Lithium enolates addition reactions

The addition of lithium enolates to 2-alkoxyaldehydes occurs either in a completely non-stereoselective manner, or with moderate selectivity in favor of the product predicted by the Cram-Felkin-Anh model28 ( nonchelation control 3, see reference 28 for a survey of this type of addition to racemic aldehydes). Thus, a 1 1 mixture of the diastereomeric adducts results from the reaction of lithiated tert-butyl acetate and 2-benzyloxypropanal4,28. 

Closely related to enolate additions to enones is the diastereoselective 1,4-addition of lithium enolates of esters, thioesters and amides to a,/ -unsaturated esters. These reactions provide syn-or ar /-2,3-disubstituted glutarates (pentanedioates). 

The stereochemical outcome of the addition of lithium enolates of aldehydes and ketones to nitroalkenes is dependent upon the geometry of the nitroalkene and the enolate anion. The synjanti selectivity in the reaction of the lithium enolates of propanal, eyelopentanone and cyclohexanone with ( )- and (Z)-l-nitropropene has been reported1. 

From these and many related examples the following generalizations can be made about kinetic stereoselection in aldol additions of lithium enolates. (1) The chair TS model provides a basis for analyzing the stereoselectivity observed in aldol reactions of ketone enolates having one bulky substituent. The preference is Z-enolate syn aldol /(-enolate anti aldol. (2) When the enolate has no bulky substituent, stereoselectivity is low. (3) Z-Enolates are more stereoselective than /(-enolates. Table 2.1 gives some illustrative data. 

The Michael addition of lithium enolates to nitroalkenes followed by reaction with acetic anhydride gives acetic nitronic anhydrides, which are good precursors for 1,4-diketones, pyrroles, and pyrrolidines (Eq. 10.73).113... 

The study of Fuji et al. shows that the addition of lithium enolate 75 to ni-troamine 74 is readily reversible quenching conditions are thus essential for getting a good yield of product 76. An equilibrium mixture of the adducts exists in the reaction mixture, and the elimination of either the prolinol or lactone moiety can take place depending on the workup condition (Scheme 2-34). A feature of this asymmetric synthesis is the direct one pot formation of the enantiomer with a high ee value. One application of this reaction is the asymmetric synthesis of a key intermediate for indole type Aspidosperma and Hun-teria alkaloids.68 Fuji69 has reviewed the asymmetric creation of quaternary carbon atoms. 

Michael additions of ketone enolates. The stereochemistry of Michael additions of lithium enolates of ketones to a,(3-enones is controlled by the geometry of the enolate. Addition of (Z)-enolates results in anti-products with high diaster-eoselectivity, which is not changed by addition of HMPT. Reaction of (E)-enolates is less stereoselective but tends to favor syn-selectivity, which can be enhanced by addition of HMPT. 

In this study, benzaldehyde and benzaldehyde-methyllithium adduct were fully optimized at HF/6-31G and their vibrational frequencies were calculated. The authors used MeLi instead of lithium pinacolone enolate, since it was assumed that the equilibrium IBs are not much different for the MeLi addition and lithium enolate addition. Dehalogena-tion and enone-isomerization probe experiments detected no evidence of a single electron transfer to occur during the course of the reaction. The primary carbonyl carbon kinetic isotope effects and chemical probe experiments led them to conclude that the reaction of lithium pinacolone enolate with benzaldehyde proceeds via a polar mechanism. 

For the sake of brevity, such important transformations as the conjugate addition of lithium enolates on activated olefins or the halogenation, amination, oxidation. .. of enolates have not been considered here. Each of these reactions has been the object of considerable developments lately, in particular for their asymmetric versions, and giving even short accounts about the state of the art would have been extremely space-consuming. 

Nitro-l-(phenylsulfonyl)-l//-indole 829 undergoes nucleophilic addition reactions with enolates of diethyl malonate and cyclohexanone, lithium dimethylcuprate (Scheme 159), and indole anion (Equation 209) to afford the corresponding 3-substituted 2-nitroindoles in low to high yields <1997TL5603, 1999TL7615>. 

