Aldehydes directed, with ketones

Several improved methods for the preparation of known unsaturated azlactones as well as some interesting new compounds of this type have been reported. Crawford and Little observed that the direct use of 2-phenyl-5-oxazolone (1) in the Erlenmeyer reaction gave much improved yields (35-74%) of unsaturated azlactones with aliphatic aldehydes and with ketones such as acetone and cyclohexanone [Eq, (1)], The usual procedure of mixing a carbonyl compound, hippuric acid, acetic anhydride, and sodium (or lead) acetate affords poor yields in the aliphatic series. 

Enamines as nucleophiles react with butadiene, and a-octadienyl ketones or aldehydes are obtained after hydrolysis[57]. This is a good way of introducing an octadienyl group at the o-position of ketones or aldehydes, because butadiene does not react with ketones or aldehydes directly. The reaction of the pyrrolidine enamine of cyclohexanone gives, after hydrolysis, 2-(2,7-octadie-nyOcyclohe.xanone (58) as the main product, accompanied by a small amount of 2,6-di(2,7-octadienyl)cyclohexanone. The reaction of the optically active enamine 59 with butadiene gave 2-(2,7-octadienyl)cyclohexanone (60) in 72% ce[58]. 

Stereoselective epoxidation can be realized through either substrate-controlled (e.g. 35 —> 36) or reagent-controlled approaches. A classic example is the epoxidation of 4-t-butylcyclohexanone. When sulfonium ylide 2 was utilized, the more reactive ylide irreversibly attacked the carbonyl from the axial direction to offer predominantly epoxide 37. When the less reactive sulfoxonium ylide 1 was used, the nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl was reversible, giving rise to the thermodynamically more stable, equatorially coupled betaine, which subsequently eliminated to deliver epoxide 38. Thus, stereoselective epoxidation was achieved from different mechanistic pathways taken by different sulfur ylides. In another case, reaction of aldehyde 38 with sulfonium ylide 2 only gave moderate stereoselectivity (41 40 = 1.5/1), whereas employment of sulfoxonium ylide 1 led to a ratio of 41 40 = 13/1. The best stereoselectivity was accomplished using aminosulfoxonium ylide 25, leading to a ratio of 41 40 = 30/1. For ketone 42, a complete reversal of stereochemistry was observed when it was treated with sulfoxonium ylide 1 and sulfonium ylide 2, respectively. ... 

Reaction of the carbanion of chloromethyl phenyl sulphoxide 409 with carbonyl compounds yields the corresponding 0-hydroxy adducts 410 in 68-79% yield. Each of these compounds appears to be a single isomer (equation 242). Treatment of adducts 410 with dilute potassium hydroxide in methanol at room temperature gives the epoxy sulphoxides 411 (equation 243). The ease of this intramolecular displacement of chloride ion contrasts with a great difficulty in displacing chloride ion from chloromethyl phenyl sulphoxide by external nucleophiles . When chloromethyl methyl sulphoxide 412 is reacted with unsymmetrical ketones in the presence of potassium tcrt-butoxide in tert-butanol oxiranes are directly formed as a mixture of diastereoisomers (equation 244). a-Sulphinyl epoxides 413 rearrange to a-sulphinyl aldehydes 414 or ketones, which can be transformed by elimination of sulphenic acid into a, 8-unsaturated aldehydes or ketones (equation 245). The lithium salts (410a) of a-chloro-/ -hydroxyalkyl... 

The Mukaiyama aldol reaction refers to Lewis acid-catalyzed aldol addition reactions of silyl enol ethers, silyl ketene acetals, and similar enolate equivalents,48 Silyl enol ethers are not sufficiently nucleophilic to react directly with aldehydes or ketones. However, Lewis acids cause reaction to occur by coordination at the carbonyl oxygen, activating the carbonyl group to nucleophilic attack. 

Organomercury reagents do not react with ketones or aldehydes but Lewis acids cause reaction with acyl chlorides.187 With alkenyl mercury compounds, the reaction probably proceeds by electrophilic attack on the double bond with the regiochemistry being directed by the stabilization of the (3-carbocation by the mercury.188... 

Organic-Base Catalyzed. Asymmetric direct aldol reactions have received considerable attention recently (Eq. 8.98).251 Direct asymmetric catalytic aldol reactions have been successfully performed using aldehydes and unmodified ketones together with chiral cyclic secondary amines as catalysts.252 L-proline and 5,5-dimethylthiazolidinium-4-carboxylate (DMTC) were found to be the most powerful amino acid catalysts for the reaction of both acyclic and cyclic ketones as aldol donors with aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes to afford the corresponding... 

