Hydroalumination and hydrogallation of alkynes: New insights into the course of well-known reactions

Hydroalumination reactions are well-known procedures for the reduction of unsaturated organic compounds possessing homonuclear or heteronuclear double or triple bonds and represent textbook knowledge since many years. However, the organoaluminum products of these reactions were isolated in rare cases only. Their structures were deduced from the constitutions of the hydrocarbons which were isolated after the usual hydrolytic work-up. These results are highly misleading. Very interesting secondary reactions remained unrecognized, and unprecedented compounds possessing singular structures were destroyed. That review describes some recent investigations into the characterization and identification of the organoelement products of hydroalumination and hydrogallation reactions with alkynes. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.