Additions to Aldehydes

Notably, unhke with other propargylic and allenic organometallics, no metallo-tropic interconversion of 64 and 66 has been observed, which points to an interesting potential of this methodology [65, 66]. 

An analogous propargylation can be attained with allenyl tributylstannane however, this reaction is catalyzed by SiCU that is activated by a bis-phosphoramide catalyst. Note that, in this case, the role of the Lewis basic phosphoramide is to increase the Lewis acidity of SiCl, rather than to increase the nucleophilicity of the stannane [66b]. For a discussion of these effects, see Section 15.4.  

The addition of an organomagnesium compound to an aldehyde is an excellent general method for preparing secondary alcohols, and the side-reactions referred to above are a problem only in particularly unfavourable cases. Large numbers of examples have been tabulated [A] and examples from Organic Synthesis are listed in Table 6.1. ot, 3-Unsaturated aldehydes normally undergo mainly or exclusively 1,2-addition, as in the examples in Table 6.1. The following experimental procedure is typical. 

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The next section explores the mechanism of nucleophilic addition to aldehydes and ketones There we 11 discuss their hydration a reaction m which water adds to the C=0 group After we use this reaction to develop some general principles we 11 then survey a number of related reactions of synthetic mechanistic or biological interest... 

This pattern of increased reactivity resulting from carbonyl group prolonalion has been seen before m nucleophilic additions to aldehydes and ketones (Section 17 6) and... 

Novolacs are often modified through alkylations based on reactions with monomers other than, and in addition to, aldehydes during their manufacture. Examples might be inclusion of styrene, divinyl benzene, dicyclopentadiene, drying oils, or various alcohols. Despite significant production of all of these variants, most novolac volume is produced using phenol and formaldehyde. 

Although the present chapter includes the usual collection of topics designed to acquaint us with a particular class of compounds, its central theme is a fundfflnental reaction type, nucleophilic addition to carbonyl groups. The principles of nucleophilic addition to aldehydes and ketones developed here will be seen to have broad applicability in later chapters when transfonnations of various derivatives of carboxylic acids are discussed. 

More recent work has shown that the 2-unsubstituted compound 40 (R = H, R = Pr ) is an effective formyl anion equivalent which reacts at C2 and undergoes both 1,4-addition to a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and 1,2-addition to aldehydes (93TL3907 96T4719). 

A variety of 1,3-oxazolidines have been used as chiral formyl anion equivalents for addition to aldehydes. Thus, for example, reaction of N-protected norephedrine with Bu3Sn-CH(OEt)2 gives 48, and transmetallation with BuLi followed by addition of benzaldehyde affords the expected adduct 49. The selectivity at the newly formed alcohol center is poor, but the situation can be salvaged by oxidation and re-reduction, which affords the product 50 with >95% d.e. It is then a simple matter to hydrolyze off the oxazolidine, although the resulting hydroxyaldehydes... 

The foregoing examples do not represent useful chiral formyl anion equivalents in a direct sense since the stereoselectivity of the initial addition to aldehydes is poor, although as has been explained, the situation is salvaged by oxidation and re-reduction. On the other hand, by lithiation at the 2 position of the achiral oxazo-lidine 53 in the presence of (-)-sparteine followed by addition of benzaldehyde, useful levels of d.e. and e.e. are achieved directly (98TA3125). For example, by adding MgBr2 before the benzaldehyde, the major product obtained is 54 in 80% d.e. and 86% e.e. 

The chiral bicyclic imidazolidine 74 is deprotonated at the 2 position by s-BuLi and the resulting anion adds to alkyl halides, acid chlorides, chlorofor-mates, phenyl isocyanate, and aldehydes. The use of this compound as a chiral formyl anion equivalent seems to be limited, however, since the diastereoselectiv-ity in the addition to aldehydes is poor and hydrolysis of the products 75 to give aldehydes also produces cyclohexane-1,2-diamine, necessitating isolation of the aldehyde as its 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone (96SL1109 98T14255). 

Scheme 2.67 lndium(i)-mediated umpolung and addition to aldehydes. 

Addition of the metalated civ-epoxysilane to acyclic or cyclic ketones generally proceeded with higher diastereoselectivity than the addition to aldehydes. A low diastcreomeric ratio (60 40) was only observed upon addition to 4-methylcyclohexanone13. 

Besides simple alkyl-substituted sulfoxides, (a-chloroalkyl)sulfoxides have been used as reagents for diastereoselective addition reactions. Thus, a synthesis of enantiomerically pure 2-hydroxy carboxylates is based on the addition of (-)-l-[(l-chlorobutyl)sulfinyl]-4-methyl-benzene (10) to aldehydes433. The sulfoxide, optically pure with respect to the sulfoxide chirality but a mixture of diastereomers with respect to the a-sulfinyl carbon, can be readily deprotonated at — 55 °C. Subsequent addition to aldehydes afforded a mixture of the diastereomers 11A and 11B. Although the diastereoselectivity of the addition reaction is very low, the diastereomers are easily separated by flash chromatography. Thermal elimination of the sulfinyl group in refluxing xylene cleanly afforded the vinyl chlorides 12 A/12B in high chemical yield as a mixture of E- and Z-isomers. After ozonolysis in ethanol, followed by reductive workup, enantiomerically pure ethyl a-hydroxycarboxylates were obtained. 

