Tebbe s reagent

There are, however, two useful alkylating-redudng methods. One is the methylenation of the ester carbonyl group with Tebbe s reagent, the other is the conversion of thionolactones to cyclic thioketals and subsequent reduction. 

F.N. Tebbe (1978 [footnote 20]) and R.R. Schrock (1976) have shown that electrophilic titanium or tantalum ylides can alkylidenate the carbonyl group of esters. Vinyl ethers are obtained in high yields with Tebbe s reagent, p-chlorobis(ri -2,4-cyclopentadien-l-ylXdime-thylaluminum)- 4-methylenetitanium (S.H. Pine, 1980 A.G.M. Barrett, 1989). 

Many other organometaUic compounds also react with carbonyl groups. Lithium alkyls and aryls add to the ester carbonyl group to give either an alcohol or an olefin. Lithium dimethyl cuprate has been used to prepare ketones from esters (41). Tebbe s reagent, Cp2TiCH2AlCl(CH2)2, where Cp = clyclopentadienyl, and other metal carbene complexes can convert the C=0 of esters to C=CR2 (42,43). 

Carboxylic esters undergo the conversion C=0— C=CHR (R = primary or secondary alkyl) when treated with RCHBr2, Zn, and TiCl4 in the presence of A,A,A, iV -tetramethylethylenediamine. Metal carbene complexes R2C=ML (L = ligand), where M is a transition metal such as Zr, W, or Ta, have also been used to convert the C=0 of carboxylic esters and lactones to CR2. It is likely that the complex Cp2Ti=CH2 is an intermediate in the reaction with Tebbe s reagent. 

Reaction between carboxylic esters and Tebbe s reagent or metal... 

The impetus for the development of gem-bimetallics was initially to discover alkylidene-transfer reagents akin to Tebbe s reagent [14]. Schwartz prepared bimetallic aluminum—zirconocene derivatives by the hydrometallation of various vinyl metallic compounds [15—17]. Knochel has developed zinc—zirconium gem-bimetallics by hydrozircona-tion of vinylzincs and has used them as alkylidene-transfer reagents [18], More recently, other gem-bimetallics have been developed that exhibit different reactivities of the two carbon—metal bonds. Thus, Normant and Marek have reported the allylmetallation of vinyl metals to afford zinc—magnesium and zinc—lithium gem-bimetallics, which react selectively with various electrophiles such as ClSnBu3, H20, etc. [19, and references cited therein]. However, selective and sequential cleavage of the two carbon—metal bonds... 

The Tebbe reagent [//-chloro-bis(cyclopentadienylXdimethylalumin-ium)-/r-methylenetitanium] in its pure, crystalline (70,71) or crude (72) forms has been employed for the methylenation of aldonolactones. Thus, D-ribono- 1,4-lactone derivatives 71a and 71b reacted with Tebbe s reagent to give (70,71) the exo-methylene compounds 72a and 72b. 

Similarly, compound 73 was prepared from a persilylated D-galactono-1,4-lactone precursor in 60-80% yield (71). However, when unpurified Tebbe s reagent was employed, 1,4-lactones (for example 71a) gave a mixture of 72a and the product (74) of hydration of the double bond. The... 

Transformation of a carbonyl compound to the corresponding cjco-olefin using Tebbe s reagent. 

Another interesting feature of Tebbe s reagent is its capability for converting ketones to terminal olefins. For example, reaction with cyclo-... 

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