Aldehydes Henry reaction

Reaction at the C atom of nitronate salts is known with a variety of electrophiles, such as aldehydes (Henry reaction) and epoxides (191-193). Thus the incorporation of the nitro moiety and the cyclization event can be combined into a tandem sequence. Addition of the potassium salt of dinitromethane to an a-haloaldehyde affords a nitro aldol product that can then undergo intramolecular O-alkylation to provide the cyclic nitronate (208, Eq. 2.17) (59). This process also has been expanded to a-nitroacetates and unfunctionalized nitroalkanes. Other electrophiles include functionalized a-haloaldehydes (194,195), a-epoxyaldehydes (196), a-haloenones (60), and a-halosulfonium salts (197), (Chart 2.2). In the case of unsubstituted enones, it is reported that the intermediate nitronate salt can undergo formation of a hemiacetal, which can be acetylated in moderate yield (198). 

Keywords nitroalkane, aromatic aldehyde, Henry reaction, microwave irradiation, nitroalkene... 

The nitro group activates aliphatic systems and makes possible a number of addition reactions such as aldoiic addition of aldehydes (Henry reaction). Man-nich reaction, Michael addition, Diels - Alder reaction, for example (I55. ... 

The Barton-Zard (BZ) pyrrole synthesis is similar both to the van Leusen pyrrole synthesis that uses Michael acceptors and TosMlC (Section 6.7) and the Montforts pyrrole synthesis using a,P-unsaturated sulfones and alkyl a-isocyanoacetates." An alternative to the use of the reactive nitroalkenes 1 is their in situ generation from P-acetoxy nitroalkanes, which are readily prepared via the Henry reaction between an aldehyde and a nitroalkane followed by acetylation. Examples are shown later. 

Thus, various kmds of bases are effective in inducing the Henry reaction The choice of base and solvent is not crucial to carry out the Henry reaction of simple nitroalkanes v/ith aldehydes, as summarized in Table 3 1 In general, sterically hindered carbonyl or nitro compounds are less reactive not to give the desired ni tro-aldol products in good yield In such cases, self-condensation of the carbonyl compound is a serious side-reaction Several mochfied procedures for the Henry reaction have been developed... 

AljO cdn be used both as a base for the Henry reaction and as a dehydrating agent Thus, nitro ilkenes are simply prepared by mixing of aldehydes and nitro ilkanes with ATO and subsequent warming at 40 C fEq 3 30 ... 

The diastereoselectivity is observed in the Henry reaction using optical active niti o compounds or a-heteroatom substituted aldehydes. Lor example, the reaction of O-benzyl-D-lactal-dehyde with methyl 3-niti opropionate in the presence of neubal alumina leads to a mixture of three niti o-aldol products from which D-ribo isomer is isolated by direct crystallization. D-Ribo... 

In the presence of a catalytic amount of tetrabutylammonium fluoride, either freshly dried over molecular sieves22 or as the trihydrate16, silylnitronates 2 derived from primary nitroalkanes react readily at — 78 C or below, via their in situ generated nitronates. with aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes to give the silyl-protected (/J, S )-nitroaldol adducts 3 in excellent yield4,22-24-26,27. Silylnitronates, derived from secondary nitroalkanes. afford the adducts in 30 40% overall yield24. In contrast to the classical Henry reaction (vide supra), the addition of silylnitronates to aldehydes is irreversible. Ketones are unreaetive under such conditions. 

Henry reactions of readily accessible 1-deoxy-l-nitroaldoses (e.g., 1) with a variety of aldehydes proceed with a high degree of stereoselection. The crude products are hydrolyzed with loss of the nitro group to generate higher ketoses8. 

The 3-nitro alcohols are generally obtained in good yield by the reaction of aldehydes with nitroalkanes in the presence of a catalytic amount of base. When aryl aldehydes are used, the (3-nitro alcohols formed may undergo elimination of water to give aryl nitroalkenes. Such side reactions are not always disadvantageous, for nitroalkenes are sometimes the ultimate target for the Henry reaction. The choice of reaction conditions is important to stop the reaction at the stage of 3-nitro alcohols in aromatic cases. 

Nitromethylation of aldehydes has been carried out in a one pot procedure consisting of the Henry reaction, acetylation, and reduction with sodium borohydride, which provides a good method for the preparation of l-nitroalkanes.16b 79 It has been improved by several modifications. The initial condensation reaction is accelerated by use of KF and 18-crown-6 in isopropanol. Acetylation is effected with acetic anhydride at 25 °C and 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) as a catalyst. These mild conditions are compatible with various functional groups which are often... 

In general, the Henry reaction proceeds in a non-selective way to give a mixture of anti (erythro) and syn (threo) isomers. Ab initio calculations on the Henry reaction suggest that free nitronate anions (not influenced by cations) react with aldehydes via transition states in which the nitro and carbonyl dipoles are antiperiplanar to each other. This kind of reaction yields anti-nitro alcohols. The Henry reaction between lithium nitronates and aldehydes is predicted to occur via cyclic transition states yielding syn-nitro alcohols as major products (Eq. 3.64).108... 

