Through-shell alkyllithium additions and borane reductions

The through-shell borane reduction and methyllithium addition to benzaldehyde (1), benzocyclobutenone (2), and benzocyclobutenedione (3) incarcerated inside a hemicarcerand (4) with four tetramethylenedioxy bridges are reported. All guests could be reduced and methylated. Selective monoreduction and monomethylation were observed for 3. In the methyllithium addition to 4[symbol: see text]3, the initially formed lithium alcoholate underwent a Moore rearrangement. The reactivity of the incarcerated guests toward methyllithium increased in the order 1 < 2 < 3 and toward borane in the order 1 < 2 approximately equal 3. Guest reactivity was correlated with the inner-phase location of the reacting carbonyl group in the preferred guest inner-phase orientation. The latter was determined from the X-ray structures of 4[symbol: see text]1, 4[symbol: see text]2, and 4[symbol: see text]3, from molecular mechanical calculations, and from the hemicarcerand-induced upfield shift of the guest proton resonances. In the methyllithium and n-butyllithium addition to 4[symbol: see text]1 and 4[symbol: see text]3 at elevated temperatures, selective cleavage of a host's spanner or tetramethylenedioxy bridge, respectively, was observed. The cleavage of one spanner also took place in the methyllithium addition to the 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone hemicarceplex. These scission reactions are initiated by the initially formed lithium alcoholates, which show enhanced basicity and nucleophilicity in the inner phase as compared to the bulk phase. Mechanisms for the host scission reactions are discussed.     

Hydrocarbon-Soluble Mercuracarborands: Syntheses, Halide Complexes, and Supramolecular Chemistry

The syntheses of macrocyclic species composed of carborane derivatives joined via their carbon vertices by electrophilic mercury atoms are described. The reaction of closo-1,2-Li(2)[C(2)B(10)H(10)(-)(x)()R(x)()] with HgI(2) gives Li(2)[(1,2-C(2)B(10)H(10)(-)(x)()R(x)()Hg)(4)I(2)] [R = Et, x = 2 (5.I(2)Li(2)); R = Me, x = 2 (6.I(2)Li(2)); R = Me, x = 4 (7.I(2)Li(2))]. 6.I(2)(K.[18]dibenzocrown-6)(2) crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/m [a = 28.99(2) ?, b = 18.19(1) ?, c = 13.61(1) ?, beta = 113.74(2) degrees, V = 6568 ?(3), Z = 4, R = 0.060, R(w) = 0.070]; 7.I(2)(NBu(4))(2) crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/c [a = 12.77(1) ?, b = 21.12(2) ?, c = 20.96(2) ?, beta = 97.87(2) degrees, V = 5600 ?(3), Z = 2, R = 0.072, R(w) = 0.082]. The precursor to 7, closo-8,9,10,12-Me(4)-1,2-C(2)B(10)H(8) (4), is made in a single step by reaction of closo-1,2-C(2)B(10)H(12) with MeI in trifluoromethanesulfonic acid. The free hosts 5, 6, and 7 are obtained by reaction of the iodide complexes with stoichiometric quantities of AgOAc. A (199)Hg NMR study indicates that sequential removal of iodide from 5.I(2)Li(2) and 6.I(2)Li(2) with aliquots of AgOAc solution leads to formation of two intermediate host-guest complexes in solution, presumed to be 5(6)ILi and 5(2)(6)(2).ILi. Crystals grown from a solution of 6.I(2)Li(2) to which 1 equiv of AgOAc solution had been added proved to be an unusual stack structure with the formula 6(3).I(4)Li(4) [tetragonal, I4/m, a = 21.589(2) ?, c = 21.666(2) ?, V = 10098 ?(3), Z = 2, R = 0.058, R(w) = 0.084]. Addition of 2 equiv of NBu(4)Br ion to 5 or 6 gives 5.Br(2)(NBu(4))(2) and 6.Br(2)(NBu(4))(2), respectively, while addition of 1 equiv of KBr to 6 forms 6.BrK. 5.Br(2)(NBu(4))(2) crystallizes in the triclinic space group P&onemacr;, [a = 10.433(1) ?, b = 13.013(1) ?, c = 15.867(2) ?, alpha = 91.638(2) degrees, beta = 97.186(3) degrees, gamma = 114.202(2) degrees, V = 1492 ?(3), Z = 1, R = 0.078, R(w) = 0.104]. The hosts 5 and 6 form 1:1 supramolecular adducts with the polyhedral anions B(10)I(10)(2)(-) and B(12)I(12)(2)(-) in solution.