Reactions of Diazoalkanes

3-Dipolar cycloadditions of diazoalkanes with alkenes lead to pyrazolines, which are easily transformed into cyclopropanes. 

For compounds of type A reactions with ethyl diazoacetate were found to take place selectively. 1-Pyrazolines were obtained as cycloadducts in reactions of (trimethylsilyl)diazomethane with camphor sultam (63) derivatives. Upon treatment with acid the heterocycles rearrange to form 2-pyrrazolines diastereoselectively. 

Astonishingly, stereoselective cycloadditions of diazomethane have been reported only for a few isolated cases. The reactions were carried out in dioxane at 95°C or in ether at room temperature. 

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Thus, the reaction of diazoalkanes andnitrilimines with diacetylenic derivatives can be used as a method for synthesizing acetylenylpyrazoles. 

A new class of metaphosphinates, namely iminomethylenephosphoranes (1 with R = N(SiMe3)2, X = NSiMe3) is accessible by reaction of diazoalkanes with imino-phosphines (SiMe3)2N—P=N—SiMe3. Depending on the substituents on the methylene carbon atom, compounds of this class are either stable or dimerize across the P=C or P=N double bond 141). 

Other synthetic approaches have been explored for binding an alkylidene functionality to a metalla-calix[4]arene. Among them, the reaction of diazoalkanes with coordinatively unsaturated metalla-calix[4]arenes deserves particular mention. The synthesis of an unusual high-spin (5.2 BM at 292 K) iron(II)-carbene, 192, is displayed in Scheme 39,13 and its structure is shown in Fig. 22. 

In further agreement with cyclopropenones, primary adducts 548 may use a second pattern of stabilization, as observed in the reactions of diazoalkanes with... 

However, acid catalysis can interfere in thermal reactions of diazoalkanes and must always be taken into consideration. 

Metallic groups as in case (c) lead to electrophilic or even carbocation-like carbene complexes. Typical examples are Fischer-type carbene complexes [e.g. (CO)5Cr=C(Ph)OMe] and the highly reactive carbene complexes resulting from the reaction of rhodium(II) and palladium(II) carboxylates with diazoalkanes. Also platinum ylides [1,2], resulting from the reaction of diazoalkanes with platinum(Il) complexes, have a strong Pt-C o bond but only a weak Pt-C 7t bond. In situation (d) the interaction between the metal and the carbene is very weak, and highly reactive complexes showing carbene-like behavior result. Similar to uncomplexed carbenes. 

It has been known for a long time that the decomposition of diazoalkanes can be catalyzed by transition metal complexes [493-496]. Carbene complexes were proposed as possible intermediates by Yates in 1952 [497]. However, because reactions of diazoalkanes with metal complexes tend to be difficult to control, it was not until 1975 [498] that stable carbene complexes could be directly obtained from diazoalkanes (Figure 3.19). 

The transition metal-catalyzed reaction of diazoalkanes with acceptor-substituted alkenes is far more intricate than reaction with simple alkenes. With acceptor-substituted alkenes the diazoalkane can undergo (transition metal-catalyzed) 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to the olefin [651-654]. The resulting 3//-pyrazolines can either be stable or can isomerize to l//-pyrazolines. 3//-Pyrazolines can also eliminate nitrogen and collapse to cyclopropanes, even at low temperatures. Despite these potential side-reactions, several examples of catalyzed cyclopropanations of acceptor-substituted alkenes with diazoalkanes have been reported [648,655]. Substituted 2-cyclohexenones or cinnamates [642,656] have been cyclopropanated in excellent yields by treatment with diazomethane/palladium(II) acetate. Maleates, fumarates, or acrylates [642,657], on the other hand, cannot, however, be cyclopropanated under these conditions. 

Stanovnik and co-workers (100,101) systematically investigated the cycloaddition reactions of diazoalkanes with unsaturated nitrogen heterocycles, such as azolo-[l,5-fl]pyridines, pyridazin-3(2/7)-ones, and [fo]-fused azolo- and azinopyridazines. The Stanovnik group have studied the further transformations of the products and reviews of this chemistry are available. In a typical example, the reaction of 6-chlorotetrazolo[l,5-/7]pyridazine (37) with 2-diazopropane yields the NH,NH-dihy-dro-pyrazolo[4,3-(i]tetrazolo[l,5-/7]pyridazine 38 (102) (Scheme 8.11). The latter substrate reacts with acetone to produce an azomethine imine 39 that thermally rearranges to give the fused dihydro-1,2-diazepine 40. The azomethine imine obtained with glucose can be trapped with methyl acrylate to furnish the C-nucleoside 41 (103). 

The intramolecular [3 - - 2] cycloaddition reaction of diazoalkane 252 (Scheme 8.60) is remarkable for its high asymmetric induction. Due to the presence of the... 

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of diazoalkanes with alkenes has also been reported (395). Kanemasa and Kanai (395) used the chiral DBFOX-Ph ligand with various metals such as Ni, Zn, and Mg for the preparation of 255a-c. The reaction of TMS-diazomethane 171 with alkene 241 was catalyzed by 10 mol% of 255b to afford the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition product 296 in good yields and enantioselectivities of up to 99% ee (Scheme 12.96). Also, the Ni-catalyst 255a and the Mg-catalyst 255c were excellent catalysts for the reaction, resulting in >90% ee in both cases. 

Table 1 Thermal Reactions of Diazoalkanes with Alkenes... 

More O Ferrall, 1967). Usually, however, the reaction of diazoalkanes and alcohols is formulated in terms of complete proton transfer... 

Reaction of diazoalkanes with thiocarbonyl compounds, which may be considered an extension of Pechmann s synthesis, forms 1,2,3-thiadiazole derivatives (75SST(3)67o). For example, methyl dithioacetate reacts with diazomethane to form a mixture of thiadiazole isomers and thiirane the latter often is the main product of this type of reaction (equation 26). O-Ethyl thionoacetate reacts with ethyl diazoacetate to form a substituted thiadiazole (equation 27). However, an aryl thionoester reacts with diazomethane to yield a 1,2,3-thiadiazole derivative which is only formed as an intermediate (31) and then rapidly decomposes to alkene (Scheme 5). 

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