Properties of Organocopper Compounds
Properties of Organocopper Compounds
Properties of Organocopper Compounds
Organocopper compounds are very reactive towards oxygen and water forming copper
oxide and tend to be thermally unstable.
Most cuprates are salts many are generally insoluble in nonpolar solvents.
They are very frequently used in organic chemistry as alkylating reagents because they
exhibit more functional group tolerance than corresponding Grignard and organolithium
reagents.
The electronegativity of copper is much higher than its next-door neighbour in the group
12 elements, zinc, suggesting less nucleophilicity for its carbon ligands.
The oxidation state can be +1 or +2 and intermediates can have oxidation state +3.
Monovalent alkylcopper compounds (RCu) are polymeric but form cuprates (R2CuLi)
upon treatment with organolithium compounds (RLi). These cuprates are sometimes
referred to as Gilman reagents
The cuprates complex form complicated aggregates both in crystalline form and in
solution. Lithium dimethylcuprate is a dimer in diethyl ether forming an 8-membered
ring with two lithium atoms coordinating between two methyl groups
.