Aldehydes, carbonylation

A useful catalyst for asymmetric aldol additions is prepared in situ from mono-0> 2,6-diisopropoxybenzoyl)tartaric acid and BH3 -THF complex in propionitrile solution at 0 C. Aldol reactions of ketone enol silyl ethers with aldehydes were promoted by 20 mol % of this catalyst solution. The relative stereochemistry of the major adducts was assigned as Fischer- /ir o, and predominant /i -face attack of enol ethers at the aldehyde carbonyl carbon atom was found with the (/ ,/ ) nantiomer of the tartaric acid catalyst (K. Furuta, 1991). 

The carbonyl carbon of a ketone bears two electron releasing alkyl groups an aldehyde carbonyl group has only one Just as a disubstituted double bond m an alkene is more stable than a monosubstituted double bond a ketone carbonyl is more stable than an aldehyde carbonyl We 11 see later m this chapter that structural effects on the relative stability of carbonyl groups m aldehydes and ketones are an important factor m then rel ative reactivity... 

Consider first the electronic effect of alkyl groups versus hydrogen atoms attached to C=0 Recall from Section 17 2 that alkyl substituents stabilize C=0 making a ketone carbonyl more stable than an aldehyde carbonyl As with all equilibria factors... 

Aldonic acid (Section 25 19) Carboxylic acid obtained by oxi dation of the aldehyde function of an aldose Aldose (Section 25 1) Carbohydrate that contains an aldehyde carbonyl group in its open chain form Alicyclic (Section 2 15) Term describing an a/iphatic cyclic structural unit... 

Another very important reaction initially involving nucleophilic attack on an aldehyde carbonyl is the Wittig reaction. An yUd adds to the carbonyl forming a betaine intermediate which then decomposes to produce an olefin and a tertiary phosphine oxide. 

Aldose (Section 25.1) Carbohydrate that contains an aldehyde carbonyl group in its open-chain form. 

If a molecule contains both a ketonic and aldehydic carbonyl group, a secondary amine will react with the aldehydic carbonyl group to give a -enamino ketone (15). This has been shown not only for 2-formylcyclo-hexanone (14) (32,33) but also in steroidal systems when the aldehyde and ketone groups are in five- or six-membered rings (34). 

Q Addition to the ketone or aldehyde carbonyl group by the neutral amine nucleophile gives a dipolar tetrahedral intermediate. 

Electronically, aldehydes are more reactive than ketones because of the greater polarization of aldehyde carbonyl groups. To see this polarity difference, recall the stability order of carbocations (Section 6.9). A primary carbocation is higher in energy and thus more reactive than a secondary carbocation because... 

Aldotetroses are four-carbon sugars with two chirality centers and an aldehyde carbonyl group. Thus, there are 22 = 4 possible stereoisomeric aldotetroses, or two d,l pairs of enantiomers named erythrose and threose. 

Just as the Kiliani-Fischer synthesis lengthens an aldose chain by one carbon, the Wohl degradation shortens an aldose chain by one carbon. The Wohl degradation is almost the exact opposite of the Kiliani-Fischer sequence. That is, the aldose aldehyde carbonyl group is first converted into a nitrile, and the resulting cyanohydrin loses HCN under basic conditions—the reverse of a nucleophilic addition reaction. 

Penicilloic acid 5, the substrate for the projected lactamization reaction, could be derived from the suitably protected intermediate 6. Retrosynthetic disassembly of 6, in the manner illustrated, provides D-penicillamine hydrochloride (7) and tert-butyl phthalimido-malonaldehydate (8) as potential building blocks. In the synthetic direction, it is conceivable that the thiol and amino groupings in 7 could be induced to converge upon the electrophilic aldehyde carbonyl in 8 to give thiazolidine 6 after loss of a molecule of water. 

Although intermediate 2 is terminated at both ends by electrophilic carbonyl groups, the aldehydic function at C-7 is inherently more reactive, and thus more susceptible to a nucleophilic attack, than the methoxycarbonyl group at C-l. As a result, it should be possible to selectively engage the aldehyde carbonyl of intermedi-... 

The general features of this elegant and efficient synthesis are illustrated, in retrosynthetic format, in Scheme 4. Asteltoxin s structure presents several options for retrosynthetic simplification. Disassembly of asteltoxin in the manner illustrated in Scheme 4 furnishes intermediates 2-4. In the synthetic direction, attack on the aldehyde carbonyl in 2 by anion 3 (or its synthetic equivalent) would be expected to afford a secondary alcohol. After acid-catalyzed skeletal reorganization, the aldehydic function that terminates the doubly unsaturated side chain could then serve as the electrophile for an intermolecular aldol condensation with a-pyrone 4. Subsequent dehydration of the aldol adduct would then afford asteltoxin (1). 

Subjection of intermediate 16 to the action of 3 n aqueous HC1 in THF results in the formation of monocyclic lactol 14. In the presence of aqueous acid, the internal acetal grouping in intermediate 16 is hydrolyzed and lactol 14 is produced after the liberated secondary hydroxyl group attacks the terminal aldehyde carbonyl positioned five atoms away (see intermediate 15). Protection of the free aldehyde function in 14 with 1,1-dimethylhydrazine proceeds smoothly under dehydrating conditions and affords intermediate 13 in an overall yield of 72 %. 

Lewis acids, results in the formation of isopulegol (43) with greater than 98% diastereoselectivity isopulegol (43), wherein all of the ring substituents are equatorially oriented, arises naturally from a chairlike transition state structure in which the C-3 methyl group, the coordinated C-l aldehyde carbonyl, and the A6,7 double bond are all equatorial (see 48). A low-temperature crystallization raises the chemical and enantiomeric purity of isopulegol (43) close to 100%. Finally, hydrogenation of the double bond in 43 completes the synthesis of (-)-menthol (1). 

It was decided to construct a D-ring acylating agent bearing a latent C-8 vinyl group. To this end, benzylation of the known 5-bromo-orr/to-vanillin (22),14 followed by protection of the aldehyde carbonyl in the form of a cyclic acetal (1,3-dioxane), affords com-... 

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