Diethyl diazoacetate, reaction with aldehydes

P-Keto esters have been prepared in moderate to high yields by treatment of aldehydes with diethyl diazoacetate in the presence of a catalytic amount of a Lewis acid such as SnCL, BF3, or GeCL. The reaction was successful for both aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes, but the former react more rapidly than the latter, and the difference is great enough to allow selective reactivity. In a similar process, aldehydes react with certain carbanions stabilized by boron, in the presence of (F3CC0)20 or NCS, to give ketones. 

Unsaturated acetals. Reaction of ethyl diazoacetate with dimethyl acetals of a,(3-unsaturated aldehydes catalyzed by BE, ethciate gives as the main product acetals of P. y-unsaturated aldehydes by a carbon-carbon insertion. A similar reaction with ketals gives a complex mixture. The reaction is less selective with diethyl acetals. 

Aryl-5,5-bis(oxazolin-2-yl)-l,3-dioxanes 169 have been easily prepared in three steps from diethyl bis(hydroxymethyl)malonate, amino alcohols, and aromatic aldehydes. They have been used for the copper-catalyzed asymmetric cyclopropanation of styrene with ethyl diazoacetate in up to 99% ee for the trawx-cyclopropane (maximum transicis ratio = 77/23) <05TA1415>. The same reaction performed on 2,5-dimethyl-2,4-hexadiene with tert-butyl diazoacetate in the presence of copper catalysts bearing ligand 170, prepared from arylglycines, exhibited remarkable enhancement of the rrawx-selectivity (transicis ratio = 87/13), with 96% ee for the trans product <05JOC3292>. 

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