Aldehydes Reformatsky reaction

Reformatski reaction Aldehydes and ketones react with a-bromo- fatty acid esters in the presence of zinc powder to give -hydroxy-esters which may be dehydrated to give a-, 0-unsaturated esters. a-Chloroesters will react if copper powder is used in conjunction with the zinc. 

The Reformatsky Reaction consists of the interaction of an ester of an a-halogeno-acid with an aldehyde, a ketone or another ester in the presence of zinc. For example, if a mixture of ethyl bromoacetate and benzaldehyde is heated with zinc, the latter undoubtedly first combines with the ethyl bromoacetate to form a Grignard-like reagent (reaction A), which then adds on to the benzaldehyde Just as a Grignard reagent would do (reaction B). The complex so formed, on acidification gives ethyl p-phenyl-p-hydroxy-propionate (reaction C). Note that reaction A could not satisfactorily be carried out using... 

The classical Reformatsky reaction consists of the treatment of an a-halo ester 1 with zinc metal and subsequent reaction with an aldehyde or ketone 3. Nowadays the name is used generally for reactions that involve insertion of a metal into a carbon-halogen bond and subsequent reaction with an electrophile. Formally the Reformatsky reaction is similar to the Grignard reaction. 

Kitazume and Kasai [55] have investigated the Reformatsky reaction in three ionic liquids. This reaction involves treatment of an a-bromo ester with zinc to give an a-zinc bromide ester, which in turn reacts with an aldehyde to give an addition product. An example is given in Scheme 5.1-26. Moderate to good yields (45-95 %) were obtained in ionic liquids such as [EDBU][OTf] for the reactions between ethyl bro-moacetate or ethyl bromodifluoroacetate and benzaldehyde [55]. 

Both aldehydes and ketones react with the anion of ethyl trimethylsilyl-acetate to produce a/3-unsaturated esters in an alternative (13) to the Reformatsky reaction ... 

In the presence of a strong base, the ot carbon of a carboxylic ester can condense with the carbonyl carbon of an aldehyde or ketone to give a P-hydroxy ester, which may or may not be dehydrated to the a,P-unsaturated ester. This reaction is sometimes called the Claisen reaction,an unfortunate usage since that name is more firmly connected to 10-118. In a modem example of how the reaction is used, addition of tert-butyl acetate to LDA in hexane at -78°C gives the lithium salt of ferf-butyl acetate, " (12-21) an enolate anion. Subsequent reaction a ketone provides a simple rapid alternative to the Reformatsky reaction (16-31) as a means of preparing P-hydroxy erf-butyl esters. It is also possible for the a carbon of an aldehyde or ketone to add to the carbonyl carbon of a carboxylic ester, but this is a different reaction (10-119) involving nucleophilic substitution and not addition to a C=0 bond. It can, however, be a side reaction if the aldehyde or ketone has an a hydrogen. 

Bieber reported that the reaction of bromoacetates is greatly enhanced by catalytic amounts of benzoyl peroxide or peracids and gives satisfactory yields with aromatic aldehydes. A radical chain mechanism, initiated by electron abstraction from the organometallic Reformatsky reagent, is proposed (Scheme 8.27).233 However, an alternative process of reacting aldehydes with 2,3-dichloro-l-propene and indium in water followed by ozonolysis provided the Reformatsky product in practical yields.234 An electrochemical Reformatsky reaction in an aqueous medium and in the absence of metal mediator has also been reported.235... 

We felt the Reformatsky reaction was a worthwhile target because it is the most generally applicable method for converting aldehydes and ketones to ff-hydroxyesters(25). The improvements in yield and reaction time exceeded our expectations. Essentially quantitative conversion to the 0-hydroxyester was effected in a matter of a few minutes(26). The absence of other products, such as a, 0-unsaturated esters, resulting from dehydration, and dimers of the bromo ester and the carbonyl are probably the result of running... 

Higher-molecular-weight normal 2-alkenoic acids have been prepared in poor yields by the Doebner condensation of aldehydes with malonic acid,5-7 and by the Reformatsky reaction of aldehydes with ethyl bromoacetate followed by dehydration.8 The a-iodo acid, prepared from the bromo acid, has been dehydrohalogenated with potassium hydroxide in ethanol,9 but large quantities of the a-hydroxy acid are formed as a by-product which is difficult to separate in some instances. The present procedure is an adaptation of a published method.6... 

The procedure employed has been previously described by Cason and Rinehart,3 and is a modification of the standard Reformatsky procedure.9-10 The Reformatsky reaction, which has been reviewed elsewhere,9 has been widely employed with ketones, somewhat less frequently with aldehydes, and very seldom with a-alkyl aliphatic aldehydes. 

As a kind of nucleophilic addition reaction similar to the Grignard reaction, the Reformatsky reaction can afford useful ft-hydroxy esters from alkyl haloacetate, zinc, and aldehydes or ketones. Indeed, this reaction may complement the aldol reaction for asymmetric synthesis of //-hydroxy esters. 

Fluorine-containing compounds can also be synthesized via enantioselective Reformatsky reaction using bromo-difluoroacetate as the nucleophile and chiral amino alcohol as the chiral-inducing agent.86 As shown in Scheme 8-41, 1 equivalent of benzaldehyde is treated with 3 equivalents of 111 in the presence of 2 equivalents of 113, providing a,a-difluoro-/ -hydroxy ester 112 at 61% yield with 84% ee. Poor results are observed for aliphatic aldehyde substrates. For example, product 116 is obtained in only 46% ee. 

