Acetic acid-catalyzed Michael addition

The first enantioselective total synthesis of tetracyclic sesquiterpenoid (+)-cyclomyltaylan-5a-ol, isolated from a Taiwanese liverwort, was accomplished by H. Hagiwara and co-workers. They started out from Hajos-Parrish ketone analogue, (S)-(+)-4,7a-dimethyl-2,3,7,7a-tetrahydro-6/-/-indene-1,5-dione, that could be synthesized from 2-methylcyclopentane-1,3-dione and ethyl vinyl ketone in an acetic acid-catalyzed Michael addition followed by an intramolecular aldol reaction. The intramolecular aldol reaction was carried out in the presence of one equivalent (S)-(-)-phenylalanine and 0.5 equivalent D-camphorsulfonic acid. The resulting enone was recrystallized from hexane-diethyl ether to yield the product in 43% yield and 98% ee. Since the absolute stereochemistry of the natural product was unknown, the total synthesis also served to establish the absolute stereochemistry. 

Protic-acid-catalyzed Michael additions (59) are subject to most of the limitations of base-catalyzed Michael additions (regioselectivity and stereoselectivity of enol generation, polyaddition, etc.), and hence, the stereochemistry has been little studied (60). At low temperatures silyl and stannyl enol ethers,+ ketene acetals, and allyl species are unreactive to all but the most reactive activated olefins. However, it was discovered by Mukaiyama and co-workers that enol ethers and ketene acetals react with a,/f-unsaturated carbonyl compounds in the presence of certain Lewis acids (4,61,62). Sakurai, Hosomi, and co-workers found that allylsilanes behave similarly (5,63,64). 

The base-catalyzed Michael addition of oxazolin-5-ones to alkynic ketones produces 4-(3-oxopropenyl) derivatives (405) (79CB3221). The latter compounds are cleaved on warming with oxalic acid dihydrate in acetic acid to y-diketones (406). The mechanism of this transformation corresponds to a vinylogous Dakin-West reaction (Scheme 90). 

This reaction was first reported by Mukaiyama et al. in 1974. It is a Lewis acid-catalyzed Michael conjugate addition of silyl enol ether to o ,/3-unsaturated compounds. Therefore, it is generally referred to as the Mukaiyama-Michael reaction. Because this reaction is essentially a conjugate addition, it is also known as the Mukaiyama-Michael addition or Mukaiyama-Michael conjugate addition. This reaction is a mechanistic complement for the base-catalyzed Michael addition, j and often occurs at much milder conditions and affords superior regioselectivity. s Besides silyl enol ether, silyl ketene acetals are also suitable nucleophiles in this reaction.For the hindered ketene silyl acetals, the Lewis acid actually mediates the electron transfer from the nucleophiles to o ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl molecules.On the other hand, the Q ,j8-unsaturated compounds, such as 3-crotonoyl-2-oxazolidinone, alkylidene malonates, and a-acyl-a,/3-unsaturated phosphonates are often applied as the Michael acceptors. It has been found that the enantioselectivity is very sensitive to the reactant structures —for example, Q -acyl-Q ,j8-unsaturated phosphonates especially prefers the unique syn- vs anft-diastereoselectivity in this reaction. In addition,... 

Yamazaki et al. employed the Evans oxazolidinone enolate in diastereoselective Michael additions to /I-CF3 acrylates to afford intermediate allyl silyl ketene acetals [8]. The products were isolated as ca. 2 1 mixtures of pentenoic acids and Michael addition adducts (Scheme 4.59). The rearrangement of the silyl ketene acetal was catalyzed by PdCl2(CH3CN)2. The rearrangement apparently occurred via the Z-silyl ketene acetal and exhibited high 1,2-asymmetric induction. Aspects of stereochemical control and Pd catalysis have been discussed previously (cf Scheme 4.25). 

