Reactions Involving Carbon Electrophiles

Carbon dioxide, shown to be an ideal medium for reactions involving very electrophilic radicals,31,43 has also been shown to be useful in the photooxidation of fluorinated olefins in the synthesis of PFPEs.4 Table 13.4 shows some representative results of the photooxidation of HFP in liquid C02. Overall, the resulting products of photooxidations in liquid C02 are similar to those... 

One-electron oxidation systems can also generate radical species in non-chain processes. The manganese(III)-induced oxidation of C-H bonds of enolizable carbonyl compounds [74], which leads to the generation of electrophilic radicals, has found some applications in multicomponent reactions involving carbon monoxide. In the first transformation given in Scheme 6.49, a one-electron oxidation of ethyl acetoacetate by manganese triacetate, yields a radical, which then consecutively adds to 1-decene and CO to form an acyl radical [75]. The subsequent one-electron oxidation of an acyl radical to an acyl cation leads to a carboxylic acid. The formation of a y-lactone is due to the further oxidation of a carboxylic acid having an active C-H bond. As shown in the second equation, alkynes can also be used as substrates for similar three-component reactions, in which further oxidation is not observed [76]. 

Synthetic reactions involving activation of alkenyl- and arylsilanes by copper salts have also been reported. A copper-mediated system is effective in the cross-coupling reaction of aryl- and heteroarylsilanes with aryl halides under Pd-free conditions (Equation (13)).66 Alkenyl- and arylsilanes as well as alkynylsilanes undergo homocoupling in the presence of Cul and air.65,65a Functionalized alkenyl- and arylsilanes bearing a coordination site in the vicinity of silicon (e.g., 7) are easily activated by copper salts even at room temperature (Scheme 5).67,67l 67e 68 q-jle organocoppers such as 8 are useful for carbon-carbon bond-forming reaction with carbon electrophiles. 

Three-bonded carbon atoms are most likely reactive intermediates carbocations in reactions involving strong electrophiles, carbanions in reactions involving strong nucleophiles, and free radicals in radical reactions. If you draw condensed formulas... 

Cycloalka[6]indoles are converted to 2-acyl derivatives by I2O5 <81JA6990, 87CPB4700,93JOC7469>. The mechanism invoked to explain this reaction involves initial electrophilic attack at C3, depro-tonation of the a-carbon at C2 and nucleophilic addition at the a-position (Scheme 108). 

The limitations and scope of reactions involving other electrophilic carbon reagents with anilines have been extensively described elsewhere . 

Ozonation ofAlkenes. The most common ozone reaction involves the cleavage of olefinic carbon—carbon double bonds. Electrophilic attack by ozone on carbon—carbon double bonds is concerted and stereospecific (54). The modified three-step Criegee mechanism involves a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of ozone to an olefinic double bond via a transitory TT-complex (3) to form an initial unstable ozonide, a 1,2,3-trioxolane or molozonide (4), where R is hydrogen or alkyl. The molozonide rearranges via a 1,3-cycloreversion to a carbonyl fragment (5) and a peroxidic dipolar ion or zwitterion (6). 

Other carbon electrophiles which are frequently employed include aldehydes, ketones, esters, nitriles and amides of the type RCONMei. An indirect method of acylation involves the initial reaction of a lithio compound with an aldehyde followed by oxidation of the resulting secondary alcohol to the corresponding acyl derivative. 

In the section dealing with electrophilic attack at carbon some results on indazole homocyclic reactivity were presented nitration at position 5 (Section 4.04.2.1.4(ii)), sulfon-ation at position 7 (Section 4.04.2.1.4(iii)) and bromination at positions 5 and 7 (Section 4.04.2.1.4(v)). The orientation depends on the nature (cationic, neutral or anionic) of the indazole. Protonation, for instance, deactivates the heterocycle and directs the attack towards the fused benzene ring. A careful study of the nitration of indazoles at positions 2, 3, 5 or 7 has been published by Habraken (7UOC3084) who described the synthesis of several dinitroindazoles (5,7 5,6 3,5 3,6 3,4 3,7). The kinetics of the nitration of indazole to form the 5-nitro derivative have been determined (72JCS(P2)632). The rate profile at acidities below 90% sulfuric acid shows that the reaction involves the conjugate acid of indazole. 

The classical Reformatsky reaction consists of the treatment of an a-halo ester 1 with zinc metal and subsequent reaction with an aldehyde or ketone 3. Nowadays the name is used generally for reactions that involve insertion of a metal into a carbon-halogen bond and subsequent reaction with an electrophile. Formally the Reformatsky reaction is similar to the Grignard reaction. 

Furthermore, the strongly metallic character of selenium weakens the C-Se bond and thus favors reactions involving opening of the ring. The basicity of the three heterocycles is approximately in the same order, the nitrogen atom of selenazole and thiazole possessing much the same properties as the heteroatom of pyridine. Of the two carbon atoms ortho to nitrogen, that is, the 2-carbon and the 4-carbon, only the one in the 2-position is fairly active as a result of its interaction with selenium or sulfur. The 4- and 5-positions of thiazole and selenazole are more susceptible to electrophilic substitution than the 3- and 5-positions of pyridine. This is particularly true of the 5-position of selenazole. Thus it can be said that the 2- and 5-positions of the selenazoles and thiazoles... 

The mixed lithium aminophosphonium azadiylides 7 [47] are known to be involved in reaction with various electrophiles specifically at the carbon center. The reaction with carbonyl known to form betaine adducts was recently used for the first time in Wittig type reactions for the synthesis of di-, tri-, and tetrasubsti-tuted alkenes 8 [52]. 

Most reactions of alkenyl and allylic silanes require strong carbon electrophiles and Lewis acid catalysts are often involved. The most useful electrophiles from a synthetic standpoint are carbonyl compounds, iminium ions, and electrophilic alkenes. 

The skeletal rearrangements are cycloisomerization processes which involve carbon-carbon bond cleavage. These reactions have witnessed a tremendous development in the last decade, and this chemistry has been recently reviewed.283 This section will be devoted to 7T-Lewis acid-catalyzed processes and will not deal, for instance, with genuine enyne metathesis processes involving carbene complex-catalyzed processes pioneered by Katz284 and intensely used nowadays with Ru-based catalysts.285 By the catalysis of 7r-Lewis acids, all these reactions generally start with a metal-promoted electrophilic activation of the alkyne moiety, a process well known for organoplatinum... 

In 1978, Negishi et al. reported highly regio- and stereoselective methylalumination of alkynes with Me3Al using a zirconocene catalyst [59]. The involvement of cationic zirconocene species in the activation of carbon—carbon triple bonds was suggested in a reaction mechanism featuring electrophilic activation by aluminum (Scheme 8.30). 

Hammond postulate has been used to explain the effect of substituents on the rate of benzilic acid rearrangements, mechanism of electrophillic aromatic substitution reactions and reactions involving highly reactive intermediates such as carbonium ions and carbon ions. 

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