Lewis acid-promoted addition

The selective addition of the second HCN to provide ADN requires the concurrent isomerisation of 3PN to 4-pentenenitrile [592-51 -8] 4PN (eq. 5), and HCN addition to 4PN (eq. 6). A Lewis acid promoter is added to control selectivity and increase rate in these latter steps. Temperatures in the second addition are significandy lower and practical rates may be achieved above 20°C at atmospheric pressure. A key to the success of this homogeneous catalytic process is the abiUty to recover the nickel catalyst from product mixture by extraction with a hydrocarbon solvent. 2-Methylglutaronitrile [4553-62-2] MGN, ethylsuccinonitfile [17611-82-4] ESN, and 2-pentenenitrile [25899-50-7] 2PN, are by-products of this process and are separated from adiponitrile by distillation. 

The HCFC-225 isomers designed to replace CFC-113 are manufactured by Lewis acid promoted addition of HCFC-21 to tetrafluoroethylene... 

An excess of Grignard reagent (4 equivalents) or the addition of strong Lewis acids promotes the preference for chelation-controlled. vvn-products (Table 20)22 21 u. In addition, the use of diethyl ether or dichloromethane instead of tetrahydrofuran improves the yield of the chelation-derived syn-product24. 

Therefore, in order to obtain a 1,4-addition of an allyl residue to an enone, two activation modes can be used reactions take place either under electrophilic conditions with Lewis acid promotion, or in the presence of fluoride ions. This is important as the stereochemical outcome often depends on the activation mode selected. 

More recently, the Lewis acid promoted asymmetric 1,4-addition of trimethyl(2-propenyl)silane to chiral a,/ -unsaturated /V-acylamides has been published33. Lewis acid mediated reactions of trimethyl(2-propenyl)silanes with a,/I-unsatu rated AT-acyloxazolidinones or iV-enoylsultams show high chemical yield with good diastereomeric excess. The absolute configuration of the new asymmetric center is controlled by the nature of the Lewis acid used. 

The ene reaction of fuUerene (C o) with 3-methylene-2,3-dihydrofuran gives an easily isolated addition product in good yield <96JOC2559>. There is a continuous need for chiral acrylate esters for asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions with high diastereoselectivity. Lewis acid promoted Diels-Alder reactions of acrylate esters from monobenzylated isosorbide 28 (or isomannide) and cyclopentadiene provided exclusively e db-adducts with good yields and high diastereoselectivity <96TL7023>. 

Our group has exploited 4-phenylthio-l,3-dioxanes as convenient precursors to 4-lithio-l,3-dioxanes [45,65-69]. 4-Phenylthio-l,3-dioxanes 184 were originally prepared from -silyloxy aldehydes 183 [65] (Eq. 28). Lewis acid-promoted addition of phenylthiotrimethylsilane gave an unstable thioacetal intermediate, which could be converted in situ to the corresponding 1,3-dioxane. Yields for this process are variable, as the product is unstable under the conditions of its formation. The reaction slowly evolves to a mixture of the desired product, the phenylthio acetal of 183, the phenylthio acetal of acetone, and a variety of other unidentified products. 

Summary of the Relationship between Diastereoselectivity and the Transition Structure. In this section we considered simple diastereoselection in aldol reactions of ketone enolates. Numerous observations on the reactions of enolates of ketones and related compounds are consistent with the general concept of a chairlike TS.35 These reactions show a consistent E - anti Z - syn relationship. Noncyclic TSs have more variable diastereoselectivity. The prediction or interpretation of the specific ratio of syn and anti product from any given reaction requires assessment of several variables (1) What is the stereochemical composition of the enolate (2) Does the Lewis acid promote tight coordination with both the carbonyl and enolate oxygen atoms and thereby favor a cyclic TS (3) Does the TS have a chairlike conformation (4) Are there additional Lewis base coordination sites in either reactant that can lead to reaction through a chelated TS Another factor comes into play if either the aldehyde or the enolate, or both, are chiral. In that case, facial selectivity becomes an issue and this is considered in Section 2.1.5. 