Later, the same group succeeded in achieving a cascade Michael/nitro-Mannich/ acetalization reaction by the combination of covalent enamine catalysis and noncovalent bifunctional base/Br0nsted acid catalysis [32]. The fuUy substituted piperidines with diverse substitution patterns were prepared efficiently starting from simple aliphatic aldehydes, Ts-protected imines, and trani -P-nitro alkenes (Scheme 9.36). This finding effectively incorporated prolinol silyl ether-catalyzed Michael addition of aldehyde 65 to nitroalkene 75 and valine-derived bifunctional thiourea-mediated nitro-Mannich reaction of y-nitro aldehyde 106 to imine 105 in the cascade process, providing a complementary contribution to the well-known single catalyst-promoted triple cascade reactions and two catalyst-promoted reaction cascades. 

For example, using (/ )-5-trimethylsilyl-2-cyclohexenone as the chiral Michael acceptor, optically active m // .v-3.5-disubstituied cyclohexanones 1 are obtained via a Lewis acid catalyzed addition of silylenol ethers or ketene acetals. 

The controlled polymerization of (meth)acrylates was achieved by anionic polymerization. However, special bulky initiators and very low temperatures (- 78 °C) must be employed in order to avoid side reactions. An alternative procedure for achieving the same results by conducting the polymerization at room temperature was proposed by Webster and Sogah [84], The technique, called group transfer polymerization, involves a catalyzed silicon-mediated sequential Michael addition of a, /f-unsaluralcd esters using silyl ketene acetals as initiators. Nucleophilic (anionic) or Lewis acid catalysts are necessary for the polymerization. Nucleophilic catalysts activate the initiator and are usually employed for the polymerization of methacrylates, whereas Lewis acids activate the monomer and are more suitable for the polymerization of acrylates [85,86]. 

It has been shown that Lewis acid catalyzed isomerization of thionolactones provides access to thiolactones. For example, exposure of the substrate 22 to catalytic amounts of BF3 OEt2 led to efficient conversion to the thiolactone 23. Such transformations were also found to give minor amounts of lactone or dithiolactone side products <06TL6067>. Substituted tetrahydrothiophene derivatives have also been obtained from 1,4-dithiane-2,5-diol and 2-nitroethyl acetate derivatives by a base induced sequence featuring a Michael addition and a Henry reaction <06TL8087>. 

An acid-catalyzed double-Michael addition of water to the bridged bis-dioxine moiety in a larger macrocyclic framework has been described by the Kollenz group (Scheme 6.134) [269]. While conventional reaction conditions failed to provide any of the desired functionalized 2,4,6,8-tetraoxaadamantane product, microwave heating of the hydrophobic macrocyclic bisdioxine in a 1 1 mixture of 1,2-dichloroethane and acetic acid containing excess concentrated hydrochloric acid at 170 °C for 40 min provided a 35% isolated yield of the desired oxaadamantane compound. 

The key step in Hu s synthesis of 51 was cyclization of 50 by heating with copper(I) iodide and sodium hydride in DME, followed by a 10% aqueous ammonia work-up. Intermediate 50 was prepared via Michael addition of ethyl acetamidocyano acetate to the appropriate chalcone followed by acid-catalyzed ring closure [42,43]. 

In the last decade, the mesoporous molecular sieve MCM-41 has been developed (2S2) and applied as a catalyst to many acid-catalyzed reactions (2SS). However, until now, comparatively few investigations of mesoporous molecular sieves as base catalysts have been reported (169,211-214,234,235). For example, sodium- and cesium-exchanged mesoporous MCM-41 were shown to be mildly selective, water-stable, recyclable catalysts for the base-catalyzed Knoevenagel condensation, and mesoporous MCM-41 containing intraporous cesium oxide particles prepared by impregnation with aqueous cesium acetate and subsequent calcination was found to have strong-base activity for the Michael addition (211,213) and rearrangement of co-phenylalkanals to phenyl alkyl ketones (212). 