This procedure illustrates the use of lithio esters for the preparation of /3-hydroxy esters. Isopropyl and /-butyl /3-hydroxy-/8,/3-diphenylpropionate may be prepared in approximately 80% yields by using isopropyl or /-butyl acetates in place of ethyl acetate.2 This procedure is generally more convenient than the Reformatsky reaction for the preparation of such esters. Under similar conditions ethyl acetate may conveniently be condensed with various aldehydes or ketones to give the corresponding /8-hydroxy esters.4... 

In this reaction, the CH2C12/DMF solvent (9 1) suppresses the undesirable Claisen condensation and increases the yield of 2,2-difluoro-3-hydroxyesters. It is notable that high yields are obtained even with ketones and enolizable aldehydes, which do not undergo the Reformatsky reaction. 

The Reformatsky reagent from 2a shows only slight diastereoselectivity in reactions with aldehydes but reactions with 2b give 2,3-vyn-aldols as the major prod-... 

Application of the Reformatsky Reaction to Thiophene Aldehydes and Ketones. J. org. Chemistry 15, 89 (1950). 

Other studies have provided additional data on the relative stabilities of the lithium aldolates 14 and 15 derived from the condensation of dilithium enediolates 13 (Rj = alkyl, aryl) with representative aldehydes (eq. [ 10]) (16). Kinetic aldol ratios were also obtained for comparison in this and related studies (16,17). As summarized in Table 4, the diastereomeric aldol chelates 14a and ISa, derived from the enolate of phenylacetic acid 13 (R = Ph), reach equilibrium after 3 days at 25° C (entries A-D). The percentage of threo diastere-omer 15 increases with the increasing steric bulk of the aldehyde ligand R3 as expected. It is noteworthy that the diastereomeric aldol chelates 14a and 15a (Rj = CH3, C2HS, i-C3H7) do not equilibrate at room temperature over the 3 day period (16). In a related study directed at delineating the stereochemical control elements of the Reformatsky reaction, Kurtev examined the equilibration of both... 

R3 R2 and R2 Ri gauche interactions however, for the same set of substituents, an increase in the steric requirements of either Rj or R3 will influence only one set of vicinal steric interactions (Rj R2 or R3 R2). Some support for these conclusions has been cited (eqs. [6] and [7]). These qualitative arguments may also be relevant to the observed populations of hydrogen- and nonhydrogen-bonded populations of the aldol adducts as well (see Table 1, entries K, L). Unfortunately, little detailed information exists on the solution geometries of these metal chelates. Furthermore, in many studies it is impossible to ascertain whether the aldol condensations between metal enolates and aldehydes were carried out under kinetic or thermodynamic conditions. Consequently, the importance of metal structure and enolate geometry in the definition of product stereochemistry remains ill defined. This is particularly true in the numerous studies reported on the Reformatsky reaction (20) and related variants (21). 

Reformatsky reaction has covered aspects of this topic (20b). If analogous pericyclic transition states are involved in these condensations, the added stereochemical control element imposed on the condensation by the imine geometry should provide a more well-defined set of transition states than for the analogous aldehyde condensations. The four diastereomeric chair and boat transition states for ( )- and (Z)-enolates with ( )-imines are illustrated in Scheme 15. 

One of the earliest studies to address the issue of aldehyde dia-stereoface selection in enolate condensation was performed by Matsumoto and coworkers (91). The Reformatsky reaction of methyl 2-bromopropionate and 2-phenylpropanal (98) afforded the four aldol adducts illustrated in eq. [70]. Although the aldol diastereo-... 

Reformatsky" reaction. Since ZnClj is regenerated in the MejSiCl-mediated addition (see Scheme 5.12), a catalytic amount of ZnCl2 makes possible the direct coupling of cyclopropanes 15 with aldehydes. Znl2 was then found to be even more effective than ZnCl2, and as little as 1/1000 equivalent of Znl2 allowed direct... 

In accordance with a Reformatsky reaction mechanism, the telluride ion attacks the bromine atom to generate an ester enolate which reacts in seqnence with the aldehyde to afford the a, -nnsatnrated ester. 

The first three retrosynthetic cleavages are formation of the C7-C8 aldol by intramolecular chromium-Reformatsky reaction of linear precursor 51, esterification between northern and southern half building blocks and Wit-tig reaction of phosphonium salt 52 known from Mulzer s work [85] and northern half precursor 53. The final disconnections were placed at the C2-C3 aldol in 51 (again to be formed by chromium-Reformatsky reaction, here between bromoacetimide 56 and aldehyde 57) and the C14-C15 bond by alkylation of acetoacetate 54 with neryl bromide 55. 

In order to overcome the problem, the inverse strategy was followed. Chromium-Reformatsky reaction between 76-derived C8 aldehyde and a 68-derived ester afforded all four possible C6,C7-diastereomers, which can be independently processed to epothilone D5 diastereomers (including the natural one) by the macrolactonization route. 

Other a-fluorinated carboethoxy substrates have been utilized in Reformatsky reactions. Treatment of ethyl dibromofluoroacetate with aldehydes or ketones in presence of zinc and EtaAlCl gave diastereomeric a -brorno-a-fluoro /i-hydroxyalkanoic esters in good yield (49-77%) (equation 120)177. Use of 2 equivalents each of RCHO, Zn and Et2AlCl gave the double coupled products in good yield. 

A nickel-catalysed electro-Reformatsky reaction has been previously presented (Section . . , Figure 5)57. Based on a formally related catalytic cycle, a nickel-catalysed 3-component route to /J-arnino esters and amides has been proposed (equation 41). To a CH2CI2 solution of an aldehyde and an aromatic amine are successively added dimethylz-inc, methyl bromoacetate (la) and bistriphenylphosphine nickel dichloride. After 1-3 h at rt, products were isolated in very high yield, and this procedure was exploited for the preparation of a chemical library of 64 members, using 4 aldehydes, 4 cr-haloesters and 4 substituted anilines58. 

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