Ylide transfer reactions

Transition metal-catalyzed carbenoid transfer reactions, such as alkene cyclopro-panation, C-H insertion, X-H insertion (X = heteroatom), ylide formation, and cycloaddition, are powerful methods for the construction of C-C and C-heteroatom bonds [1-6]. In contrast to a free carbene, metallocarbene-mediated reactions often proceed stereo- and regioselectively under mild conditions with tolerance to a wide range of functionalities. The reactivity and selectivity of metallocarbenes can be... 

Aside from the methylide and cyclopropylide reagents, the sulfonium ylides are not very stable. A related group of reagents derived from sulfoximines offers greater versatility in alkylidene transfer reactions.286 The preparation and use of this class of ylides is illustrated below. 

Cyclic dinuclear ylide complexes have also been prepared with sulfur ylides. The reactions of (dppm)(AuCl)2 or (dppe)(AuCl)2 with trimethylsulfoxonium tetrafluoroborate and base under phase-transfer conditions gave the products shown in Scheme 42. Auration of the dppm ligand leads to the byproducts.27... 

Five-membered carbonyl ylide derivatives form with ease, but tend to suffer from proton-transfer reactions to the carbonyl more readily than their six-membered counterparts. Generally, disubstitution of the position a to the carbonyl led to smooth carbonyl ylide formation and subsequent dipolar cycloaddition (35,77). 

Diazocarbonyl compounds are optimum for these transformations, and they may be readily prepared by a variety of methods. The use of iodonium ylides (17) has also been developed, " but they exhibit no obvious advantage for selectivity in carbene-transfer reactions. Enantioselection is much higher with diazoacetates than with diazoacetoacetates (18). 

Some organic reactions can be accomplished by using two-layer systems in which phase-transfer catalysts play an important role (34). The phase-transfer reaction proceeds via ion pairs, and asymmetric induction is expected to emerge when chiral quaternary ammonium salts are used. The ion-pair interaction, however, is usually not strong enough to control the absolute stereochemistry of the reaction (35). Numerous trials have resulted in low or only moderate stereoselectivity, probably because of the loose orientation of the ion-paired intermediates or transition states. These reactions include, but are not limited to, carbene addition to alkenes, reaction of sulfur ylides and aldehydes, nucleophilic substitution of secondary alkyl halides, Darzens reaction, chlorination... 

Transition-metal mediated carbene transfer from 205 to benzaldehyde generates carbonyl ylides 211 which are transformed into oxiranes 216 by 1,3-cyclization, into tetrahydrofurans 212, 213 or dihydrofurans 214 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with electron-deficient alkenes or alkynes, and 1,3-dioxolanes 215 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with excess carbonyl compound120 (equation 67). Related carbonyl ylide reactions have been performed with crotonaldehyde, acetone and cyclohexanone (equation 68). However, the ylide generated from cyclohexanone could not be trapped with dimethyl fumarate. Rather, the enol ether 217, probably formed by 1,4-proton shift in the ylide intermediate, was isolated in low yield120. In this respect, the carbene transfer reaction with 205 is not different from that with ethyl diazoacetate121, whereas a close analogy to diazomalonates is observed for the other carbonyl ylide reactions. 

Apart from this feature there are many similarities between ylides and carbene complexes, primarily among the structural criteria. The carbene carbon may be, but not necessarily, in a planar configuration, and the M—C bonding indicates some multiple bonding character just as in most of the ylides. On the other hand, carbene transfer reactions have been observed with ylides [e.g., Eq. (36)3, indicating that the carbene complex formalism can, indeed, be successfully applied with ylides. There is hope, therefore, for a fruitful symbiosis of ylide and carbene complex chemistry, which may soon become complementary as more data become available from this new area of transition metal chemistry. 

Oxiranes can be prepared in excellent yield from carbonyl compounds by alkylidene transfer with sulfonium ylides. The reaction is generally carried out with dimethylsulfonium methylide 77, dimethylsulfoxonium methylide 78, or related compounds such as anionoid species originating from sulfylimines 79 and sulfox-imines 80 that can undergo addition to the electrophilic carbonyl carbon. 

New methods for the generation of ylide (1) in the presence of a substrate have been introduced. Solid potassium hydroxide in nonpolar solvents containing trace amounts of water has proven a highly effective medium for the promotion of methylene and benzylidene transfer reactions (equation 1). The counterion of the sulfonium salt and the base used has a substantial effect on the success of Ae re-action. 2... 

The methylene transfer reaction from ylides to ketones has been developed as a convenient synthetic method for obtaining oxiranes [24]. However, the experimental procedure is complex. For example, a THF solution of dimethylsulfonium-methylide (61) is obtained by treatment of trimethylsulfonium iodide (60) with BuLi in THF at 0°C, and after addition of the ketone the mixture is heated at 50-55 °C under nitrogen to yield the oxirane. Throughout the reaction and separation of the product, the organic solvent is essential [25]. 

All of these carbenes are reactive intermediates that must be generated from the appropriate precursors in the presence of the alkene (or arene) which is to be cyclopropanated. The following methods of carbene-transfer reactions to C-C double bonds will be discussed path a. from a-halo-a-metal (or alkylmetal) compounds by a-elimination path b. from iodine or sulfur ylides by thermal, photochemical or transition metal catalyzed decomposition ... 

Upon UV irradiation of dicyanofpyridinio- or pyridazinio )methanide, dicyanocarbene was generated, which then reacted with benzene to give bicyclo[4.1.0]hepta-2,4-diene-7,7-dicarboni-trile (2) or with (Z)-4-methylpent-2-ene nonstereospecifically to give cis- and trans-2-iso-propyl-3-methylcyclopropane-l,l-dicarbonitrile. However, due to competing photoreactions of the ylide, the carbene-transfer reaction is not efficient and the cyclopropanes were obtained in poor yield only. ... 

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