Asymmetric Aldol Reactions. Lithium enolates, derived from an ester, and LDA react with aldehydes enantioselectively in the presence of the chiral amide 2 (eq 3). When benzaldehyde is employed, the major diastereomer is the anrt-aldol with 94% ee, while the minor yn-aldol is only 43% ee. In this reaction, the lithium amide 2 coordinates to an additional lithium atom. There are four additional examples of aldehydes with the same ester enolate. 

In addition, the lithium enolate derived from pseudoephedrine propionamide has been shown to undergo highly diastereoselective Mannich reactions with p-(methoxy)phenyl aldimines to form enantiomerically enriched a,p-disubstituted p-amino acids (Table 10). As observed in alkylation reactions using alkyl halides as electrophiles, lithium chloride is necessary for the reaction of aldimines. With respect to the enolate, the stereochemistry of the alkylation reactions is the same as that observed with... 

Asymmetric Mannich-type reactions provide useful routes for the synthesis of enantiomerically enriched P-amino ketones or esters [48a, 48b]. For the most part, these methods involve the use of chirally modified enolates or imines. Only a handful of examples has been reported on the reaction of imines with enolates of carboxylic acid derivatives or silyl ketene acetals in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of a chiral controller [49a, 49b, 49c]. Reports describing the use of a substoichiometric amount of the chiral agent are even more scarce. This section contains some of the most recent advances in the field of catalytic enantioselective additions of lithium enolates and silyl enol ethers of esters and ketones to imines. 

Addition of lithium enolate (56) to trifluorocrotonate (55) proceeded smoothly in almost quantitative yields with excellent stereoselectivity. The intramolecular chelation in 57 retards the retro-aldol reaction. On the other hand, nonfluorinated crotonate (59) provided 60 in a poor yield because of the faster retro-aldol reaction [26]. The stereochemistry of the chelated intermediate (57) was proven by trapping 57 as its ketenesilylacetal (61). Pd-catalyzed Ireland-Claisen rearrangement of 61 proceeded stereospecifically to give a single stereoisomer (62), suggesting a rigid control of the three consecutive stereocenters (Scheme 3.12) [27]. 

Examples of metal hydride and organometallic additions include reactions of lithium hydride and sodium hydride with acetaldehyde and its homologs [145-147], reactions of methyllithium and methylcopper with acrolein [148], and aldol additions of lithium enolates [125]. The geometry of the four-center, cyclic transition states for such additions seems to depend on the size of the metal atom (see Schemes 6.16 and 6.17). 

Enantioselective additions of lithium enolates to aldehydes forming aldols ( 3-hydroxyaldehydes) are synthetically well established and have been reviewed elsewhere [20]. A catalytic variant, the Mukaiyma aldol reaction, i.e., the addition of silyl enol ethers to aldehydes, is usually mediated by chiral Lewis acids [21,22]. 

A variety of a-alkoxy-substituted aldehydes have been submitted to aldol addition of lithium enolates. Cram-Eelkin-Anh selectivity is usually observed, although often with rather low stereoselectivity. Exceptionally high diastereoselectivity results from the aldol reaction between the lithium enolate of pinacolone and isopropylidene glyceraldehyde. Thus, the j5-hydroxy ketone 97 is obtained as a single product (Eq. (39)). Distinctly lower selectivity is observed when the same aldehyde is submitted to aldol additions of ester enolates, however [168]. 

