Potassium Methide or Monomethyl

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Pavel314 - 04 May 2005 08:31 GMT

I Googled for references to KCH3 but didn't find much. One website refers to
it as "potassium monomethyl"

http://www.chem.arizona.edu/faculty/ziur/kch3.html

others call it "potassium methyl" and there are also references to
"potassium methide", which I think is a more descriptive name for the
chemical.

Is there a standard name for this chemical? It seems like an unusual
molecule; are there any known scientific, medical or industrial applications
that use it?

Thanks for any input.

Paul

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Gabriel Tojo - 13 May 2005 08:19 GMT

According to the blue book, the proper name would be methylpotassium,
although potassium methide does not look unreasonable.

In variance with the much more ubiquitous MeLi and MeMgBr, almost
nothing is known about the reactivity of MeK. I did not find any
vendor.

Alkylpotassium compounds are highly polar compounds with a very low
solubility in organic solvents. This makes any application in Organic
Synthesis quite difficult.
C-K bonds are much more polar than C-Li and C-Mg bonds.

MeLi is know to react with all solvents at room temperature, including
hydrocarbons like hexane. Fortunately, the reaction is quite slow.

I would anticipate that MeK, if it dissolves at all in an organic
solvent, it would react very quickly.

Best regards.

Gabriel Tojo

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Natural Science Forum / Chemistry / Organic Synthesis / May 2005

Potassium Methide or Monomethyl