The
preparation, structure, physical properties, and reactivities
of sodium isopropyl(trimethylsilyl)amide (NaPTA) are described. The
solubilities at room temperature range from n-heptane
(0.55 M), n-hexane (0.60 M), toluene (0.65 M), MTBE
(1.7 M), Et3N (3.2 M), and THF (>6.0 M). The half-life
to destruction in neat THF is >1 year at 25 °C and 7 days
at
70 °C, which compares favorably to 2.5 months and 1.5 days, respectively,
for LDA in neat THF. This study focuses on NaPTA in THF. 29Si NMR spectroscopy shows exclusively a mixture of cis and trans stereoisomeric dimers in 0.10–12
M THF in hexane. Density functional theory (DFT) computations suggest
that the pK
b is intermediate between dimeric
sodium diisopropylamide (NaDA) and dimeric sodium hexamethyldisilazide
(NaHMDS). Metalations of arenes, epoxides, ketones, hydrazones, alkenes,
and alkyl halides show higher reactivities than LDA (k
NaPTA/LDA = 1–30). While the rates of arene metalation
are high, the lower pK
b of NaPTA limits
the substrates. Metalation of pseudoephedrate-based carboxamides to
form disodiated Myers enolates solves several challenging technical
problems.