Addition enol esters

Keywords A f/-Markovnikov addition Enol esters Hydration Nucleophilic addition Ruthenium catalysis Unsaturated cyclic ethers Vinyl carbamates... 

Aldol additions and ester condensations have always been and still are the most popular reactions for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds (A.T. Nielsen, 1968). The earbonyl group acts as an a -synthon, the enoi or enolate as a d -synthon. Both reactions will be treated together here, and arguments, which are given for aldol additions, are also valid for ester condensations. Many famous name reactions belong to this category ). The products of aldol additions may be either /J-hydroxy carbonyl compounds or, after dehydration, or, -unsaturated carbonyl compounds. 

The usual base or acid catalyzed aldol addition or ester condensation reactions can only be applied as a useful synthetic reaction, if both carbonyl components are identical. Otherwise complicated mixtures of products are formed. If two different aldehydes or esters are to be combined, it is essential that one of the components is transformed quantitatively into an enol whereas the other component remains as a carbonyl compound in the reaction mixture. 

Lower stereoselectivities arise, however, from the addition of ester enolates to this glyceralde-hyde4. Another highly stereoselective addition is in the synthesis of erythromycin A where a single product results from the addition of lithiated tert-butyl thiopropanoate to the enantiomerically pure aldehyde (2/ ,3/ ,4,S, 6/ ,7/ ,8,S, 9/ ,10.S, 11 / )-7-acetoxy-3,4 9,10-bis(isopropy1-idenedioxy)-11-methoxymethoxy-2,4,6,8,10-pentamethyltridecanal5. 

The DKR processes for secondary alcohols and primary amines can be slightly modified for applications in the asymmetric transformations of ketones, enol esters, and ketoximes. The key point here is that racemization catalysts used in the DKR can also catalyze the hydrogenation of ketones, enol esters, and ketoximes. Thus, the DKR procedures need a reducing agent as additional additive to enable asymmetric transformations. 

Several examples of conjugate addition of carbanions carried out under aprotic conditions are given in Scheme 2.24. The reactions are typically quenched by addition of a proton source to neutralize the enolate. It is also possible to trap the adduct by silylation or, as we will see in Section 2.6.2, to carry out a tandem alkylation. Lithium enolates preformed by reaction with LDA in THF react with enones to give 1,4-diketones (Entries 1 and 2). Entries 3 and 4 involve addition of ester enolates to enones. The reaction in Entry 3 gives the 1,2-addition product at —78°C but isomerizes to the 1,4-product at 25° C. Esters of 1,5-dicarboxylic acids are obtained by addition of ester enolates to a,(3-unsaturated esters (Entry 5). Entries 6 to 8 show cases of... 

Amination. Three laboratories2-4 have reported use of esters of azodicarbox-ylic acid for amination of chiral substrates to provide a synthesis of optically active a-hydrazino and a-amino acids. The di-r-butyl ester is particularly useful because the diastereoselectivity improves with increasing size of the ester group, and in addition these esters are hydrolyzed by TFA at 25°. Two laboratories21 used the lithium enolates of chiral N-acyloxazolidones (2) as the chiral precursors. A typical procedure is outlined in equation (I). Thus reaction of the lithium enolate of 2... 

A different approach towards titanium-mediated allene synthesis was used by Hayashi et al. [55], who recently reported rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective 1,6-addition reactions of aryltitanate reagents to 3-alkynyl-2-cycloalkenones 180 (Scheme 2.57). In the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane and (R)-segphos as chiral ligand, alle-nic silyl enol ethers 181 were obtained with good to excellent enantioselectivities and these can be converted further into allenic enol esters or triflates. In contrast to the corresponding copper-mediated 1,6-addition reactions (Section 2.2.2), these transformations probably proceed via alkenylrhodium species (formed by insertion of the C-C triple bond into a rhodium-aryl bond) and subsequent isomerization towards the thermodynamically more stable oxa-jt-allylrhodium intermediates [55],... 

Nucleophilic addition of ester-derived enolate to the bicyclo[3.3.0]octan-2-one system of diacetone glucos-3-ulose usually occurs at the convex jS-face of the carbonyl (as for other nucleophiles), except for senecioate-derived enolate (from 3-methyl cro-tonate) for which a-attack in diethylether solvent is in contrast to the jS-face attack in THF the reason for this anomalous behaviour is not clear. 

Conjugate addition can also be carried out by completely forming the nucleophilic enolate under kinetic conditions. Ketone enolates formed by reaction with LDA in THF react with enones to give 1,5-diketones (entries 1 and 2, Scheme 1.12). Esters of 1,5-dicarboxylic acids are obtained by addition of ester enolates to a,/J-unsaturated esters (entry 5, Scheme 1.12). 

Lee s group has also reported ruthenium-catalyzed carbonylative cyclization of 1,6-diynes. The noteworthy aspect of this cyclization is the unprecedented anti nucleophile attack on a 7i-alkyne complex bearing a ruthenium vinylidene functionality. A catalytic system based on [Ru(p-cymene)Cl2]2/P(4-F-C6H4)3/DMAP was active for the cyclization of 1,6-diyne 103 and benzoic acid in dioxane at 65 °Cto afford cydohexenylidene enol ester 104a in 74% yield after 24h [34]. Additional examples are shown in Scheme 6.35. 