Although ethereal solutions of methyl lithium may be prepared by the reaction of lithium wire with either methyl iodide or methyl bromide in ether solution, the molar equivalent of lithium iodide or lithium bromide formed in these reactions remains in solution and forms, in part, a complex with the methyllithium. Certain of the ethereal solutions of methyl 1ithium currently marketed by several suppliers including Alfa Products, Morton/Thiokol, Inc., Aldrich Chemical Company, and Lithium Corporation of America, Inc., have been prepared from methyl bromide and contain a full molar equivalent of lithium bromide. In several applications such as the use of methyllithium to prepare lithium dimethyl cuprate or the use of methyllithium in 1,2-dimethyoxyethane to prepare lithium enolates from enol acetates or triraethyl silyl enol ethers, the presence of this lithium salt interferes with the titration and use of methyllithium. There is also evidence which indicates that the stereochemistry observed during addition of methyllithium to carbonyl compounds may be influenced significantly by the presence of a lithium salt in the reaction solution. For these reasons it is often desirable to have ethereal solutions... 

Electrostatic and orbital interactions may steer reaction toward either carbon or oxygen. First, examine the electrostatic potential map for cyclohexanone lithium enolate. Which atom is more negatively charged, carbon or oxygen Is the difference significant If it is, what would be the favored mode of addition Does either methylation or silylation appear to be guided by electrostatics Explain. 

Alpha hydrogen atoms of carbonyl compounds are weakly acidic and can be removed by strong bases, such as lithium diisopropylamide (LDA), to yield nucleophilic enolate ions. The most important reaction of enolate ions is their Sn2 alkylation with alkyl halides. The malonic ester synthesis converts an alkyl halide into a carboxylic acid with the addition of two carbon atoms. Similarly, the acetoacetic ester synthesis converts an alkyl halide into a methyl ketone. In addition, many carbonyl compounds, including ketones, esters, and nitriles, can be directly alkylated by treatment with LDA and an alkyl halide. 

In spite of their intrinsic synthetic potential, addition reactions of metal enolates of non-stabilized esters, amides, and ketones to epoxides are not widely used in the synthesis of complex molecules. Following the seminal work of Danishefsky [64], who introduced the use of Et2AlCl as an efficient catalyst for the reaction, Taylor obtained valuable spiro lactones through the addition reaction of the lithium eno-late of tert-butyl acetate to spiro-epoxides, upon treatment of the corresponding y-... 

Only moderate induced diastereoselectivity is achieved in the addition reactions of lithium enolates of the following a-silyloxy ketones43 and carbohydrate-derived ketones44, deproto-nated in each case at the methylene group in a regioselective manner to benzaldehyde. 

Crystalline, diastereomerieally pure syn-aIdols are also available from chiral A-acylsultams. lhe outcome of the induction can be controlled by appropriate choice of the counterion in the cnolate boron enolates lead, almost exclusively, to one adduct 27 (d.r. >97 3, major adduct/ sum of all other diastereomers) whereas mediation of the addition by lithium or tin leads to the predominant formation of adducts 28. Unfortunately, the latter reaction is plagued by lower induced stereoselectivity (d.r. 66 34 to 88 12, defined as above). In both cases, however, diastereomerieally pure adducts are available by recrystallizing the crude adducts. Esters can be liberated by treatment of the adducts with lithium hydroxide/hydrogen peroxide, whereby the chiral auxiliary reagent can be recovered106. 

The lithium enolate 2a (M = Li ) prepared from the iron propanoyl complex 1 reacts with symmetrical ketones to produce the diastercomers 3 and 4 with moderate selectivity for diastereomer 3. The yields of the aldol adducts are poor deprotonation of the substrate ketone is reported to be the dominant reaction pathway45. However, transmetalation of the lithium enolate 2a by treatment with one equivalent of copper cyanide at —40 C generates the copper enolate 2b (M = Cu ) which reacts with symmetrical ketones at — 78 °C to selectively produce diastereomer 3 in good yield. Diastereomeric ratios in excess of 92 8 are reported with efficient stereoselection requiring the addition of exactly one equivalent of copper cyanide at the transmetalation step45. Small amounts of triphcnylphosphane, a common trace impurity remaining from the preparation of these iron-acyl complexes, appear to suppress formation of the copper enolate. Thus, the starting iron complex must be carefully purified. 

