Secondary alkyl halides acetylide anion reactions with

The major limitation to this reaction is that synthetically acceptable yields are obtained only with methyl halides and primary alkyl halides Acetylide anions are very basic much more basic than hydroxide for example and react with secondary and ter tiary alkyl halides by elimination... 

The alkylation reaction is limited to the use of primary alkyl bromides and alkyl iodides because acetylide ions are sufficiently strong bases to cause dehydrohalogenation instead of substitution when they react with secondary and tertiary alkyl halides. For example, reaction of bromocyclohexane with propyne anion yields the elimination product cyclohexene rather than the substitution product 1-propynylcyclohexane. 

Acetylide ion alkylation is an Sn2 reaction, and it s therefore understandable that only primary alkyl halides and tosylates react well. Since acetylide anion is a strong base as well as a good nucleophile, E2 elimination competes with Sn2 alkylation when a secondary or tertiary substrate is used. For example, reaction of sodio ]-hexyne with 2-bromopropane gives primarily the elimination product rather than the substitution product ... 

Because an alkyl group is added to the original alkyne molecule, this type of reaction is called an alkylation reaction. We limit our discussion in this chapter to reactions of acetylide anions with methyl and primary haloalkanes. We will discuss the scope and limitation of this type of nucleophilic substitution in more detail in Chapter 7. For reasons we will discuss there, alkylation of nucleophilic acetylide anions is practical only for methyl and primary halides. While this alkylation reaction can be used with limited success with secondary haloalkanes, it fails altogether for tertiary haloalkanes. 

Most 8 2 reactions are faster in aprotic solvents and slower in protic solvents. Water tends to promote ionization. In pro-tic media, particularly aqueous media, ionization of tertiary halides occurs to give a carbocation intermediate (more slowly with secondary halides) 9,10,11,12,49, 55,69, 70, 77,86. Carbocation intermediates can be trapped by nucleophiles in what is known at an 8 1 reaction. An 8 1 reaction proceeds by ionization to a planar carbocation containing an sp hybridized carbon, follows first-order kinetics, and proceeds with racem-ization of a chiral center. Carbocations are subject to rearrangement to a more stable cation via 1,2 hydrogen or alkyl shifts 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 50, 65, 67, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 85,87,88, 89. A variety of nucleophiles can be used in the substitution reactions, including halides, alkoxides, amines, phosphines, azides, cyanide, acetylides, and enolate anions 2,3,13,14,36,62,63,88, 89,105. 

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