Aldehydes aldol type reactions olefination

Indeed, a ruthenium-catalyzed tandem olefin-migration/aldol-type reaction has been realized when an aldehyde is present in aqueous media [18,19]. For 3-butene-2-ol (9), the tandem isomerization/aldol-type reaction was examined. The mixture of 9, aldehyde (10), and a catalytic amount of RuCl2(PPh3)3 in H20/toluene(4/l) (Eq. 6) or H20 alone (Eq. 7) was stirred for 5 h at 110 °C (oil bath temperature) and afforded the aldol adduct 11. 

Wittig-Horner olefination. This reaction can be effected with LiCl (I equiv.) and either diisopropylethylamine or DBU (1 equiv.) in CH,CN at room temperature. This variation is particularly useful in reactions with aldehydes or phosphonates that can undergo epimerization or aldol-type reactions under standard conditions (NaH or K,CO,). Yields are usually >80%. The reaction also shows a high (E)-selectivity. Presumably a chelated lithium enolate of the phosphonate is the reactive species. 

Spectacular enantioselection has been observed in hydrogenation (cf. Section 2.2) [3] and hydrometallation of unsaturated compounds (cf. Section 2.6) [4], olefin epoxidation (cf Section 2.4.3) [5] and dihydroxylation (cf Section 3.3.2) [6], hydrovinylation (cf Section 3.3.3) [7], hydroformylation (cf Section 2.1.1) [4a, 8], carbene reactions [9] (cf Section 3.1.10), olefin isomerization (cf Section 3.2.14) [10], olefin oligomerization (cf Section 2.3.1.1) [11], organometallic addition to aldehydes [12], allylic alkylation [13], Grignard coupling reactions [14], aldol-type reactions [15], Diels-Alder reactions [12a, 16], and ene reactions [17], among others. This chapter presents several selected examples of practical significance. 

Recently, ruthenium-catalyzed tandem olefin migration/aldol-type or Mannich-type reactions have been developed with aldehydes or imines and allylic alcohols (Scheme 74). 

Next, we examined the synthesis of a 4a,8a-/rans-fused ring system such as 49 using the same aldol-type cyclization reaction of 48. The methyl ketone 9 was converted to alcohol 46, which was treated with sodium hydride to afford the oxazolizinone 47. The terminal olefin in 47 was cleaved oxidatively to give rise to the keto aldehyde 48. However, the aldol-type cyclization reaction of 48 under the same reaction conditions as for 42 or 43 was very messy and no cyclized product was isolated. 

Among side-reactions, isomerization of the starting olefin, hydrogenation of the substrate, formation of alcohols by hydrogenation of aldehydes, and condensation reactions of the aldol type (formation of heavy ends ), are the most important. 

Danishefsky has proposed that the unusual behavior of the unsaturated aldehyde as substrate is accounted for by an energetically stabilizing interaction between polarized aldehyde carbonyl and olefin Ti-electrons. The seemingly parallel behavior of similarly functionalized aldehydes Is consistent with this proposal. This type of electronic stabilization may prove general, offering innovative avenues for the future design of stereoselective aldol addition reactions. 

The proposed mechanism of the Ferrier carbocyclization reaction is oudined in Scheme 12.13. First, oxymercuration of the exo-olefin in 48 affords mercurial-hemiacetal 49, whose aglycon moiety (-OMe) eliminates to give mercurial-aldehyde derivative 50. This mercurial intermediate 50 was isolable when a stoichiometric amount of Hg salt was employed at low temperature. Intramolecular aldol-type cyclization of 50 provides product 51. 

Another advantage of this method is that no catalyst is needed for the addition reaction this means that the base-catalyzed polymerization of the electrophilic olefin (i.e., a,/3-unsaturated ketones, esters, etc.) is not normally a factor to contend with, as it is in the usual base-catalyzed reactions of the Michael type. It also means that the carbonyl compound is not subject to aldol condensation which often is the predominant reaction in base-catalyzed reactions. An unsaturated aldehyde can be used only in a Michael addition reaction when the enamine method is employed. 

During the last decade, use of oxazaborolidines and dioxaborolidines in enantioselective catalysis has gained importance. [1, 2] One of the earliest examples of oxazaborolidines as an enantioselective catalyst in the reduction of ketones/ketoxime ethers to secondary alco-hols/amines was reported by Itsuno et al. [3] in which (5 )-valinol was used as a chiral ligand. Since then, a number of other oxazaborolidines and dioxaborolidines have been investigated as enantioselective catalysts in a number of organic transformations viz a) reduction of ketones to alcohols, b) addition of dialkyl zinc to aldehydes, c) asymmetric allylation of aldehydes, d) Diels-Alder cycloaddition reactions, e) Mukaiyama Michael type of aldol condensations, f) cyclopropana-tion reaction of olefins. 

To start with the first option of such a chemoenzymatic process sequence, namely initial biotransformation and subsequent chemocatalytic or classical chemical reaction(s), an early example from the Gijsen and Wong [40] already in 1995 demonstrated a one-pot process for the synthesis of a cyclitol, which is based on an initial enzymatic aldol reaction of aldehyde 37 with 0-monophosphorylated dihy-droxyacetone, followed by a subsequent spontaneous cyclization via intramolecular Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons olefination reaction (Scheme 19.14). Furthermore, the resulting functionalized cyclopentene derivative 39 was deprotected in situ in the presence of an added phosphatase. By means of this one-pot three-step process, the desired trihydroxylated cyclopentene derivative 40 was formed, which was then further transformed via acetylation into the desired product 41 with an overall yield of 71%. A closely related process represents the combination of an enzymatic aldol reaction with a subsequent nitroaldol reaction (Henry reaction). Examples for such a type of process were developed independently by the Wong [41] and Lemaire [42] groups. 

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