The organozinc reagent, also called a 'Reformatsky enolate', is prepared by treating an alpha-halo ester with zinc dust. The reaction was discovered by Sergey Nikolaevich Reformatsky.
Some reviews have been published.
Structure of the reagent
The crystal structures of the THF complexes of the Reformatsky reagents tert-butyl bromozincacetate and ethyl bromozincacetate have been determined. Both form cyclic eight-membered dimers in the solid state, but differ in stereochemistry: the eight-membered ring in the ethyl derivative adopts a tub-shaped conformation and has cis bromo groups and cis THF ligands, whereas in the tert-butyl derivative, the ring is in a chair form and the bromo groups and THF ligands are trans. Note that, in contrast to lithium and boron enolates, which have the metal(loid)s exclusively bond to oxygen, the zinc enolate moiety in the Reformatsky reagents have zinc atoms that are simultaneously O- and C-bound and can therefore be described as "organometallic".
ethyl bromozincacetate dimer
tert-butyl bromozincacetate dimer
Reaction mechanism
Zinc metal is inserted into the carbon-halogen bond of the α-haloester by oxidative addition1. This compound dimerizes and rearranges to form two zinc enolates 2. Unlike lithium enolates and Grignard reagents, 2 is less nucleophilic and will not add to another ester group 1.
The oxygen on an aldehyde or ketone coordinates to the zinc to form the six-member chair like transition state 3. A rearrangement occurs in which zinc switches to the aldehyde or ketone oxygen and a carbon-carbon bond is formed 4. The resulting zinc alkoxide is also less susceptible to retro-aldol cleavage.
Acid workup 5,6 removes zinc to yield zinc(II) salts and a β-hydroxy-ester 7.
↑Dekker, J.; Budzelaar, P. H. M.; Boersma, J.; van der Kerk, G. J. M. & Spek, A. J. (1984). "The Nature of the Reformatsky Reagent. Crystal Structure of (BrZnCH2COO-t-Bu · THF)2". Organometallics. 9 (3): 1403–1407. doi:10.1021/om00087a015.
↑Miki, S.; Nakamoto, K.; Kawakami, J.; Handa, S.; Nuwa, S. (2008). "The First Isolation of Crystalline Ethyl Bromozincacetate, Typical Reformatsky Reagent: Crystal Structure and Convenient Preparation". Synthesis. 2008 (3): 409–412. doi:10.1055/s-2008-1032023.
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↑Sato, Toshio; Itoh, Toshiyuki; Fujisawa, Tamotsu (1982). "Facile synthesis of β-ketoesters by a coupling reaction of the Reformatsky reagent with acyl chlorides catalyzed by a palladium complex". Chemistry Letters. 11 (10): 1559–1560. doi:10.1246/cl.1982.1559.
↑Orsini, Fulvia; Pelizzoni, Francesca; Pulici, Maurizio; Vallarino, Lidia M. (1994). "A cobalt-phosphine complex as mediator in the formation of carbon-carbon bonds". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 59 (1): 1–3. doi:10.1021/jo00080a001.
↑Inaba, Shin-ichi; Rieke, Reuben D. (1985). "Reformatsky type additions of haloacetonitriles to aldehydes mediated by metallic nickel". Tetrahedron Letters. 26 (2): 155–156. doi:10.1016/S0040-4039(00)61867-1.
↑Burkhardt, Elizabeth R.; Rieke, Reuben D. (1985). "The direct preparation of organocadmium compounds from highly reactive cadmium metal powders". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 50 (3): 416–417. doi:10.1021/jo00203a036.
↑Chao, Li-Chung; Rieke, Reuben D. (1975). "Activated metals. IX. New reformatsky reagent involving activated indium for the preparation of β-hydroxy esters". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 40 (15): 2253–2255. doi:10.1021/jo00903a031.
↑Araki, Shuki; Ito, Hirokazu; Butsugan, Yasuo (1988). "Synthesis of β-Hydroxyesters by Reformatsky Reaction Using Indium Metal". Synthetic Communications. 18 (4): 453–458. doi:10.1080/00397918808064009.
↑Yanagisawa, Akira; Takahashi, Hiroshi; Arai, Takayoshi (2004). "Reactive barium-promoted Reformatsky-type reaction of α-chloroketones with aldehydes". Chemical Communications (5): 580–581. doi:10.1039/B314752P. PMID14973617.
↑Teruaki Mukaiyama; Shū Kobayashi (1994). "Tin(II) enolates in the aldol, Michael, and related reactions". In Paquette, Leo A. (ed.). Organic Reactions. Vol.46. Wiley. doi:10.1002/0471264180.or046.01. ISBN0-471-08619-3.
↑Imamoto, Tsuneo; Kusumoto, Tetsuo; Tawarayama, Yoshinori; Sugiura, Yasushi; Mita, Takeshi; Hatanaka, Yasuo; Yokoyama, Masataka (1984). "Carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions using cerium metal or organocerium(III) reagents". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 49 (21): 3904–3912. doi:10.1021/jo00195a006.
↑Tabuchi, Takanori; Kawamura, Kisa; Inanaga, Junji; Yamaguchi, Masaru (1986). "Preparation of medium- and large-ring lactones. SmI2-induced cyclization of ω-(α-bromoacyloxy) aldehydes". Tetrahedron Letters. 27 (33): 3889–3890. doi:10.1016/S0040-4039(00)83907-6.
↑Dubois, Jacques-Emile; Axiotis, Georges; Bertounesque, Emmanuel (1985). "Chromium (II) chloride: a new reagent for cross-aldol reactions". Tetrahedron Letters. 26 (36): 4371–4372. doi:10.1016/S0040-4039(00)98737-9.
↑Ishihara, Takashi; Yamanaka, Tohru; Ando, Teiichi (1984). "New low-valent titanium catalyzed reaction of chlorodifluoromethyl ketones leading to α,α-difluorinated β-hydroxy ketones". Chemistry Letters. 13 (7): 1165–1168. doi:10.1246/cl.1984.1165.
↑Fukuzawa, Shin-Ichi; Fujinami, Tatsuo; Sakai, Shizuyoshi (1985). "Carbon–carbon bond formation between α-halogenoketones and aldehydes promoted by cerium(III) iodide or cerium(III) chloride–sodium iodide". Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications (12): 777–778. doi:10.1039/C39850000777.