They react with a wide range of aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes in the presence of catalytic amounts of tetrabutylammonium fluoride (TBAF) to give the trialkylsilyl ethers of P-nitro alcohols with high anti-selectivity (98%). The diastereoselective Henry reaction is summarized in Table 3.2. The products are reduced to P-amino alcohols using Raney Ni-H2 with retention of the configuration of P-nitro alcohols (Scheme 3.12). 

Barrett and coworkers have explored hetero-substituted nitroalkenes in organic synthesis. The Michael addition of nucleophiles to 1-alkoxynitroalkenes or 1-phenylthionitroalkenes followed by oxidative Nef reaction (Section 6.1) using ozone gives a-substituted esters or thiol esters, respectively.41 As an alternative to nucleophilic addition to l-(phenylthio)-nitroalkenes, Jackson and coworkers have used the reaction of nucleophiles with the corresponding epoxides (Scheme 4.4).42 Because the requisite nitroalkenes are readily prepared by the Henry reaction (Chapter 3) of aldehydes with phenylthionitromethane, this process provides a convenient tool for the conversion of aldehydes into ot-substituted esters or thiol esters. 

The review by Barrett (Ref. 127) documents synthetic application of hetero-substituted nitroalkenes (see also Chapter 4). 1-Chloro-l-nitroalkenes are readily obtained either by the Henry reaction of chloronitromethane with aldehydes or chlorination of l-nitroalkenes. Dauzonne and coworkers have used 1-chloro-l-nitroalkenes for construction of dihydrobenzo-furan or dihydrobenzopyran frameworks. (Eq. 5.83).133... 

The conversion of primary or secondary nitro compounds into aldehydes or ketones is normally accomplished by use of the Nef reaction, which is one of the most important transformations of nitro compounds. Various methods have been introduced forthis transformation (1) treatment of nitronates with acid, (2) oxidation of nitronates, and (3) reduction of nitroalkenes. Although a comprehensive review is available,3 important procedures and improved methods published after this review are presented in this chapter. The Nef reaction after the nitro-aldol (Henry reaction), Michael addition, or Diels-Alder reaction using nitroalkanes or nitroalkenes has been used extensively in organic synthesis of various substrates, including complicated natural products. Some of them are presented in this chapter other examples are presented in the chapters discussing the Henry reaction (Chapter 3), Michael addition (Chapter 4), and Diels-Alder reaction (Chapter 8). 

The C,C-coupling reactions of SENAs with carbonyl compounds were studied in most detail (132, 179, 182, 183, 185, 253, 254, 449, 450). Only aldehydes are involved in the Henry reaction with SENAs and activating additives of ammonium fluorides (or triethylamine (185)) are required for this process (Scheme 3.189). 

Nitroaldol (Henry) reaction of nitro alkanes with sugar aldehydes... 

The base-catalyzed reaction of nitroalkanes and sugar-based aldehydes (the Henry reaction) is one of the most common procedures for the lengthening of the carbon skeleton of a carbohydrate.16 The mild reaction conditions required for the formation of C C bonds by this method are usually compatible with most of the protective groups and masked functionalities involved in multistep synthesis from sugars.17... 

Henry reactions of nitro sugars can be promoted by catalytic amounts of mild bases and it has widely extended the use of triethylamine. A recent example involves the condensation of sugar derived a,p-unsaturated aldehyde 15 with nitromethane in the presence of triethylamine, to give... 

The classical Henry reaction conditions (base catalyzed addition) have some drawbacks sometimes the nitro alcohols are obtained in low yields and diastereoselectivities are not always high. To improve these results, a number of modifications were introduced. One of them is the Seebach s silyl nitronate method,25 that involves a reaction between an aldehyde with a silyl nitronate prepared by metalation of the corresponding nitro alkane with LDA, followed by reaction of the resulting nitronate with tert-butyldimethylsilyl chloride.26... 

The Henry reaction of nitro sugars and sugar aldehydes is a powerful tool for the formation of C-glycosydic bonds. A recent example is the preparation of disaccharide precursor 60 stated in Scheme 21.45 It involves a Henry reaction of nitro sugar 58 and aldehyde 59 in acetonitrile in the presence of catalytic potassium fluoride, to give nitro alcohol 60, a precursor of the corresponding C-disaccharide. 

For example, the 0,C-trisaccharide 153 was obtained by a Henry reaction of nitro disaccharide 151 and sugar aldehyde 150 followed by the dehydration of (3-nitro alcohol 152 and reduction of the resulting nitroolefin, to give nitro sugar 153. Finally, a radical elimination of the nitro group afforded the target 154 (Scheme 47).105... 

Polynitroaliphatic alcohols are invaluable intermediates for the synthesis of energetic materials (see Section 1.11). The most important route to /i-nitroalcohols is via the Henry reaction where a mixture of the aldehyde and nitroalkane is treated with a catalytic amount of base, or the nitronate salt of the nitroalkane is used directly, in which case, on reaction completion, the reaction mixture is acidified with a weak acid. Reactions are reversible and in the presence of base the salt of the nitroalkane and the free aldehyde are reformed. This reverse reaction is known as demethylolation if formaldehyde is formed. 

Formaldehyde is the most important aldehyde used in Henry reactions in relation to energetic materials synthesis. Nitroform (112) reacts with formaldehyde in the form of trioxane or formalin to yield 2,2,2-trinitroethanol (159). The Henry reaction of nitroform with aldehydes other than formaldehyde gives products which are not isolable. 

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