Gold-catalyzed ethylene cyclopropanation Silvia G. Rull, Andrea Olmos* and Pedro J. Pérez* Full Research Paper Open Access Address: Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 67–71. Laboratorio de Catálisis Homogénea, Unidad Asociada al CSIC, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.7 CIQSO-Centro de Investigación en Química Sostenible and Departamento de Química, Universidad de Huelva, Campus de El Received: 17 October 2018 Carmen 21007 Huelva, Spain Accepted: 11 December 2018 Published: 07 January 2019 Email: Andrea Olmos* -
[email protected]; Pedro J. Pérez* - This article is part of the thematic issue "Cyclopropanes and
[email protected] cyclopropenes: synthesis and applications". * Corresponding author Guest Editor: M. Tortosa Keywords: © 2019 Rull et al.; licensee Beilstein-Institut. carbene transfer; cyclopropane; cyclopropylcarboxylate; ethylene License and terms: see end of document. cyclopropanation; ethyl diazoacetate; gold catalysis Abstract Ethylene can be directly converted into ethyl 1-cyclopropylcarboxylate upon reaction with ethyl diazoacetate (N2CHCO2Et, EDA) F F in the presence of catalytic amounts of IPrAuCl/NaBAr 4 (IPr = 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazole-2-ylidene; BAr 4 = tetrakis(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)borate). Introduction Nowadays the olefin cyclopropanation through metal-catalyzed carbene transfer starting from diazo compounds to give olefins constitutes a well-developed tool (Scheme 1a), with an exquisite control of chemo-, enantio- and/or diastereoselectiv- ity being achieved [1,2]. Previous developments have involved a large number of C=C-containing substrates but, to date, the methodology has not been yet employed with the simplest olefin, ethylene, for synthetic purposes [3]. Since diazo compounds bearing a carboxylate substituent are the most Scheme 1: (a) General metal-catalyzed olefin cyclopropanation reac- commonly employed carbene precursors toward olefin cyclo- tion with diazo compounds.