Fort Towson

Diphenylzinc is an organozinc compound. It is commonly used as the synthetic equivalent of a Ph synthon. Solvent-free diphenylzinc exists as dimeric PhZn(μ-Ph)2ZnPh molecules in the solid state.[1]

Skeletal formula of diphenylzinc dimer
Ball-and-stick model of the diphenylzinc dimer molecule
The dimeric solid state form of diphenylzinc.

Diphenylzinc is commercially available. It may be prepared by reaction of phenyllithium with zinc bromide:[2]

2 PhLi + ZnBr2 → Ph2Zn + 2 LiBr

It may also be prepared by the reaction of phenylmagnesium bromide with zinc chloride or diphenylmercury with zinc metal.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ Markies, Peter R.; Schat, Gerrit; Akkerman, Otto S.; Bickelhaupt, Friedrich; Smeets, Wilberth J. J.; Spek, Anthony L. (1990). "Coordinational behavior of solvent-free diorganylzinc compounds: the remarkable x-ray structure of dimeric diphenylzinc". Organometallics. 9 (8): 2243. doi:10.1021/om00158a022.
  2. ^ Curtin, David Y.; Tveten, John L. (1961). "Reaction of Diarylzinc Reagents with Aryldiazonium Salts. Direct Formation of cis-Azo Compounds". J. Org. Chem. 26 (6): 1764. doi:10.1021/jo01065a017.
  3. ^ Markies, P; Schat, Gerrit; Akkerman, Otto S.; Bickelhaupt, F.; Spek, Anthony L. (1992). "Complexation of diphenylzinc with simple ethers. Crystal structures of the complexes Ph2Zn·glyme and Ph2Zn·diglyme". J. Organomet. Chem. 430: 1–13. doi:10.1016/0022-328X(92)80090-K.
  4. ^ Pelletier, Guillaume (2013), "Diphenylzinc", Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, doi:10.1002/047084289x.rn01548, ISBN 978-0-471-93623-7