Reaction with 2,3-epoxy alcohols. Both (CH3)2CuLi and (CH3)2CuCNLi2 react with trans-2,3-epoxy alcohols (with a simple alkyl group at C4) in ether to give about 1 1 mixtures of 1,2- and 1,3-diols. Addition of TMEDA or an imida-zolidinone (DMI, 11, 202) promotes reaction at C2 to give 1,3-diols, whereas addition of a Lewis acid promotes reaction at C3 to give 1,2-diols. 

In addition to Bronsted acid promoted Fischer-type glycosylations, Lewis acids have been investigated (Scheme 3.4). A variety of Lewis acids promote glycosylation under mild conditions, often in substoichiometric amounts. The earliest examples include ZnCl2 [18] and FeCl3 [19], although these readions were demonstrated only for preparation of trehalose-type disaccharides. Mukaiyama et al. have very recently developed metal triflate catalysts for the dehydrative glycosylation with... 

In a review on the addition of carbenium ions to alkenes (equation 19) as a general procedure for carbon-carbon bond formation50, Mayr reported on investigations which also include the reactions of a variety of 1,3-dienes toward electrophilic carbon species generated by Lewis acid-promoted heterolysis of alkyl chlorides. 

Scheme 6.21. Lewis acid-promoted diastereoselective conjugate addition to enone 98 (Bn = benzyl).

Leighton has combined this concept of strained silacycles [62-66] with the asymmetric allylation chemistry in a series of pubhcations [60, 67-70], Leighton s aUyhc silacyclopentane 29 [67] (Scheme 20) works equally for allylation of aromatic and ahphatic aldehydes in the absence of additional Lewis bases (promoter activator) or Lewis acids with high yield and enantioselectivity. The mechanism of... 

Protonation of the enolate 19, prepared by Lewis acid promoted addition of butylcuprate to 18, gave 16 and 17 in an approximately 30 70 ratio. Diastereoselectivity is essentially independent of quenching temperature ( — 70° to 0°C) and of R. 

For Lewis acid promoted living polymerization of MMA with (TPP)AlMe (1,X= Me) as initiator, a photoinitiation prior to the addition of the Lewis acid is required. This is because (1) 1 (X=Me) without irradiation does not have the ability to initiate the polymerization even in the presence of Lewis acid, and (2) all-at-once polymerization by direct irradiation of a mixture of MMA, 1 (X=Me), and the Lewis acid results in the formation of a relatively broad MWD PMMA with Mn much higher than expected. In this sense, the procedure using 1 (X= Me) as initiator is not convenient for practical application. In this section, we report on aluminum porphyrins with various axial ligands which were tested as initiators in order to realize a more convenient, one-shot high-speed living polymerization of methyl methacrylate with no need for irradiation with visible light. 

Because of its low acidity, hydrogen cyanide seldom adds to nonactivated multiple bonds. Catalytic processes, however, may be applied to achieve such additions. Metal catalysts, mainly nickel and palladium complexes, and [Co(CO)4]2 are used to catalyze the addition of HCN to alkenes known as hydrocyanation.l67 l74 Most studies usually apply nickel triarylphosphites with a Lewis acid promoter. The mechanism involves the insertion of the alkene into the Ni—H bond of a hydrido nickel cyanide complex to form a cr-alkylnickel complex173-176 (Scheme 6.3). The addition of DCN to deuterium-labeled compound 17 was shown to take place... 

These early results paved the way for a myriad of applications of this process in organic synthesis, as described in detail in this chapter. It should be pointed out that only additions of stabilized nucleophiles are included here, with the addition of reactive nucleophiles (organolithiums, Grignards, cuprates, etc.), Lewis acid promoted additions and asymmetric nucleophilic additions, among others, being covered in Chapters 1.3 and 1.5, respectively, in this volume. 

---