K.D. Safa, K. Ghorbanpour / Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 745-746 (2013) 214e218
215
Although the precise mechanism of this reaction is not clear
at the present time, it is reasonable to assume that the reaction
path with attention to 1H and 13C NMR data [1H NMR: 0.17 (s,
18H, SiMe3), 3.14 (b.s, 1H, SH), 4.45 (s, 2H, CH2), 7.28 (m, 5H, Ar);
13C NMR: ꢀ1.13 (SiMe3), 41.07 (CH2), 54.94 (C(SiMe3)2SH),
126.28e135.23 (Ar), 213.62 (C]S)] involves the initial attack of
trisyl anion at the carbon of carbon disulfide followed by a silyl
migration from carbon to sulphur (1b) (Thia-Brook rearrange-
ment) [27,28] and the formation of carbanion 1b [29] and then
conversion to the enethiolate 1c [16,30]. The resulting product
(1) shows that the migration of sulphur to carbon of C(SiMe3)2
has been occurred. It seems likely that the obtained product (1)
forms through the intermediates 1de1g and after hydrolysis of
1g (Scheme 2).
Upon examination of a broader array of benzyl halides, a series
of symmetrical and unsymmetrical benzyl halides were used.
Totally all the products were obtained in high yields and any side
products were not observed. The results are summarized in Table 2.
TsiLi and CS2 underwent a specific rearrangement with a variety of
benzyl halides (X ¼ Cl, Br and I) at ꢀ46 ꢁC to give the corresponding
mercapto-silyl-thiones in high yields. Generally, benzyl bromides
show higher yields compared with benzyl chlorides. In the reaction
of TsiLi and CS2 with benzyl chloride and 1,4-bis(chloromethyl)
benzene no products were formed. However, with introducing of
chloro group in ortho or meta position of benzyl chloride, the cor-
responding products were formed in good yields. In these com-
pounds, the electron-withdrawing groups play important role and
lead to the participation of aryl chloride in the reaction. Further-
more, conversion of 1,4-bis(chloromethyl)benzene to 1,4-
bis(iodomethyl)benzene by using NaI in acetone causes to react
readily under these reaction conditions and gave the corresponding
1,4-adduct in good yield.
THF
(Me3Si)3CH + 6LiCl
Me3Si
3Me3SiCl + CHCl3 + 6Li
+
MeLi
(Me3Si)3CH
+ CH4
Me3Si
Me3Si
Li
Scheme 1. Preparation of tris(trimethylsilyl)methyllithium.
in lower yields of 1 due to the formation of unidentified decom-
position products. At ꢀ46 ꢁC the mixture of materials was stirred
for 15 min and the compound 1 was formed as the sole product in
98% yield. When the reaction was carried out at ꢀ78 ꢁC (ethyl ac-
etate/N2) and ꢀ94 ꢁC (n-hexane/N2), another product was quanti-
tatively formed that was unstable at room temperature, therefore it
wasn’t separable. It was completely converted to 1 during the work
up.
In our experiments when carbon disulfide was added to TsiLi
solution at ꢀ46 ꢁC, the yellowish mixture immediately changed to
the red solution indicating the formation of new anion. After 5 min,
benzyl bromide was added to the solution and the red colour of the
reaction was changed to yellow in short period of time to afford the
corresponding compound (1) in high yield. The structure of the
resulted product was established from the spectral properties.
In this reaction, it was expected to observe Thia-Brook rear-
rangement and migration of silyl group on sulphur [26e28]. Sur-
prisingly the unusual rearrangement via thia migration was
occurred and the unexpected compounds were obtained. To our
knowledge no example of this type of reaction has been reported in
the literature. The intermediates of this reaction are not stable to
separate. In order to trap the intermediates, the following three
attempts were carried out:
The resulted compounds are heat sensitive and show very
different stabilities. The compounds 1, 4, 7 and 8 are thermally
more stable than the other compounds and they are stable at
room temperature. It seems that symmetric structure, steric and
electronic effects could play role on stability of these com-
pounds. In addition, the compounds 4 and 7, after the prepara-
tion and evaporation of their solvents, were liquid and gradually
from 1 to 15 days have released their remained solvents and
converted to sticky solid. The other derivatives are liquid and
decompose gradually at room temperature, but they are long-
lived at 0 ꢁC.
1) The reaction was carried out at low temperatures (ꢀ78 ꢁC and
ꢀ94 ꢁC).
2) CS2 and benzyl bromide were added in situ to the TsiLi solution.
3) The anion resulting from initial attack of TsiLi to CS2, was
immediately protonated by hydrolysis at ꢀ46 ꢁC.
Unfortunately, we were unable to stop the rearrangement or
trap the presumed intermediates with any conditions.
3. Conclusion
Table 1
In this paper, we have reported new reaction pattern for the
RLi/CS2 system. We chose TsiLi as an organolithium and benzyl
halides (X ¼ Cl, Br and I) as electrophiles. The reaction of TsiLi with
CS2 led to the formation of new compounds with SH, C]S and
SiMe3 groups that we named them as mercapto-silyl-thiones.
These reactions took place at ꢀ46 ꢁC in short period of time.
The yields are quantitative and the selectivity of these reactions is
high. The obtained compounds have different thermal stabilities
and the compounds 1, 4, 7 and 8 are thermally more stable than
the others.
Investigation of temperature and time effects on the reaction of TsiLi, CS2 and benzyl
bromide.
Me3Si
Me3Si
Me3Si
Me3Si
HS
Me3Si
S
1) CS2/ THF
Li
2) benzyl bromide
(1)
Entry
Temperature (ꢁC)
Time (min)
(1)a (%)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
25
0
0
ꢀ46
ꢀ46
ꢀ78
ꢀ94
15
15
120
15
120
30b
60b
e
4. Experimental
10
6
98
60
98
98
4.1. Solvents and reagents
The reactions were carried out under dry argon. Solvents and
CS2 were dried by standard methods. Substrates for the prepara-
tion of tris(trimethylsilyl)methyllithium, viz. Me3SiCl (Merck), Li
(Merck), CHCl3 (Merck), and substrate for the preparation of
a
Yields were obtained by PTLC.
Explained in the text.
b