Synthesis of cyclopropanes

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... 

In 1958 Simmons and Smith described a new and general synthesis of cyclopropanes by treatment of olefins with a reagent prepared from methylene iodide and a zinc-copper couple in ether solution. 

Szymoniak J, Bertus P (2005) Zirconocene Complexes as New Reagents for the Synthesis of Cyclopropanes. 10 107-132... 

These results can be interpreted in terms of competition between recombination of the diradical intermediate and conformational equilibration, which would destroy the stereochemical relationships present in the azo compound. The main synthetic application of azo compound decomposition is in the synthesis of cyclopropanes and other strained-ring systems. Some of the required azo compounds can be made by 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of diazo compounds (see Section 6.2). 

The photoelimination of nitrogen from 1-pyrazolines is one of the most thoroughly investigated photoreactions and it has been used extensively in the synthesis of cyclopropane derivatives.334 Both stereospecific and non-stereospedfic processes have been observed and these are believed, at least in simple 1-pyrazolines, to correspond to singlet and triplet excited states, respectively. Two reaction pathways have been proposed in the azoalkane 405335 direct excitation via a thermally activated S, state affords the C6H6 isomers 406 to 409, whereas triplet-sensitized excitation results in a tem-... 

S. Arai, K. Nakayama, K. Hatano, T. Shioiri, Stereoselective Synthesis of Cyclopropane Rings under Phase-Transfer-Catalyzed Conditions , J. Org Chem. 1998, 63, 9572-9575. 

Phase-transfer catalytic conditions provide an extremely powerful alternative to the use of alkali metal hydrides for the synthesis of cyclopropanes via the reaction of dimethyloxosulphonium methylides with electron-deficient alkenes [e.g. 54-56] reaction rates are increased ca. 20-fold, while retaining high yields (86-95%). Dimethylphenacylsulphonium bromide reacts in an analogous manner with vinyl-sulphones [57] and with chalcones [58] and trimethylsulphonium iodide reacts with Schiff bases and hydrazones producing aziridines [59]. 

A very convenient asymmetric synthesis of cyclopropane or epoxide systems developed by Johnson (184) is based on the use of chiral sulfur ylides as the agents that induce optical activity. Generally, this method consists of the asymmetric addition of a chiral sulfur ylide to the C=C or C=0 bond and subsequent cyclization of the addition product to form a chiral cyclopropane or epoxide system together with chiral sulfinamide. A wide range of chiral... 

One of the most efficient procedures for the synthesis of cyclopropanes is the reaction of alkenes with electrophilic carbene complexes. In this process up to three stereogenic centers can be generated in one step. Cyclopropanes are a key structural element encountered in many natural products with interesting biological activity. Further, by virtue of the ability of cyclopropanes to undergo ring-opening reactions these compounds can be valuable synthetic intermediates. 

Sulfur ylides are among the most interesting carbon nucleophiles and their synthetic importance has been recently reviewed.One especially interesting use of these ylides is their application to the synthesis of cyclopropane derivatives using unsaturated oxazolones. For example, stabilized sulfur yhdes react with unsaturated oxazolones 629 via a Michael reaction to give oxazolone spirocyclopropanes 630 as shown in Scheme 7.202 and Table 7.46 (Fig. 7.57), whereas the less stabilized sulfur ylides give ring-opened products 631 as the major compounds (Scheme 7.202). ... 

The Simmons-Smith reaction " and its variants are widely used for the stereospecific synthesis of cyclopropane compounds. The methodology involves the use of copper-treated zinc metal (the zinc-copper couple) with diiodomethane to add methylene to a carbon-carbon double bond. Alternative use of diazomethane in catalytic reactions does not offer the same synthetic advantages and is usually avoided because of safety considerations. As significant as is the Simmons-Smith reaction for cyclopropane formation, its employment for organic synthesis was markedly advanced by the discovery that allylic and homoallylic hydroxyl groups accelerate and exert stereochemical control over cyclopropanation of alkenes (e.g, Eq. 21), and this acceleration has been explained by a transition state model... 

In contrast to considerations of 50 years ago, today carbene and nitrene chemistries are integral to synthetic design and applications. Always a unique methodology for the synthesis of cyclopropane and cyclopropene compounds, applications of carbene chemistry have been extended with notable success to insertion reactions, aromatic cycloaddition and substitution, and ylide generation and reactions. And metathesis is in the lexicon of everyone planning the synthesis of an organic compound. Intramolecular reactions now extend to ring sizes well beyond 20, and insertion reactions can be effectively and selectively implemented even for intermolecular processes. 

Starting from optically active 1-chlorovinyl p-tolyl sulfoxide derived from 2-cyclohex-enone, the asymmetric synthesis of cyclopropane derivative (85) was realized (equation 23) . Addition reaction of lithium enolate of tert-butyl acetate to 83 gave the adduct (84) in 96% yield with over 99% ee. Treatment of the latter with i-PrMgCl in a similar way as described above afforded optically pure (15,6/ )-bicyclo[4.1.0]hept-2-ene (85) in 90% yield. 

Only a limited number of examples are known of applications of thietanes in organic synthesis. Prominent among these examples would be electrophilic ring opening reactions leading to polyfunctional sulfur compounds (33)-(37), utilization of 3-thietanones (55) and metal complexes (87) derived therefrom as oxyallyl zwitterion equivalents in cycloaddition reactions, synthesis of dipeptide (63) with a /3-thiolactone, Raney nickel desulfurization of thietanes (e.g. 120 cf. Table 7) as a route to gem-dimethyl compounds, and desulfurization of thietanes (e.g. 17) in the synthesis of cyclopropanes (also see Table 7). 

The process can also be utilized for the synthesis of cyclopropanes when / -gylic substrates 35 are employed (equation 15)20. 

This method is generally applicable to the stereospecific synthesis of cyclopropane derivatives from a large variety of substituted olefins.4... 

Chiral cyclopropanes. Carrie el al.b l have developed a highly enantioselective synthesis of cyclopropanes from the aldehyde 2, in which the butadiene group is protected as the iron tricarhonyl complex. The complex (2) is resolved by the method of Kelly and Van Rheenan (5, 289-290), and the two optical isomers arc then converted separately into a cyclopropanealdehyde (5a and 5b) as formulated. A sulfur ylide such as (CH3)2S=CHCOOCH3 can be used in place of diazomethane for cyclopropanation. Optical yields are > 90%,... 

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