Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation Using Alkyl-Titanium-(IV) Compounds

Abstract

Although alkyl-titanium-(IV) compounds have been used extensively as polymerization catalysts, practically nothing is known concerning their utility in synthetic organic chemistry¹. As part of our systematic study directed toward exploring this unknown area, we have previously reported that 1) methyltitaniumtrichloride and dimethyltitaniumdichloride react smoothly with tertiary alkyl halides to form alkanes having quarternary carbon atoms^2,3, 2) the above reagents as well as methyltitaniumtriisopropylate react with 2-phenylpropionaldehyde diastereoselectively to form the corresponding erythro and threo alcohols⁴ (up to 88:12 ratio), and 3) methyl-and phenyltitanium (IV) compounds add to aldehydes faster than to ketones.