Allylic and Propargylic Substitution Reactions Involving Radicals Generated from Alkylmercury Halides

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00195a054

Addition of alkyl radicals to allyl or propargyl derivatives forms adduct radicals which can undergo β-elimination with substituents such as halogen, PhS, PhSO2, Bu3Sn, or HgCl to form the alkyl-substituted propene or allene and an eliminated radical which regenerates the alkyl radical by displacement from an alkylmercurial.With β-oxy substituents, such as O2CR, OP(O)(OEt)2, O3SAr, OPh, OSiMe3, or OH, the adduct radicals can displace the alkyl radical from the alkylmercurial to yield β-substituted alkylmercurials which spontaneously, or in the presence of nucleophiles, undergo an elimination reaction to yield the alkene or allene.Relative reactivities toward tert-butyl radical attack, such as k(allyl chloride)/k(propargyl chloride) = ca. 10, have been determined.A similar relative reactivity is observed in reaction with (t-Bu)2CuLi implicating attack by free tert-butyl radicals.With allyl or propargyl iodide, radical attack leads to iodine atom abstraction.Reaction of propargyl iodide with t-BuHgCl/hν, (t-Bu)2CuLi, or (t-Bu)3ZnLi leads to a mixture of hydrocarbons in which tert-butylallene is present in only trace amounts.Benzene is an important reaction product which seems to be formed via the cyclodimerization of two "propargyl" (C3H3^.) radicals.