Addition of the enolate

Section 21 9 Michael addition of the enolate ions derived from ethyl acetoacetate and diethyl malonate provides an alternative method for preparing their a alkyl derivatives... 

This cleavage is a retro aldol reaction It is the reverse of the process by which d fruc tose 1 6 diphosphate would be formed by aldol addition of the enolate of dihydroxy acetone phosphate to d glyceraldehyde 3 phosphate The enzyme aldolase catalyzes both the aldol addition of the two components and m glycolysis the retro aldol cleavage of D fructose 1 6 diphosphate... 

The course of the acid catalyzed dehydration of 1,4-diketones to furans, known as the Paal-Knorr method (1884CB2756), entails the formal addition of the enol of one carbonyl group to the other carbonyl. Examples which illustrate some of the routes used to make the necessary 1,4-diketones are shown in Scheme 13. Few examples are known of the preparation of the other heterocycles by this general approach using isolated intermediates, although some of the ring closures discussed in Section 3.03.3.1.1 are mechanistically equivalent. One example of the preparation of a hydroxypyrrole is included in Scheme 13 <59AC(R)2075). 

The next step is the nucleophilic addition of the enolate anion 5 to the carbonyl group of another, non-enolized, aldehyde molecule 2. The product which is obtained after workup is a /3-hydroxy aldehyde or ketone 3 ... 

Various competitive reactions can reduce the yield of the desired Michael-addition product. An important side-reaction is the 1,2-addition of the enolate to the C=0 double bond (see aldol reaction, Knoevenagel reaction), especially with a ,/3-unsaturated aldehydes, the 1,2-addition product may be formed preferentially, rather than the 1,4-addition product. Generally the 1,2-addition is a kinetically favored and reversible process. At higher temperatures, the thermodynamically favored 1,4-addition products are obtained. 

Aldol reactions, Like all carbonyl condensations, occur by nucleophilic addition of the enolate ion of the donor molecule to the carbonyl group of the acceptor molecule. The resultant tetrahedral intermediate is then protonated to give an alcohol product (Figure 23.2). The reverse process occurs in exactty the opposite manner base abstracts the -OH hydrogen from the aldol to yield a /3-keto alkoxide ion, which cleaves to give one molecule of enolate ion and one molecule of neutral carbonyl compound. 

Step 5 of Figure 29.5 Condensation The key carbon-carbon bond-forming reaction that builds the fatty-acid chain occurs in step 5. This step is simply a Claisen condensation between acetyl synthase as the electrophilic acceptor and malonyl ACP as the nucleophilic donor. The mechanism of the condensation is thought to involve decarboxylation of malonyl ACP to give an enolate ion, followed by immediate addition of the enolate ion to the carbonyl group of acetyl... 

Michael addition of the enolate of (42 )-4-rm-butyl-3-methyl-2-oxetanone to dimethyl (Z)-butenedioate yields a single diastereomer. This provides a method to control two new vicinal stereogenic centers one quaternary and one tertiary. The topicity of the addition is u with respect to the 3,3 -bond and l with respect to the 3, 4 -bondI09. 

In a related study the adduct of the lithium enolate of methyl bis(trimethylsilyl)acetale and ( —)-(/J)-2-(4-methylphenylsulfinyl)-2-cyclopentanone was transformed to ( — )-methyl jasmonate in > 99% ee. In contrast to the previous study described in this section, addition of the enolate proceeded apparently through a chelated form of the enone15. 

The addition of the lithium enolates of various acetic add esters to (S)-3-(4-methylphcnyl-sulfmyl)-2(5//)-liiranone and (,S)-5,6-dihydro-3-(4-methylphenylsulfinyl)-2//-pyran-2-one gives, after desulfurization with Raney nickel, 4-substituted dihydro-2(3//)-furanoncs and 4-substituted tetrahydro-2//-pyran-2-ones, respectively, in good to quantitative enantiomeric excess. Addition of the enolate occurs via the nonchelate mode. The enolate of methyl (phenylthio)acetatc is best overall in regards to chemical yields and enantiomeric purity of the final lactone product13. 

The a-substitution in the alkenylcarbene complex seems to be crucial to direct the reaction to the five-membered rings. The mechanism proposed for this transformation supposes an initial 1,2-addition of the enolate to the carbene carbon atom to generate a zwitterionic intermediate. Cyclisation promoted by... 

Seven-membered carbocycles are also available from the reaction of alkenylcarbene complexes of chromium and lithium enolates derived from methyl vinyl ketones [79b] (Scheme 65). In this case, the reaction is initiated by the 1,2-addition of the enolate to the carbene complex. Cyclisation induced by a [1,2]-migration of the pentacarbonylchromium group and subsequent elimination of the metal fragment followed by hydrolysis leads to the final cyclo-heptenone derivatives (Scheme 65). 

There is evidence (in the self-condensation of acetaldehyde) that a water molecule acts as a base (even in concentrated H2SO4) in assisting the addition of the enol to the protonated aldehyde Baigrie, L.M. Cox, R.A. Slebocka-Tilk, H. Tencer, M. Tidwell, T.T. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1985, 107, 3640. 

A particularly important example of the intramolecular aldol reaction is the Robinson annulation, a procedure that constructs a new six-membered ring from a ketone.171 The reaction sequence starts with conjugate addition of the enolate to methyl... 

Entry 6 is an example of application of the chiral diazaborolidine enolate method (see p. 572). Entry 7 involves generation of the silyl ketene acetal by silylation after conjugate addition of the enolate of 3-methylbutanoyloxazolidinone to allyl 3,3,3-trifluoroprop-2-enoate. A palladium catalyst improved the yield in the rearrangement... 

The mechanism of these alkylations involves a tetracoordinate boron intermediate formed by addition of the enolate of the a-bromo ester to the organoborane. The migration then occurs with displacement of bromide ion. In agreement with this mechanism, retention of configuration of the migrating group is observed.23... 

For the synthesis of 2-519, the amines 2-516 were first treated with AlMe3 in benzene at r.t. and after addition of the enol acetates 2-515, easily accessible from 2-513 and 2-514, heated under reflux. Mechanistic investigations using on-line NMR spectroscopy, reveal that a metalated amide 2-517 is formed first. This then leads to a N-acyliminium ion 2-518 which undergoes an electrophilic substitution. Overall, three new bonds are formed selectively in the domino process, and the alkaloid scaffolds 2-519 are provided in very good yields of 79-89%. Interestingly, use of the keto esters 2-513 instead of 2-515 did not lead to the desired products 2-519. 

Enantioselective synthesis of the antidepressant rolipram can be done by the asymmetric Michael addition of the enolate of IV-acetyloxazolidone to nitrostyrene. Chirally branched pyrrolidones like rolipram are highly active antidepressants with novel postsynaptic modes of action. The synthesis is shown in Scheme 4.13.78... 

If the violet color of the reaction solution is completely discharged, indicating that all the methyllithium has been consumed, addition of the enol acetate should be stopped at that point. The actual concentration of enolate anion in the solution can be calculated from the amount of enol acetate added. 

Most probably, the last stage in the synthesis of 2-amino-4H-pyrans involves base-catalyzed nucleophilic addition of the enolic oxygen to a C=N group, which can be regarded as a hetero-Thorpe-Ziegler reaction (Scheme 21). 

The mechanism of the base-catalyzed reaction involves equilibrium formation of the enolate ion, followed by addition of the enolate to a carbonyl group of the aldehyde or ketone. 

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