Substituted Alkyl Carbenoids

1 Insertions into acyclic alkenylzirconocene chlorides. A convergent route to functio- 

Lithiated chloromethyltrimethylsilane is a remarkably stable carbenoid [69] and shows exceptional reactivity in insertions into the alkenyl—zirconium bonds of unsaturated zirconacycles. It is the only known carbenoid that will insert into zirconacyclopentadienes 

4 Insertion of halo-substituted carbenoids into zirconacydes 

Insertion/cycliza-tion of halo-carbenoids into zirconacydes R R = -(CH2OC-Me2OCH2)-. 

---

Configurational stability has also been confirmed for various metalated carbamates by Hoppe and coworkers. Remarkably, carbamate-protected alcohols such as 20 are deprotonated enantioselectively, when treated with i-butyllithium in the presence of (—)-sparteine. The lithium carbenoids like 21 (R = alkyl) thus generated turn out to retain their configuration (equation 11). Similar results have been obtained for a-lithiated amines and carbamate protected amines " . As a rule, dipole stabilization of the organolithium compounds in general also enhances the configurational stability of a-oxygen-substituted lithium carbenoids. 

Various alkyl- and aryl-substituted [3]radialenes could be prepared from 1,1-dihaloal-kenes using organometallic pathways. Hexamethyl-[3]radialene (25), the first [3]radialene to be synthesized, was obtained in a very low yield by treatment of l,l-dibromo-2-methyl-1-propene (22) with butyllithium8,9. The lithium carbenoid 23 and the butatriene 24 are likely intermediates of this transformation (Scheme 2), the former being the source of an unsaturated carbene moiety which is transferred onto the latter. However, the outer double bonds of 24 are more readily cyclopropanated than the central one. 

Rhodium(n) carboxamidates are clearly superior to all other types of catalysts in effecting highly chemo-, regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselective intramolecular C-H activation reactions of carbenoids derived from diazoacetates. Specifically, Rh2(4Y-MPPIM)4 is the catalyst of choice for C-H activation reactions of simple primary and secondary alkyl diazoacetates. Likewise, Rh2(4Y-MACIM)4 thus far has been the most successful catalyst with tertiary alkyl diazoacetates, whereas for primary acceptor-substituted diazoacetates with a pendant olefin side chain, Rh2(4A-MEOX)4 has proved to be highly selective. 

It is observed that insertion into a zirconacyclopentene 163, which is not a-substituted on either the alkyl and alkenyl side of the zirconium, shows only a 2.2 1 selectivity in favor of the alkyl side. Further steric hindrance of approach to the alkyl side by the use of a terminally substituted trans-alkene in the co-cyclization to form 164 leads to complete selectivity in favor of insertion into the alkenyl side. However, insertion into the zirconacycle 165 derived from a cyclic alkene surprisingly gives complete selectivity in favor of insertion into the alkyl side. In the proposed mechanism of insertion, attack of a carbenoid on the zirconium atom to form an ate complex must occur in the same plane as the C—Zr—C atoms (lateral attack 171 Fig. 3.3) [87,88]. It is not surprising that an a-alkenyl substituent, which lies precisely in that plane, has such a pronounced effect. The difference between 164 and 165 may also have a steric basis (Fig. 3.3). The alkyl substituent in 164 lies in the lateral attack plane (as illustrated by 172), whereas in 165 it lies well out of the plane (as illustrated by 173). However, the difference between 165 and 163 cannot be attributed to steric factors 165 is more hindered on the alkyl side. A similar pattern is observed for insertion into zirconacyclopentanes 167 and 168, where insertion into the more hindered side is observed for the former. In the zirconacycles 169 and 170, where the extra substituent is (3 to the zirconium, insertion is remarkably selective in favor of the somewhat more hindered side. 

The electrophilic reactivity of lithium carbenoids (reaction b) becomes evident from their reaction with alkyl lithium compounds. A, probably metal-supported, nucleophilic substitution occurs, and the leaving group X is replaced by the alkyl group R with inversion of the configuration . This reaction, typical of metal carbenoids, is not restricted to the vinylidene substitution pattern, but occurs in alkyl and cycloalkyl lithium carbenoids as well ". With respect to the a-heteroatom X, the carbenoid character is... 

The question of configurational stability has been investigated first for vinylidene carbenoids and, more recently, for alkylcarbenoids. Vinyl anions are usually considered to be configurationally stable" ° the calculated inversion barrier of the ethenyl anion 10 (R = H) is about 35 kcal mol (equation 4)" . Concerning lithioalkenes, this configurational stability has been confirmed experimentally for a-hydrogen, a-alkyl and a-aryl substituted derivatives . The inversion of vinylidene lithium carbenoids was already... 

Finally, a reaction that clearly shows the electrophihc carbenoid-type character of a-lithiated epoxides is the reductive alkylation discovered by CrandaU and Apparu. The transformation is illustrated by the treatment of f-butyl ethylene oxide with t-butyllithium to yield ii-di-f-butylethene (equation 55). The overall reaction results in a conversion of an oxirane into an aUcene under simultaneous substitution of an a-hydrogen atom by the alkyllithium reagent ... 

