Simmons Smith

Simmons-Smith reagent Named after the duPont chemists who discovered that diiodo-mechane would react with an active zinc-copper couple in ether to give a reagent with molecular formula ICHiZnl. The reagent adds stereospecifically cis- to alkenes to give cyclopropanes in high yields. 

This reaction is called the Smmons-Smith reaction and is one of the few methods avail able for the synthesis of cyclopropanes Mechanistically the Simmons-Smith reaction seems to proceed by a single step cycloaddition of a methylene (CH2) unit from lodomethylzmc iodide to the alkene... 

Yields m Simmons-Smith reactions are sometimes low Nevertheless because it often provides the only feasible route to a particular cyclopropane derivative it is a valu able addition to the organic chemist s store of synthetic methods... 

It IS clear that free CH2 is not involved m the Simmons-Smith reaction but there... 

Simmons-Smith reaction (Section 14 12) Reaction of an alkene with lodomethylzmc iodide to form a cyclopropane denvative... 

SIMMONS - SMITH Cyclopropanalion Cydoprapane lonration Irom alkeneswilh alcykHlodides and Zn-Cu (carbanoid addition to double bonds). 

The first substance examined in the steroid field was 3j6-hydroxycholest-4-ene (1) and the epimeric 3a-alcohol (3). These compounds react stereospecifically in dry ether with the Simmons-Smith reagent to yield the isomeric cyclopropyl carbinols (2) and (4) in 90 % and 67 % yields, respectively. The rate of this reaction is about one fifth of that observed with simple cyclic car-binols. ... 

The Simmons-Smith reaction has been used to great advantage in the conversion of 19-nor steroids to the naturally occurring 10)5-methyl steroids as well as the unnatural lOa-methyl steroids. Thus methylenation of androst-5(10)-ene-3a,17 -diol (9) proceeds in an autoclave at elevated temperatures with stereospecific a-face addition to give the 5a,10a-methylene compound (10) in 85% yield. 

The synthesis of 11 jS-hydroxy-A -3-ketones (17) from A ° -compounds (16) has been carried out by the homoallylic hydroxyl-assisted Simmons-Smith reaction. 

Serini reaction, 167 Simmons-Smith reaction, 107 Sodium acetylide, 138 Sodium bismuthate, 147, 149 Sodium bistrimethylsilylamide, 90 Sodium chloroacetylide, 68 Solvolytic cleavage of cyclic ethers, 267 3- (5 -Spiro-2, 2 -dimethyloxazolidi nyl) -cholestane, 360... 

Iodomethylzinc iodide is known as the Simmons-Smith reagent, after Howard E. Simmons and Ronald D. Smith of Du Pont who first described its use in the preparation of cyclopropanes. 

It is clear that free CH2 is not involved in the Simmons-Smith reaction, but there is substantial evidence to indicate that caibenes aie formed as intermediates in certain other reactions that convert alkenes to cyclopropanes. The most studied exanples of these reactions involve dichlorocaibene and dibromocaibene. 

Aminocyclopropanes were prepared from enamines by the addition of Simmons-Smith reagent (688) or best through the cuprous-chloride-promoted decomposition of diazomethane (689). The reaction of an enamine with chloroform and base and opening of the resultant aminocyclopropane to an ynamine was reported (690). 

Without question, the most powerful method for cyclopropane formation by methylene transfer is the well-known Simmons-Smith reaction [6]. In 1958, Simmons and Smith reported that the action of a zinc-copper couple on diiodomethane generates a species that can transform a wide variety of alkenes into the corresponding cyclopropanes (Scheme 3.3) [7]. 

These early studies on zinc carbenoids provide an excellent foundation for the development of an asymmetric process. The subsequent appearance of chiral auxiliary and reagent-based methods for the selective formation of cyclopropanes was an outgrowth of a clear understanding of the achiral process. However, the next important stage in the development of catalytic enantioselective cyclopropanations was elucidation of the structure of the Simmons-Smith reagent. 

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