiff base was used as chiral source, the alkyl nucleophile attacked Re face of the activated aldehyde and formed the R-configuration alkylated product [13]. 

The direct reaction of zinc metal with organic iodides dates back to the work of Frankland(67). Several modifications have been suggested since that time to increase the reactivity of the metal. The majority of these modifications have employed zinc-copper couples(68-72), sodium-zinc alloys(73), or zinc-silver couples(77). Some recent work has indicated that certain zinc-copper couples will react with alkyl bromides to give modest yields of dialkylzinc compounds(74,73). However, all attempts to react zinc with aryl iodides or bromides have met with failure. The primary use of zinc couples has been in the Simmons-Smith reaction. This reaction has been primarily used with diiodomethane as 1,1-dibromides or longer chain diiodides have proven to be too unneactive even with the most reactive zinc couples. 

Highly reactive zinc can be prepared by reduction of anhydrous ZnC with potassium/THF or sodium/DME(l 7,29). This zinc has been shown to undergo rapid oxidative additions with alkyl bromides to produce near quantitative yields of the corresponding dialkylzinc. It also underwent oxidative addition with phenyl iodide and bromide. Moreover, the zinc was found to be useful in the Reformatsky reaction. Reactions could be carried out in diethyl ether at room temperature to generate near quantitative yields of the 3-hydroxyester. 

Pu and co-workers incorporated atropisomeric binaphthols in polymer matrixes constituted of binaphthyl units, the macromolecular chiral ligands obtained being successfully used in numerous enantioselective metal-catalyzed reactions,97-99 such as asymmetric addition of dialkylzinc reagents to aldehydes.99 Recently, they also synthesized a stereoregular polymeric BINAP ligand by a Suzuki coupling of the (R)-BINAP oxide, followed by a reduction with trichlorosilane (Figure 10).100... 

Such reactions are initiated by a single electron transfer from the dialkylzinc moiety to the diazabutadiene ligand to afford radical pairs 109, which collapse by the regioselective transfer of the organic radical to the nitrogen 110 or carbon 111 atoms of the diazabutadiene moiety. If the alkyl radical escapes from the organozinc radical, the latter dimerizes reversibly to 112 via the formation of a very long yet credible carbon-carbon bond. 

Predictably, alkyltrisilanols react with dialkylzincs to yield larger aggregates, such as 133, which are much more inorganic in nature than those formed by mono- and disilanols (Scheme 84). Often these zinc siloxanes are without direct zinc-carbon bonds and resemble the silicates for which they serve as model compounds.192 The specific structures of these products depend heavily on the substituents of the silanetriols and diorganozincs, as well as the reaction stoichiometries.193... 

Reactions of organozincates with aldehydes and ketones were thoroughly investigated by Richey and co-workers (Scheme 115). In contrast to dialkylzincs, which do not give addition products with ketones and even aldehydes... 

A unique nickel-catalyzed alkylative monofunctionalization of cyclic anhydrides using dialkylzinc and diphenylzinc provided 7- or f3-keto acids (Scheme 124).323 This reaction also required the use of Ni(cod)2 or Ni(acac)2 and a bidentate ligand. As it was observed by Knochel in the reactions of dialkylzinc with alkyl iodides (vide infra), addition of an electron-deficient alkene,324 for example, 4-fluoromethylstyrene, accelerated the rate of the reaction and increased the yield of the desired products. The alkylzinc reagents BuZnBr and Et02CCH2CH2ZnBr also reacted with anhydrides, although the yields were lower. 

Nitrones have a more reactive C=N bond toward nucleophilic addition compared to imines. In spite of this fact, there have been only a limited number of studies on the nucleophilic addition reactions of nitrones, particularly organometallic reagents.352-355 During the last decade, research related to reactions of nitrones with zinc-containing reagents was essentially focused on (i) dialkylzinc-assisted alkynylations356-358 and vinylations359 of nitrones, (ii) catalytic asymmetric nucleophilic additions to the C=N bond,360-364 and (iii) nitrone allylations by allylzinc halides.365,366... 

---