In contrast, transmetalation of the lithium enolate at —40 C by treatment with one equivalent of copper cyanide generated a species 10b (M = Cu ) that reacted with acetaldehyde to selectively provide a 25 75 mixture of diastereomers 11 and 12 (R = CH3) which are separable by chromatography on alumina. Other diastereomers were not observed. Similar transmetalation of 10a (M = Li0) with excess diethylaluminum chloride, followed by reaction with acetaldehyde, produced a mixture of the same two diastereomers, but with a reversed ratio (80 20). Similar results were obtained upon aldol additions to other aldehydes (see the following table)49. 

The reverse trend is observed with (Z)-enolates. The reaction of the lithium enolate of cyclohexanone with ( )-(2-nitroethenyl)benzene gives a 75 25 mixture of the syn- and anti-adducts. In contrast, the same enolate undergoes addition of ( )-5-(2-nitroethenyl)-l,3-benzo-dioxole to give exclusively the yymaddition product in 93% yield2. 

The reactions of the lithium enolates of substituted 2-cyclohexenones and 2-cyclopentenones with ( )-l-nitropropene give a mixture of syn- and ami-products3. The lithium enolate of 3,5,5-trimethyl-2-cyclohexenone gives a mixture of the syn- and //-3.5,5-trimethyl-6-(l-methyl-2-nitroethyl)-2-cyclohexcnoncs in modest diastereoselection when the reaction mixture is quenched with acetic acid after. 30 minutes at —78 =C. When the reaction mixture is heated to reflux, tricyclic products are obtained resulting from intramolecular Michael addition of the intermediate nitronate ion to the enone moiety. 

The lithium enolates of cyclopentanone and cyclohexanone undergo addition-elimination to the 2,2-dimethylpropanoic acid ester of ( )-2-nitro-2-hepten-l-ol to give 2-(l-butyl-2-nitro-2-propenyl)cycloalkanones with modest diastereoselection. An analogous reaction of the enolate ion of cyclohexanone with the 2,2-dimethylpropanoic acid ester of (Z)-2-nitro-3-phenyl-2-propenol to give 2-(2-nitro-l-phenyl-2-propenyl)cyclohexanones was also reported. The relative configuration of these products was not however determined6. 

The initial addition step is reversible allowing isomerization of the ( )- and (Z)-nitroalkenes and equilibration between the initially formed syn- and ann -imminium ion adducts. The spn-ad-duct is identical to that obtained from the lithium enolate of cyclohexanone and ( >(2-nitro-cthenyl)benzenc. The preference for the. yyu-adduct can be rationalized by inferring the transition state 1 which is similar to that proposed for the reaction of (-E)-nitroalkcnes with ( )-eno-lates11, l2. 

Another example of a [4S+1C] cycloaddition process is found in the reaction of alkenylcarbene complexes and lithium enolates derived from alkynyl methyl ketones. In Sect. 2.6.4.9 it was described how, in general, lithium enolates react with alkenylcarbene complexes to produce [3C+2S] cycloadducts. However, when the reaction is performed using lithium enolates derived from alkynyl methyl ketones and the temperature is raised to 65 °C, a new formal [4s+lcj cy-clopentenone derivative is formed [79] (Scheme 38). The mechanism proposed for this transformation supposes the formation of the [3C+2S] cycloadducts as depicted in Scheme 32 (see Sect. 2.6.4.9). This intermediate evolves through a retro-aldol-type reaction followed by an intramolecular Michael addition of the allyllithium to the ynone moiety to give the final cyclopentenone derivatives after hydrolysis. The role of the pentacarbonyltungsten fragment seems to be crucial for the outcome of this reaction, as experiments carried out with isolated intermediates in the absence of tungsten complexes do not afford the [4S+1C] cycloadducts (Scheme 38). 

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). 

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