Efficient Synthesis of Orphaned Cyclopropanes Using Sulfones as Carbene Equivalents

Small molecules containing 1,1-dimethylcyclopropanes are prevalent throughout nature but are difficult to synthesize using state-of-the-art metal-catalyzed carbene transfer methods without competing 1,2-hydride shifts. Herein, we introduce a mechanistically distinct platform to transfer 1,1-dialkylcarbene units to olefins using carbometalation reactions of dialkyl sulfonyl anions. In the presence of NaNH₂ or n-BuLi in ethereal solvents, dialkyl sulfones react with styrenes and arylbutadienes between 23 and 70 °C to produce the corresponding 1,1-dialkylcyclopropanes. We report 40 examples of this reactivity including 16 different styrenes (up to 89% isolated yield), 9 arylbutadienes (51-88% yield), and 13 different sulfones (46-80% yield). In addition, we report an example of a sequential cyclopropanation reaction using this method. Preliminary mechanistic studies suggest a stepwise anionic process that is initiated by the direct addition of sulfonyl anions to a carbon-carbon double bond.

Laboratory-Scale Membrane Reactor for the Generation of Anhydrous Diazomethane

A configurationally simple and robust semibatch apparatus for the in situ on-demand generation of anhydrous solutions of diazomethane (CH2N2) avoiding distillation methods is presented. Diazomethane is produced by base-mediated decomposition of commercially available Diazald within a semipermeable Teflon AF-2400 tubing and subsequently selectively separated from the tubing into a solvent- and substrate-filled flask (tube-in-flask reactor). Reactions with CH2N2 can therefore be performed directly in the flask without dangerous and labor-intensive purification operations or exposure of the operator to CH2N2. The reactor has been employed for the methylation of carboxylic acids, the synthesis of α-chloro ketones and pyrazoles, and palladium-catalyzed cyclopropanation reactions on laboratory scale. The implementation of in-line FTIR technology allowed monitoring of the CH2N2 generation and its consumption. In addition, larger scales (1.8 g diazomethane per hour) could be obtained via parallelization (numbering up) by simply wrapping several membrane tubings into the flask.

Tetramethylammonium trifluoromethanesulfonate

The structure of tetramethylammonium trifluoromethanesulfonate, C4H12N+·CF3SO3−, was determined at 110 K in the monoclinic space groupP21/m. The salt, which contains two cations and two anions in the asymmetric unit, has a network structure displaying C—H...O hydrogen bonding. Both the cation and the anion lie on special positions (mirror planes).