A wide range of nucleophiles have induced the elimination of iodine from (E)-diiodoalkenes to form alkynes under surprisingly mild conditions. The iodide anion is particularly efficient, and can drive the reaction to completion in less than 1 hour at room temperature in a polar aprotic solvent. Detailed investigations have suggested the reaction has a bimolecular polar mechanism. The deiodination reaction can be driven to completion with 1 equiv. of nucleophile and is partially catalytic with substoichiometric amounts of deiodinating reagent. Kinetic analysis of the stoichiometric iodide-induced reaction indicated an overall pseudo-first-order behavior. The reaction exhibited strong solvent effects, with much slower reactions observed in protic solvents than in polar aprotic solvents. The substrate dimethyl (2E)-2,3-diiodobutene-2-dioate demonstrated orthogonal reactivity for either elimination or hydrolysis, depending on the solvent and nucleophile used. This reaction is a major pathway for all the diiodoalkenes examined, and represents a challenge and an opportunity for using these substrates in organic synthesis.

Dibromobutadiyne is an extremely unstable compound that explodes at room temperature, even under inert atmosphere. This instability has limited the studies of dibromobutadiyne almost entirely to spectroscopic characterization. Here we report an approach to control the reactivity of dibromobutadiyne, via topochemical reaction in cocrystals, leading to the ordered polymer poly(dibromodiacetylene), PBDA. At low temperatures (−15 to −18 °C), dibromobutadiyne can form cocrystals with oxalamide host molecules containing either pyridyl or nitrile side groups, in which halogen bonds align the dibromobutadiyne monomers for topochemical polymerization. The cocrystals with the bis(nitrile) oxalamide host undergo complete ordered polymerization to PBDA, demonstrated by solid-state MAS-NMR, Raman, and optical absorption spectroscopy. Once formed, the polymer can be separated from the host; unlike the monomer, PBDA is stable at room temperature.

Dibromobutadiyne is an extremely unstable compound that explodes at room temperature, even under inert atmosphere. This instability has limited the studies of dibromobutadiyne almost entirely to spectroscopic characterization. Here we report an approach to control the reactivity of dibromobutadiyne, via topochemical reaction in cocrystals, leading to the ordered polymer poly(dibromodiacetylene), PBDA. At low temperatures (−15 to −18 °C), dibromobutadiyne can form cocrystals with oxalamide host molecules containing either pyridyl or nitrile side groups, in which halogen bonds align the dibromobutadiyne monomers for topochemical polymerization. The cocrystals with the bis(nitrile) oxalamide host undergo complete ordered polymerization to PBDA, demonstrated by solid-state MAS-NMR, Raman, and optical absorption spectroscopy. Once formed, the polymer can be separated from the host; unlike the monomer, PBDA is stable at room temperature.