The Cleavage of Cyclopropanes

Tl(III) < Pb(IV), and this conclusion has been confirmed recently with reference to the oxythallation of olefins 124) and the cleavage of cyclopropanes 127). It is also predictable that oxidations of unsaturated systems by Tl(III) will exhibit characteristics commonly associated with analogous oxidations by Hg(II) and Pb(IV). There is, however, one important difference between Pb(IV) and Tl(III) redox reactions, namely that in the latter case reduction of the metal ion is believed to proceed only by a direct two-electron transfer mechanism (70). Thallium(II) has been detected by y-irradiation 10), pulse radiolysis 17, 107), and flash photolysis 144a) studies, butis completely unstable with respect to Tl(III) and T1(I) the rate constant for the process 2T1(II) Tl(III) + T1(I), 2.3 x 10 liter mole sec , is in fact close to diffusion control of the reaction 17). 

Due to these restrictions mechanistic investigation of the cleavage of cyclopropanes as well as preparation of cyclopropane derivatives (see Chapter 7) will not be discussed here. Obviously the author s personal view regarding synthetic utility could not entirely be excluded and may have influenced the choice of examples presented. 

The hydrogenolyaia of cyclopropane rings (C—C bond cleavage) has been described on p, 105. In syntheses of complex molecules reductive cleavage of alcohols, epoxides, and enol ethers of 5-keto esters are the most important examples, and some selectivity rules will be given. Primary alcohols are converted into tosylates much faster than secondary alcohols. The tosylate group is substituted by hydrogen upon treatment with LiAlH (W. Zorbach, 1961). Epoxides are also easily opened by LiAlH. The hydride ion attacks the less hindered carbon atom of the epoxide (H.B. Henhest, 1956). The reduction of sterically hindered enol ethers of 9-keto esters with lithium in ammonia leads to the a,/S-unsaturated ester and subsequently to the saturated ester in reasonable yields (R.M. Coates, 1970). Tributyltin hydride reduces halides to hydrocarbons stereoselectively in a free-radical chain reaction (L.W. Menapace, 1964) and reacts only slowly with C 0 and C—C double bonds (W.T. Brady, 1970 H.G. Kuivila, 1968). 

Interestingly, the reaction of tricyclenone (100) with morpholine also led to the exo isomer of the saturated ketone (101), involving the cleavage of the cyclopropane ring. 

In the presence of nickel(0), tethered diene-VCPs react to produce eight- and five-membered ring products (Scheme 2). Palladium(O) and cobalt(m) were also tried but produced only decomposition products. However, in the presence of Wilkinson s catalyst (RhCl(PPh3)3), tethered diene-VCP 1 was cleanly converted to triene 4 in 91% yield. Although the desired cycloaddition reaction was not obtained, the cleavage of the cyclopropane ring was encouraging.22... 

Anodic oxidation of alkyl substituted cyclopropanes and spiroalkanes in methanol/TEATos (tetraethyl ammonium tosylate) affords monomethoxy and dimethoxy products in yields ranging from 6 to 86% [30, 31]. The products result from the cleavage of the most highly substituted C,C bond. In contrast to the anodic cleavage the acid-catalyzed cleavage occurs selectively at the less substituted carbon. The cleavage of hetero-substituted cyclopropanes is reported in Ref [32-35]. 

The simplest explanation of these results is that the reaction involves the cleavage of the cyclopropane ring to give a biradical, which is doubly stabilized by allylic resonance. Rotation of the biradical allows ring... 

The cleavage of the cyclopropane ring takes place with siteselectivity at the less hindered bond a as shown in Scheme 5.14, and no product arising from cleavage of bond b is obtained. 

On the other hand, if the non-classical ion is a stable intermediate, the transition state for the 3,2 hydride shift requires a subst mtial reorganization, including the cleavage of the cyclopropyl ring, and, by analogy with unimolecular gas phase processes, a much higher pre-exponential factor might be expected. [In the cyclopropane-propylene reaction log A is 1ST 7 (Chambers and Kistiakowsky, 1954).] Contrary to expectation, the observed pre-exponential for the 3,2-shift is actually a little lower than for the 1,2,6-equilibration process. 

In an approach to the stereocontrolled creation of the acyclic side-chain of tetracyclic triterpenoids and other natural products, Trost and his colleagues have converted the acyclic starting compound (29) into the cyclopropanoid intermediate (31) via the diazo-ketone (30). The key step in the scheme is the cleavage of the cyclopropane with lithium dimethylcuprate to give (32). The stereochemistry at C-7 is determined by the configuration of the double bond in (29). The c.d. and u.v. spectra of a series of triterpenoid olefins have been measured. The Scott-Wrixon rules can be used to correlate the sign of the c.d. curves with molecular structure. A... 

The large difference in reactivity between cyclopropanes and cyclobutanes toward most electrophiles arises because there is little strain relief in the rate-determining step. The cleavage of C-C bonds by transition metal species leads to metallocy-cloalkanes, and if cleavage proceeds to a significant extent in the rate-determining step, the reactivities of cyclopropanes and cyclobutanes should become more comparable. 

Kinetic analysis of the palladium catalyzed acylation reaction of 1 (R = i-Pr) and 23 indicates that the rate does not depend on the bulk of the trialkylsilyl substituent. Since the rate limiting step of this reaction is the interaction of a coordinatively unsaturated acylpalladium chloride with the cyclopropane (Cf. Eq. 59), the observed independence can reasonably be taken as an evidence that the Si—O bond remains intact in the transition state [56], Semiquantitative data on the cleavage of I (R = i-Pr) and 23 with ZnCl2 in ether, Eq. (13), led to the same conclusion [27]. 

In marked contrast to those of cyclopropanes, the addition reactions of cyclobutanes usually require drastic conditions and activating substituents. Notwithstanding these shortcomings, the cleavage of cyclobutanes by addition reactions has been widely employed in the synthesis of organic molecules of moderate complexity. In this section, electrophilic addition, as well as nucleophilic addition, of cyclobutanc derivatives are reviewed with the aim of demonstrating their synthetic profile. 

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