For example, Nakamura and Kuwajima [15] have described 1-alkoxy-l-trimethylsilyloxycyclopropanes (15) -prepared by reductive silylation of alkoxy 3-chloropropanoates-, which react with aliphatic aldehydes, but not with ketones, in the presence of one equivalent of TiCl4 to give good yields of y-lactones 17 through the acyclic derivative ethyl 4-hydroxybutanoate (16) (Scheme 5.10). With aromatic aldehydes and their acetals the reaction leads directly to acyclic 1,4-D derivatives. 

Probably the most familiar radical reactions leading to 1,2-D systems are the so called acyloin condensation and the different variants of the "pinacol condensation". Both types of condensation involve an electron-transfer from a metal atom to a carbonyl compound (whether an ester or an aldehyde or a ketone) to give a radical anion which either dimerises directly, if the concentration of the species is very high, or more generally it reacts with the starting neutral carbonyl compound and then a second electron is transferred from the metal to the radical dimer species (for an alternative mechanism of the acyloin condensation, see Bloomfield, 1975 [29]). 

Another process mechanistically related to imine exchange is the dynamic production of pyrazolotriazinones reported in 2005 by Wipf and coworkers [29]. After first verifying that reaction of either 16 or 17 with equimolar quantifies of isobutyraldehyde and hydrocinnamaldehyde at 40°C in water (pH 4.0) resulted in the same 3 7 mixture of 16 and 17 at equilibrium (Fig. 1.6, Eq. 1), the authors demonstrated that a library could be generated by reaction of pyrazolotriazinone 16 with a series of aldehydes (Fig. 1.6, Eq. 2). Direct metathesis of pyrazolotriazinones was also demonstrated, as was reaction with ketones. Importantly, equilibration was halted by raising the pH to 7. 

In the case of the benzothiazole system, both aldehydes and mixed ketones have been synthesized by reduction or alkylation of the appropriate carbonyl precursors. The carbonyl compounds are in turn prepared from the benzothiazole-2-anion either directly by reaction with esters or indirectly by reaction with aldehydes followed by PCC oxidation (Scheme 154) (85H2467 91BCJ3256). 

The carbonyl of aldehydes and ketones can be transformed into a gem-difluoro group. This transformation can be performed either directly with DAST or in an indirect manner by treating the corresponding thioacetal or hydrazone with an oxidant (NBS, dibromohydantoin, etc.) in the presence of a source of fluoride ions (e.g., HF-pyridin complex or TBABF prepared from TBAF and KHF2). ... 

Alkenes are directly oxidized to aldehydes and/or ketones by ozone (O3) at low temperatures (—78 °C) in methylene chloride, followed by the reductive work-up. For example, 2-methyl-2-butene reacts with O3, followed by a reductive work-up to yield acetone and acetaldehyde. This reducing agent prevents aldehyde from oxidation to carboxylic acid. 

Support-bound carbonyl compounds can be converted into alcohols by treatment with suitable carbon nucleophiles. Aldehydes react readily with ketones or other C,H-acidic compounds under acid- or base-catalysis to yield the products of aldol addition (Table 7.2). Some types of C,H-acidic compound, such as 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, can give the products of aldol condensation directly (Section 5.2.2.2). 

Important extensions of proline catalysis in direct aldol reactions were also reported. Pioneering work by List and co-workers demonstrated that hydroxy-acetone (24) effectively serves as a donor substrate to afford anfi-l,2-diol 25 with excellent enantioselectivity (Scheme 11) [24]. The method represents the first catalytic asymmetric synthesis of anf/-l,2-diols and complements the asymmetric dihydroxylation developed by Sharpless and other researchers (described in Chap. 20). Barbas utilized proline to catalyze asymmetric self-aldoli-zation of acetaldehyde [25]. Jorgensen reported the cross aldol reaction of aldehydes and activated ketones like diethyl ketomalonate, in which the aldehyde... 

Not surprisingly, an attempt at direct Mitsunobu inversion of (3-hydroxyketone 14 led only to elimination, yielding the corresponding a,(3-unsaturated ketone. To circumvent this problem, 14 was converted to homoallylic alcohol 15 by Petasis methylenation via the corresponding TES ether. Attempts to methylenate (3-hydroxyketone 14 directly under Petasis conditions led to substantial decomposition via elimination and retro-aldol pathways. Alcohol 15 underwent smooth Mitsunobu inversion to give, following methanolysis and TES ether formation, the desired 1,4-anti compound 16 (Scheme 3). This was then converted in three straightforward steps to aldehyde 17, ready for the proposed aldol union with ketone 10. 

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