Semi-ylides

Dihalomethylenephosphoranes are easily available from tetrahalomethanes and tertiary phosphines, especially triphenylphosphine (equation 2). From mixed tetrahalomethanes preferably difluoro- and di-chloro-methenylenephosphoranes are formed. The primarily resulting dihalomethylenephosphorane may undergo subsequent reaction giving rise to the formation of a semi-ylide salt (equation 3). ... 

The reactions with sulfur or selenium result in the formation of betaines, which can be alkylated to give semi-ylide salts (equation 98). The reactions of hexaphenylcarbodiphosphorane with a series of heteroallenes also lead to betaines which on thermolysis yield new cumulated ylides (equation 99, cf. equation 120). 

Stepwise deprotonation of methylenebis(triorgano)phosphonium salts with bases yields carbodiphosphoranes via intermediate semi-ylide salts, which may also be accessible by alkylation or phosphinol-ation of corresponding alkylidenephosphoranes (equation 118). " It depends on the starting phosphonium salt and the base whether the intermediate ylide salts can be isolated or not. Suitable bases are sodium amide, alkali metal hydrides, alkylidenetrialkylphosphoranes, potassium and lithium orga-nyls. For the synthesis of hexaphenylcarbodiphosphorane improved methods have been reported by which this compound may be generate without isolation of the ylide salt and on a large scale. 

Stepwise deprotonation of methylenebis(triorgano)phosphonium salts with bases yields caibodiphos-phoranes via intermediate semi-ylide salts, which may also be accessible by alkylation or phosphinol-ation of corresponding alkylidenephosphoranes (equation It depends on Ae starting... 

In sharp contrast to the olefmation reaction employing stabilized telluronium ylides, semi-and non-stabilized ylides react with carbonyl compounds to give epoxides (like non-stabilized sulphonium and selenonium ylides). 

Enaminone 128 (Scheme 33) is obtained, together with an isomeric indo-lizine derivative, by flash vacuum thermolysis of aminomethylene Meldrum s acid derivative through intermediate ketene and delocalized azomethine ylide (85TL833). The thermally induced cyclization of semi-cyclic dienamines to afford, for instance, tricyclic 129 is also believed to start with an azomethine ylide (97JOC7744) the p-chlorophenyl substituent is essential for the reaction. Unstabilized ylide 130, on the other hand, is generated from pipecolinic acid and /1-phenylcinnamaldehyde by the decarboxylation method target base 131 is formed by 1,7-electrocycliza-tion and [l,5]-hydrogen shift (99J(P1)2605). 

Semi-empirical PM3 calculations" reveal that ylide 23 is a minimum on the potential energy surface and that both steps are exothermic. The enthalpy of the reaction of ylide formation in CH3CN was estimated to be —43 kcal/ mol and the enthalpy of reaction of the second step, 1,2-hydrogen shift, was calculated to be —12.5kcal/mol. 

It has been the practice3 to divide ylides into stabilized, semi-stabilized and non-stabilized. It can be seen that this division breaks down somewhat for structural studies, as shown by the variation in P=C bond lengths and the more varied nature of the substituents in more recent studies. However, an effort has been made in Table 1 to quote non-stabilized ylides first, followed roughly by semi-stabilized, then stabilized and finally sp ylides. 

The results indicate that the kinetic acidity is markedly lower for phosphonium salts than for the corresponding nitroalkanes, but cannot be correlated with pKa values. In contrast, the measurement of kinetic acidity using double potential step chronoamperometry180 allowed the determination of pka values for a series of phosphonium salts corresponding to semi-stabilized or non-stabilized ylides ... 

The one-electron electrochemical reduction of 1,2-vinylene and buta-l,4-dienylene bisphosphonium salts at a mercury cathode produces an ylide character by the reaction pathway depicted in reactions 11—13. The mechanism is altered when OH is generated in the unbuffered aqueous-organic medium this reaction is depicted as reaction 14. The electrochemical reduction of phosphonium salt in the presence of tri-p-anisylphosphine produces a mixture of the saturated or semi-saturated bisphosphonium salts through either reaction scheme 15 or alternatively 16. 

Current results indicate that stabilized arsonium ylides such as phenacylide, carbomethoxymethylide, cyanomethylide, fluorenylide, and cyclopentadienylide afford only olefinic products upon reaction with carbonyl compounds. Nonstabilized ylides such as ethylide afford almost exclusively epoxides or rearranged products thereof. However, semi-stabilized arsonium ylides, such as the benzylides, afford approximately equimolar amounts of olefin and epoxide. Obviously, the nature of the carbanion moiety of the arsonium ylide greatly affects the course of the reaction. It is reasonable to suppose that a two-step mechanism is involved in the reaction of heteronium (P, S, and As) ylides with carbonyl compounds (56). 

The semi-stabilized telluronium ylides, generated in situ from the corresponding telluronium salts (156 R1 = CH=CHSiMe3, CH=CH2, CH=CHMe, CH=CHPh, Ph), have been reported to react with a,/(-unsaturated carbonyl compounds (157 R2 = Ph, OR, NR)) to afford 2-vmylcyclopropyl derivatives (158) with high... 

A computational study has probed the origin of the diastereoselectivity in aziridine formation from sulfur ylides, Me2S+-CH -R, and imines.62 For semi-stabilized cases (R = Ph), betaine formation is non-reversible, so that selectivity is determined in the (g) initial addition step. In contrast, for stabilized ylides (R = C02Me), betaine formation is endothermic, and the elimination step becomes rate and selectivity determining. 

The salt-free Wittig reaction of non-, semi-, and stabilized ylides has been investigated on realistic systems using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, including... 

In the first step (ij) the ylides 3 (R1 = H) can be alkylated with primary alkylhalogenide or with ethyl bromoacetate they can also be acylated with acetic anhydride in a reverse addition operation, (In spite of trans-ylidation process, the acylated phosphonium salt can be easily purified by liquid -liquid extraction with bases). Semi-stabilized ylides3(R1= 0) are not reactive enough to be alkylated or acylated in this way. 

With non-stabilized ylides ( R = H or Me) and numerous saturated or unsaturated aldehydes and ketones the Wittig reaction ( i ix) gives the corresponding dithianes 7 in good yields (70-93 %) The autoxidation of these ylides gives the expected products 8 and 9. The semi-stabilized ylides (R1= 0) react only with a reactive aldehyde. 

To explain the enantioselectivity obtained with semi-stabilized ylides (e.g., benzyl-substituted ylides), the same factors as for the epoxidation reactions discussed earlier should be considered (see Section 10.2.1.10). The enantioselectivity is controlled in the initial, non-reversible, betaine formation step. As before, controlling which lone pair reacts with the metallocarbene and which conformer of the ylide forms are the first two requirements. The transition state for antibetaine formation arises via a head-on or cisoid approach and, as in epoxidation, face selectivity is well controlled. The syn-betaine is predicted to be formed via a head-to-tail or transoid approach in which Coulombic interactions play no part. Enantioselectivity in cis-aziridine formation was more varied. Formation of the minor enantiomer in both cases is attributed to a lack of complete control of the conformation of the ylide rather than to poor facial control for imine approach. For stabilized ylides (e.g., ester-stabilized ylides), the enantioselectivity is controlled in the ring-closure step and moderate enantioselectivities have been achieved thus far. Due to differences in the stereocontrolling step for different types of ylides, it is likely that different sulfides will need to be designed to achieve high stereocontrol for the different types of ylides. 

Ylide type non-stabilized ylide semi-stabilized ylide stabilized ylide... 

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