The indenylidene complexes IX and XXVIIIc were also reported to promote the addition of different carboxylic acids to terminal alkynes to give enol esters, the Markovnikov addition product being the major product with, in some cases, the competing catalytic dimerization of terminal alkynes [61]. 

Addition of Carboxylic Acids Synthesis of Enol Esters... 

Scheme 10.6 Regioselective formation of 3-hydroxylated enol esters resulting from anti-Markovnikov addition.

Table 1. Addition of ester enolates 1 to 2 on clay catalyst.

Scheme 1.1.6 Tandem aza-Michael addition/a-ester enolate alkylation or aldol reaction.

In addition, we were able to extend the tandem hetero Michael addition/a-ester-enolate alkylation protocol by an intramolecular variant via a Michael-initiated ring closure (MIRC) reaction leading to diastereo- and enantiomerically pure trans-configured 2-amino-cycloalkanoic acids 30 (Scheme 1.1.7) [14c,d]. 

Hydrocarboxylation of Alkynes Intramolecular addition of carboxylic acids (weak nucleophiles) to alkynes led to lactones, which were first reported by Schmidbaur et al. in the reaction of acetic add with 3-hexynes to obtain, in addition to enol ester, 3-hexanone. Traces of water were probably present in the solvent to enable the process to be carried out [99]. 

Most solid-phase syntheses of pyrazoles are based on the cyclocondensation of hydrazines with suitable 1,3-dielectrophiles. The reported examples include the reaction of hydrazines with support-bound a,(3-unsaturated ketones, 1,3-diketones, 3-keto esters, a-(cyano)carbonyl compounds, and a, 3-unsaturated nitriles (Table 15.19). Pyrazoles have also been prepared from polystyrene-bound 3-(hydrazino)esters, which are generated by the addition of ester enolates to hydrazones (Entry 7, Table 15.19 see also Section 10.3). Benzopyrazoles can be prepared from support-bound hydra-zones using the reaction sequence outlined in Figure 15.11. Oxidation of a polystyrene-bound benzophenone hydrazone yields an a-(acyloxy)azo compound. Upon treatment with a Lewis acid, this intermediate is converted into a 1,2-diazaallyl cation,... 

The 1,4-conjugate addition of ester enolates to a, 3-enones was first reported by Kohler in 1910,138a c as an anomalous Reformatsky reaction, but chemoselectivity was dependent on the structure of the a,(3-enone and restricted to bromozinc enolates obtained from either a-bromoisobutyrate or bromomalonate esters (Scheme 66).138d,e Further evaluation, with lithio ester enolates and lithio amide enolate additions, has resulted in identification of four factors that affect the chemoselectivity and diastereoselectivity of additions to a, 3-enones.139 These factors are (a) enolate geometry, (b) acceptor geometry, (c) steric bulk of the -substituent on the acceptor enone and (d) reaction conditions. In general, under kinetic reaction conditions (-78 °C), ( )-ester enolates afford preferential 1,2-addition products while (Z)-ester enolates afford substantial amounts of 1,4-addition products however, 1,2 to 1,4 equilibration occurs at 25 C in the presence of HMPA. The stereostructure of the 1,4-adducts is dependent on the initial enolate structure for example, with ( )-enones, (Z)-ester enolates afford anti adducts, while (E)-ester enolates afford syn adducts (Scheme 54). In contrast, amide enolates show a modest preference for anti diastereomer formation. 

Few examples exist for the conjugate addition of ester enolates to a,(3-unsaturated esters typically the incipient enolate undergoes decomposition and secondary reactions. The first examples, described by Schlessinger,144 are the addition of /-butyl lithioacetate and /-butyl a-lithio-a-(methylthio)propionate to butenolide (176 Scheme 69). Similarly, Normant reported that cyclopropanes are obtained from a-ha-loesters (177) and ethyl acrylate or acrylonitrile.145... 

The addition of ester enolates to oi.P-unsaturated esters occurs with identical diastereoselectivity as shown for a,(3-enones this is exemplified by the diastereoselective synthesis of erythro- and threo-2,3-disubstituted glutarate esters (178 and 179). 146 -c Similarly, Yamaguchi reports a general synthesis of /ra/tJ-2-alkoxycarbonyl-l-cycloalkanepropionates (181-184) from w-halo-a,(3-unsaturated esters (180),... 

Schlessinger has shown that the addition of ester enolates to sulfur stabilized acceptors, e.g. ketene di-thioacetal monoxide (151) and methyl a-(methylthio)acrylate (187), is highly efficient for the synthesis of Y-ketoesters.148 Similarly, Ahlbrecht and Seebach have reported that amide and ester enolate additions to nitrogen stabilized acceptors, e.g. nitroalkenes (40) and 2-(/V-methylanilino)acrylonitrile (59 Scheme 72), are highly efficient.149... 

For the most part, alkynic and allenic ketones have found limited use in conjugate addition-enolate trapping sequences 69,81-83 their analogous esters have been used with far greater frequency (vide infra). Alkynic ketones, in particular, have found use in development of a new anionic polycyclizadon method consisting of intramolecular Michael addition followed by intramolecular alkylation (equation 15).84... 

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