Dimethylpropanoyl)-l, 2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolincs 16 form dipole-stabilized lithium carbanions on deprotonation, but their addition to aldehydes or methyl ketones proceeds nevertheless with low simple diastereoselectivity22 23. However, a high preference for the formation of the w-diastereomer is observed after transmetalation with magnesium bromide22"24. 

Alkoxyallylstannanes can be generated in situ by stannylation of allyl ethers or by 1,3-isomerization of isomers, and trapped by boron trifluoride-diethyl ether complex induced addition to aldehydes to give syn-diol derivatives 13,120. 3-Alkylthioallylstannanes can similarly be generated and trapped84. 

Several trialkoxy(2-butenyl)zirconium(IV)6,7i 18 and 2-butenylbis(cyclopentadienyl)zirco-nium(IV)18,19 124 complexes have been investigated with respect to the diastereoselectivity on addition to aldehydes. Chlorobis(cyclopentadienyl)-(3-tributylstannyl-2-propenyl)zirconium(IV), prepared by hydrozirconation of tributyl-(l,2-propadienyl)tin, accomplishes the (E)-selective, Wittig-like 1,2-propenylidenation of aldehydes and methyl ketones125. 

In contrast, highly stereoselective aldol reactions are feasible when the boron etiolates of the mandelic acid derived ketones (/ )- and (5,)-l- t,r -butyldimethylsiloxy-l-cyclohexyl-2-butanone react with aldehydes33. When these ketones are treated with dialkylboryl triflate, there is exclusive formation of the (Z)-enolates. Subsequent addition to aldehydes leads to the formation of the iyn-adducts whose ratio is 100 1 in optimized cases. 

Achiral ketones, for example, 3-pentanone, can be converted predominantly into (Z)-boron enolates [(Z)/( )>97 3] by treatment with (- )-diisopinocampheylboron triflate. Subsequent addition to aldehydes, followed by an oxidative workup procedure, delivers /i-hydroxy ketones with a diastcrcomeric ratio of 95 5 to 98 2 (synjanli) and the xpn-products with 66 to 93% ee33. 

Due to their tendency to form (Z)-enolates, ketones usually provide syn-aldols, and anti-se ec-tive chiral ketone enolates are rare. When, however, (S)-5,5-dimethyl-4-trimethylsiloxy-3-hex-anone is deprotonated with (V-(bromomagnesio)-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine, the (E)-enolate la is assumed to be formed. Subsequent addition to aldehydes delivers anh-aldols 2a and 3a in ratios of between 92 8 and 95 5 and yields of 75-85%53b. 

S)-Tricarbonyl(2-methoxyacetophenone)chromium is a starting material which provides remarkable substrate-induced stereoselectivity. Thus, its conversion into a boron enolate and subsequent addition to aldehydes delivers the chromium complexes 7 and 8 with diastereomeric ratios of 92 8 to 95 559. 

The (/ ,/ )-A, 7V -bis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phcnylsulfonyl]-l.2-dipheny]-l,2-ethanediaminc also furnishes <7 t/-/(-hydroxy esters with high induced stereoselectivity64. For this purpose, the bromide generated from 10 and tribromoborane is reacted with tm-butyl propanoate in the presence of triethylamine to deliver the (A )-enolate. The subsequent addition to aldehydes gives predominantly tOT/ -/)-hydroxy esters (anti/syn 94 6 to 99 1) of 75 to 97 % ee. The diastereose-lectivity can be improved when, instead of /erf-butyl propionate, the corresponding ( + )-men-thyl ester is used64. 

The C j-symnietric A, A"-bis(4-tnethylphenylsulfonyl)-l,2-diphcnyl-l,2-cthanediamine (see Sections 1.3.4.2.2.1. and 1.3.4.2.2.2.) also provides remarkable induced stereoselectivity in thioac-etatc aldol additions51. For example, (5)-phenyl thioacetate reacts with the bromoborolane available from the reaction of the diamine with tribromoborane to give the enolate. Subsequent addition to aldehydes affords the /5-hydroxy thioestcrs in good yield and enantiomeric excess51. 

Acetylsultam 15 is also used for stereoselective syntheses of a-unsubstituted /1-hydroxy-carboxylic acids. Thus, conversion of 15 into the silyl-A/O-ketene acetal 16 and subsequent titanium(IV) chloride mediated addition to aldehydes lead to the predominant formation of the diastereomers 17. After separation of the minor diastereomer by flash chromatography, alkaline hydrolysis delivers /f-hydroxycarboxylic acids 18, with liberation of the chiral auxiliary reagent 1919. 

Since the first reported directed aldol condensation using lithiated imines1. few methods concerning the diastereo- and enantioselectivity of their addition to aldehydes and ketones have been published. 

These results show that chemical yields are generally higher than for most aldol-type additions of ester cnolates. mainly because of the chemical activation of the methylene group by the sulfoxide, which makes this reaction suitable for any aldehyde or ketone. High asymmetric induction is also generally observed. The aldol adducts obtained by addition to aldehydes have been transformed into optically active four- and five-membered lactones38. 

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