A,P-unsaturated enolates

Total Synthesis of (—)-7-Deoxyloganin Exploiting N-Heterocyclic Carbene Catalysis with a,p-Unsaturated Enol Esters... 

Prior to this study, the NHC-catalyzed rearrangement had never been attempted on a,p-unsaturated enol esters in which the a-position was substituted (as in enol ester 51). To overcome the lack of reactivity we proposed that a less bulky, but highly electron rich, Af-alkyl-substituted NHC might allow access to the required reactivity. Thus, tetramethyl NHC 12, which had previously been observed to activate unreactive substrates when used stoi-chiometrically, was trialed. Using 40 mol% of 12, pyranone 52b, along with diastereomeric 52b, were isolated in 40% yield in a 2 1 ratio (Table 2, entry 3). Pleasingly, formation of the desired diastereoisomer 52b was favored, however, the low yield suggested the catalyst was unable to turn over. When 30 mol% N-isopropyl catalyst 60 was trialed, cyclopenta[c]pyran 52b was... 

Candish L, Lupton DW (2010) The Total Synthesis of (-)-7-Deoxyloganin via N-Heterocy-clic Carbene Catalyzed Rearrangement of a, P-Unsaturated Enol Esters. Org Lett 12 4836... 

Scheme 18.33 Rearrangement of a,P-unsaturated enol esters, according to Lupton and coworkers.

So far in this section we have combined enolate anions with other carbonyl compounds by direct attack at the carbonyl group. We can expand the scope of this reaction by using a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds as the electrophiles. This is the Michael reaction. Remind yourself of tliis by writing out the mechanism of a Michael reaction such as ... 

Ordinarily nucleophilic addition to the carbon-carbon double bond of an alkene is very rare It occurs with a p unsaturated carbonyl compounds because the carbanion that results IS an enolate which is more stable than a simple alkyl anion... 

A synthetically useful reaction known as the Michael reaction, or Michael addition, involves nucleophilic addition of carbanions to a p unsaturated ketones The most common types of carbanions used are enolate 10ns derived from p diketones These enolates are weak bases (Section 18 6) and react with a p unsaturated ketones by conjugate addition... 

A reaction of great synthetic val ue for carbon-carbon bond for mation Nucleophilic addition of an enolate ion to a carbonyl group followed by dehydration of the 3 hydroxy aldehyde yields an a p unsaturated aldehyde... 

A combination of conju gate addition of an enolate anion to an a p unsaturated ketone with subsequent intramolecular aldol condensation... 

Stabilized anions exhibit a pronounced tendency to undergo conjugate addition to a p unsaturated carbonyl compounds This reaction called the Michael reaction has been described for anions derived from p diketones m Section 18 13 The enolates of ethyl acetoacetate and diethyl malonate also undergo Michael addition to the p carbon atom of a p unsaturated aldehydes ketones and esters For example... 

This reaction was also extended to other aromatic aldehydes for the preparation of a,P unsaturated carboxyUc acids. Several mechanisms of the reaction have been proposed (45). The most accepted mechanism iavolves the reaction of the aldehyde with the enol form of the acid anhydride which is promoted by the presence of the sodium salt or of another base. The resulting reaction product is then dehydrated iato an unsaturated carboxyUc acid. 

The product in this case is an allene, ° but such shifts can also give triple-bond compounds or, if Y=OH, an enol will be obtained that tautomerizes to an a,P-unsaturated aldehyde or ketone. 

Begin not with the ketone itself, but with an a,P-unsaturated ketone in which the double bond is present on the side where alkylation is desired. Upon treatment with lithium in liquid NH3, such a ketone is reduced to an enolate... 

Here too there is an enol that tautomerizes to the product. The mechanism is illustrated for the case of P-keto acids, ° but it is likely that malonic acids, a-cyano acids, a-nitro acids, and P,y-unsaturated acids behave similarly, since similar six-membered transition states can be written for them. Some a,P-unsaturated acids are also decarboxylated by this mechanism by isomerizing to the p,y-isomers before... 

In a closely related reaction, silyl enol ethers add to a,P-unsaturated ketones and... 

In the presence of a strong base, the ot carbon of a carboxylic ester can condense with the carbonyl carbon of an aldehyde or ketone to give a P-hydroxy ester, which may or may not be dehydrated to the a,P-unsaturated ester. This reaction is sometimes called the Claisen reaction,an unfortunate usage since that name is more firmly connected to 10-118. In a modem example of how the reaction is used, addition of tert-butyl acetate to LDA in hexane at -78°C gives the lithium salt of ferf-butyl acetate, " (12-21) an enolate anion. Subsequent reaction a ketone provides a simple rapid alternative to the Reformatsky reaction (16-31) as a means of preparing P-hydroxy erf-butyl esters. It is also possible for the a carbon of an aldehyde or ketone to add to the carbonyl carbon of a carboxylic ester, but this is a different reaction (10-119) involving nucleophilic substitution and not addition to a C=0 bond. It can, however, be a side reaction if the aldehyde or ketone has an a hydrogen. 

Besides ordinary esters (containing an a hydrogen), the reaction can also be carried out with lactones and, as in 16-38, with the y position of a,p-unsaturated esters (vinylogy). There are also cases, where the enolate anion of an amide was condensed with an aldehyde. ... 

On the other hand, the enantioselective 1,4-addition of carbanions such as enolates to linear enones is an interesting challenge, since relatively few efficient methods exist for these transformations. The Michael reaction of p-dicarbonyl compounds with a,p-unsaturated ketones can be catalysed by a number of transition-metal compounds. The asymmetric version of this reaction has been performed using chiral diol, diamine, and diphosphine ligands. In the past few years, bidentate and polydentate thioethers have begun to be considered as chiral ligands for this reaction. As an example, Christoffers et al. have developed the synthesis of several S/O-bidentate and S/O/S-tridentate thioether... 

Nitroalkenes react with lithium dianions of carboxylic acids or with hthium enolates at -100 °C, and subsequent treatment of the Michael adducts with aqueous acid gives y-keto acids or esters in a one-pot operation, respectively (Eq. 4.52).66 The sequence of Michael addition to nitroalkenes and Nef reaction (Section 6.1) provides a useful tool for organic synthesis. For example, the addition of carbanions derived from sulfones to nitroalkenes followed by the Nef reaction and elimination of the sulfonyl group gives a,P-unsaturated ketones (Eq. 4.53).67... 

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