A third mechanistically distinct [3 -1- 2] cycloaddition between vinyl ethers and vinyl-carbenoids was discovered and reported in 2001 [26]. This reaction is remarkable because when Rh2(S-DOSP)4 is used as the catalyst, the cis-cyclopentenes 142 are formed in up to 99% enantiomeric excess. The reaction occurs between vinylcarbenoids unsubstituted or alkyl-substituted at the vinyl terminus and vinyl ethers substituted with an aryl or vinyl group. Some illustrative examples are shown in Tab. 14.12. The reaction is considered to be a concerted process, which would be consistent with the highly stereoselective nature of the reaction [26]. Contrary to the [3-1-2] cycloaddition derived by means of vinylogous carbenoid reactivity, this latest [3 -1- 2] cycloaddition is not influenced by solvent effects. Due to steric demands on the carbenoid, the [3-1-2] cycloaddi-tion only occurs with cis-vinyl ethers. 

Although O-alkyl-substituted enol ethers react smoothly with zinc carbenoids (eqna-tion 18) , higher yields are usually obtained with the Fnrnkawa reagent nsing a slight excess of diethylzinc to scavenge zinc iodide (and convert it into the less Lewis acidic ethylzinc iodide as it is formed) (see equation 18 vs 19). ... 

The carbenoid from Et2Zn/CH2I2 [17], particularly when generated in the presence of oxygen [18], is more reactive than the conventional Simmons-Smith reagents. The milder conditions required are suitable for the preparation of 1-[16, 19] or 2-alkoxy-l-siloxycyclopropanes [20], which are generally more sensitive than the parent alkyl substituted siloxycyclopropanes (Table 2). Cyclopropanation of silyl ketene acetals is not completely stereospecific, since isomerization of the double bond in the starting material competes with the cyclopropanation [19]. 

Intramolecular alkylation of phenol with diazoketone [14] can be analyzed as the following The carbenoid center acts first as an acceptor and then a donor. Since the resulting cyclopropane derivative is vicinally substituted with an acceptor (C=0) and a donor (enol), fragmentation follows instantaneously (vide infra). 

The overall mechanistic picture of these reactions is poorly understood, and it is conceivable that more than one pathway may be involved. It is generally considered that cycloheptatrienes are generated from an initially formed norcaradiene, as shown in Scheme 30. Equilibration between the cycloheptatriene and norcaradiene is quite facile and under acidic conditions the cycloheptatriene may readily rearrange to give a substitution product, presumably via a norcaradiene intermediate (Schemes 32 and 34). When alkylated products are directly formed from the intermolecular reaction of carbenoids with benzenes (Scheme 33 and equation 36) a norcaradiene considered as an intermediate alternatively, a mechanism may be related to an electrophilic substitution may be involved leading to a zwitterionic intermediate. A similar intermediate has been proposed143 in the intramolecular reactions of carbenoids with benzenes, which result in substitution products (equations 37-40). It has been reported,144 however, that a considerable kinetic deuterium isotope effect was observed in some of these systems. Unless the electrophilic attack is reversible, this would indicate that a C—H insertion mechanism is involved in the rate-determining step. 

The reaction of N-alkylated pyrroles with carbenoids leads exclusively to substitution products. Due to the pharmaceutical importance of certain pyrrolylacetates, the reaction with alkyl diazoacetates (Scheme 45) has been systematically studied using about 50 different catalysts.13 Both the 2- and 3-alkylated products (216) and (217) could be formed and the ratio was dependent on the size of the JV-alkyl group and ester and also on the type of catalyst used. This has been interpreted as evidence that transient cyclopropane intermediates were not involved because if this were the case, the catalyst should not have influenced the isomer distribution. Instead, the reaction was believed to proceed by dipolar intermediates, whereby product control is determined by the position of electrophilic attack by the carbenoid. Similar alkylations with dimethyl diazomalonate gave greater selectivity and yields.164... 

When analyzing the literature data on reactive intermediates in organometallic reactions, two basic approaches to solve this fundamental problem are used. In the first approach, which is characteristic for classical organic chemistry, the conclusion is reached on the structure of the short-lived intermediate species and on their involvement in the process under study on the basis of analysis of the end reaction products. Another approach, more typical for physical chemistry, is based on time-resolved techniques, which allow one to measure the rate constants of the reactions of intermediates. However, in this case, one usually refrains from analysis of the reaction products. Unfortunately, it should be noted that inconsistency is often observed between the spectroscopic and kinetic data on the intermediates in reactions involving short-lived derivatives of group 14 elements. Table 7 exemplifies the discrepancies of spectral data for the simplest alkyl-substituted short-lived carbenoid, dimethylgermylene Me2Ge (16). 

The insertion of metal carbenoids into zirconacyclopentenes that are not a-substituted on the alkyl and the alkenyl sides of the Zr shows only a 2.2 1 selectivity in favor of the alkyl side. In the case of insertion into zirconacyclopentenes in which there is an Q -substituent on the alkenyl, a wide variety of metal carbenoids selectively insert into the zirconium alkyl bond. On the contrary, steric hindrance of the alkyl side leads to complete selectivity in favor of insertion into the alkenyl side. The selectivity cannot be systematically attributed to steric factors see Steric Effect) especially when insertion into the more hindered side is observed. In this case, the observed selectivity can be correlated with the highest... 

---