Effect of solvent and temperature on the lithium-bromine exchange of vinyl bromides: reactions of n-butyllithium and t-butyllithium with (E)-5-bromo-5-decene.

The outcome of reactions of (E)-5-bromo-5-decene (1), a representative vinyl bromide, with t-BuLi or n-BuLi at 0 degrees C and room temperature, respectively, in a variety of solvent systems has been investigated. Vinyl bromide 1 does not react with t-BuLi in pure heptane; however, the presence of even small quantities of an ether in a predominantly heptane medium resulted in virtually complete consumption of 1 at 0 degrees C, resulting in nearly the same distribution of products, including 60-80% of (Z)-5-decenyllithium, regardless of the solvent composition. Vinyl bromide 1 reacts slowly with n-BuLi at room temperature in a variety of ether and heptane-ether mixtures to afford a mixture of products including significant quantities of recovered starting material. The results of these experiments demonstrate that lithium-bromine exchange between a vinyl bromide and either t-BuLi or n-BuLi at temperatures significantly above -78 degrees C is not an efficient method for the generation of a vinyllithium.

Effect of substituents and conformations on the optical rotations of cyclic oxides and related compounds. relationship between the anomeric effect and optical rotation.

The effect of substituents on the specific rotation of substituted cyclic oxides (X = F, Cl, CN, and HCC) and related compounds was studied via geometry optimization at the B3LYP/6-311+G** level followed by calculations of the specific rotation with B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ and, when practical, also with B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ. In some cases chiral samples were prepared so that the calculated specific rotations could be compared with experimental data. With most compounds there was only a minor effect of the basis set on the specific rotations. With the oxiranes and oxetanes, the chloro derivative gave a different behavior than the other substituents, but all substituents behaved in the same fashion with trans-2-methyl-1-X-cyclopropanes. Therefore the unusual behavior of chlorooxirane probably results from an interaction between oxygen and chlorine rather than being due to the presence of a three-membered ring. Chlorine is also an unusual substituent for the tetrahydrofurans. The effect of conformation on the calculated specific rotations was examined with the axial and equatorial 2-substituted tetrahydropyrans, where the anomeric effect is operative with the axial substituent, and also the 3-substituted tetrahydropyrans that would not be subject to the anomeric effect. The unusual effect of chlorine was seen only when it is antiperiplanar with respect to the oxygen.

Effect of solvent on the lithium-bromine exchange of aryl bromides: reactions of n-butyllithium and tert-butyllithium with 1-bromo-4-tert-butylbenzene at 0 degrees C.

The outcome of reactions of 1-bromo-4-tert-butylbenzene (1), a representative aryl bromide, with n-BuLi or t-BuLi at 0 degrees C in a variety of solvent systems has been investigated. The products of reactions of 1 with n-BuLi vary significantly with changes in solvent composition: 1 does not react with n-BuLi in pure heptane; the exchange reaction to give (4-tert-butylphenyl)lithium, which is slow in pure diethyl ether, is virtually quantitative in heptane containing a small quantity of THF; and the reaction of 1 with n-BuLi in THF leads to considerable coupling. Lithium-bromine exchange is the virtually exclusive outcome of reactions of 1 with t-BuLi in every solvent studied except pure heptane: the presence of a small quantity of any of a variety of structurally diverse ethers (Et(2)O, THF, THP, MTBE) in the predominantly hydrocarbon medium affords (4-tert-butylphenyl)lithium, assayed as tert-butylbenzene, in yields exceeding 97%. The only side products observed from reactions of 1 with t-BuLi are small amounts of benzyne-derived hydrocarbons.