The initial Michael addition step is a modified and improved version of a procedure originally developed by Farmer and Ross.3 The second step involving acid-catalyzed dehydration of the cyclohexanone-3-acetic acid is adapted from earlier work developed for the desmethyl series.5... 

The asymmetric addition of glycine enolates to acrylates was also achieved by use of the tartaric acid-derived phase-transfer catalysts 27 and 28 (Scheme 4.9). Arai, Nishida and Tsuji [13] showed that the C2-symmetric ammonium cations 27a,b afford up to 77% ee when t-butyl acrylate is used as acceptor. The cations 28 are the most effective/selective PTC identified by broad variation of the substituents present on both the acetal moiety and nitrogen atoms [14], In this study by Shibasaki et al. enantiomeric excesses up to 82% were achieved by use of the catalyst 28a (Scheme 4.9) [14], Scheme 4.9 also shows the structure of the guanidine 29 prepared by Ma and Cheng in the absence of additional base this also catalyzes the Michael addition of the glycine derivative 22 to ethyl acrylate, albeit with modest ee of 30% [15],... 

Fig. 13.68. Michael addition to an tt,/kunsaturated ketone. A sequence of reactions is shown that effects the 1,4-addition of acetic acid to the unsaturated ketone. See Figure 17.51 regarding step 2 and Figure 13.37 for the mechanism of step 3. The stereochemistry of reaction steps 1 and 2 has not been discussed in the literature. The third step consists of a decarboxylation as well as an acid-catalyzed epimerization of the carbon in the position a to the carbonyl group. This epimerization allows for an equilibration between the cis,trans-isomeric cyclohexanones and causes the trans-configuration of the major product.

Baylis-Hillman adducts such as 55 and 56 derived from 2-nitrobenzaldehydes were shown to function as useful precursors to functionalized (1H)-quinol-2-ones and quinolines. Treatment of 55 and 56 with iron and acetic acid at 110 °C afforded 57 and 58, respectively <02T3693>. A variety of other cyclization reactions utilized in the preparation of the quinoline scaffold were also reported. An iridium-catalyzed oxidative cyclization of 3-(2-aminophenyl)propanols afforded 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines <02OL2691>. The intramolecular cyclization of aryl radicals to prepare pyrrolo[3,2-c]quinolines was studied <02T1453>. Additionally, photocyclization reactions of /rans-o-aminocinnamoyl derivatives were reported to provide 2-quinolones and quinolines <02JHC61>. Enolizable quinone and mono- and diimide intermediates were shown to provide quinolines via a thermal 6jt-electrocyclization <02OL4265>. Quinoline derivatives were also prepared from nitrogen-tethered 2-methoxyphenols. The corresponding 2-methoxyphenols were subjected to a iodine(III)-mediated acetoxylation which was followed by an intramolecular Michael addition to afford the quinoline OAc O... 

A new synthetic method for steroids has been developed using a butadiene dimer (66) as a building block and the palladium-catalyzed oxidation as the key reaction.3-Acetoxy-l,7-octadiene (66), prepared by the palladium-catalyzed reaction of butadiene with acetic acid, is hydrolyzed and oxidized to l,7-octadien-3-one (67) in high yield. The enone (67) is a very useful reagent for bisanellation because its termiiud double bond can be regarded as a masked ketone which can be readily unmasked by the palladium catalyst to form the l,S-diketone (68) after Michael addition at the enone moiety of (67 Scheme 20). Thus, the enone (67) is the cheapest and most readily available bisanellation reagent, permitting a simple total synthesis of steroids. 

Monomer addition, which is catalyzed by anions like HF , F , CN or selected Lewis acids, proceeds by Michael addition in which the silyl group is transferred to the new monomer unit to renew the terminal silyl ketene acetal. (A Michael reaction, in general, is the addition of an enolate to an a,/9-unsaturated carbonyl compound.)... 

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