Aldehydes steric effects

Table 17 3 compares the equilibrium constants for hydration of some simple aldehydes and ketones The position of equilibrium depends on what groups are attached to C=0 and how they affect its steric and electronic environment Both effects con tribute but the electronic effect controls A hydr more than the steric effect... 

Electronic and steric effects operate m the same direction Both cause the equilib rium constants for hydration of aldehydes to be greater than those of ketones... 

Thermolysis of the aziridine (446) in the presence of diphenylketene gave a mixture of the pyrrolidone (447 minor product) and the oxazolidine (448 major product). In this instance the preferential addition to the C=0 bond is explained in terms of steric effects (72CC199). Similar addition to diphenylacetaldehyde takes place with the same orientation and the oxazolidine (448a) was obtained. When the reaction of the aziridine with the aldehyde was carried out in the presence of hydrogen selenide a selenazolidine was obtained (72BSB295). 

Substitution reactions by the ionization mechanism proceed very slowly on a-halo derivatives of ketones, aldehydes, acids, esters, nitriles, and related compounds. As discussed on p. 284, such substituents destabilize a carbocation intermediate. Substitution by the direct displacement mechanism, however, proceed especially readily in these systems. Table S.IS indicates some representative relative rate accelerations. Steric effects be responsible for part of the observed acceleration, since an sfp- caibon, such as in a carbonyl group, will provide less steric resistance to tiie incoming nucleophile than an alkyl group. The major effect is believed to be electronic. The adjacent n-LUMO of the carbonyl group can interact with the electnai density that is built up at the pentacoordinate carbon. This can be described in resonance terminology as a contribution flom an enolate-like stmeture to tiie transition state. In MO terminology,.the low-lying LUMO has a... 

Reductions by NaBKt are characterized by low enthalpies of activation (8-13kcal/mol) and large negative entropies of activation (—28 to —40eu). Aldehydes are substantially more reactive than ketones, as can be seen by comparison of the rate data for benzaldehyde and acetophenone. This relative reactivity is characteristic of nearly all carbonyl addition reactions. The reduced reactivity of ketones is attributed primarily to steric effects. Not only does the additional substituent increase the steric restrictions to approach of the nucleophile, but it also causes larger steric interaction in the tetrahedral product as the hybridization changes from trigonal to tetrahedral. 

Virtually any aldehyde or ketone and any CH-acidic methylene compound can be employed in the Knoevenagel reaction however the reactivity may be limited due to steric effects. Some reactions may lead to unexpected products from side-reactions or from consecutive reactions of the initially formed Knoevenagel product. 

With reactive aldehydes an early transition state is probably involved and therefore the steric demands of the aldehyde substituents are not highly influential. On the other hand, with less reactive ketones, the carbon-carbon bond formation is established further along the reaction coordinate, permitting the steric effects to play a greater role in the determination of the transition stale structure. 

A variety of such ternary catalytic systems has been developed for diastereoselective carbon-carbon bond formations (Table). A Cp-substituted vanadium catalyst is superior to the unsubstituted one,3 whereas a reduced species generated from VOCl3 and a co-reductant is an excellent catalyst for the reductive coupling of aromatic aldehydes.4 A trinuclear complex derived from Cp2TiCl2 and MgBr2 is similarly effective for /-selective pinacol coupling.5 The observed /-selectivity may be explained by minimization of steric effects through anti-orientation of the bulky substituents in the intermediate. 

A Hammett plot for para-substituted benzaldehydes showed that electron-rich aldehydes gave higher ees (r = -0.4). As in Shibuya s related results (Section 5.3.3.1 above), this indicates that aldehyde coordination is important in enantiodifferentia-tion, but the lower rvalue (compared to Shibuya s r = -1.30) suggests a weaker electronic influence, probably due to the relative Lewis acidities of A1 and La. For ortho-substituted aldehydes, lower ees were observed, presumably due to steric effects. Although Al-Cl and Al-triflate complexes 29-30a-b did not catalyze the reaction, they... 

In this chapter, the definitions used by Perrin in his book on pA a prediction (which also includes a very convenient compilation of o values) will be used. One must be alert to the importance of the number of hydrogens directly attached to the carbonyl carbon several groups have pointed out that aldehydes and ketones give separate but parallel lines, with formaldehyde displaced by the same amount again. What this means is that given one equilibrium constant for an aldehyde (or ketone) one may estimate the equilibrium constant for other aldehydes (or ketones) from this value and p for the addition using a value from experiment, if available, or estimated if necessary. This assumes that there is no large difference in steric effects between the reference compound and the unknown of interest. 

If the substituents are nonpolar, such as an alkyl or aryl group, the control is exerted mainly by steric effects. In particular, for a-substituted aldehydes, the Felkin TS model can be taken as the starting point for analysis, in combination with the cyclic TS. (See Section 2.4.1.3, Part A to review the Felkin model.) The analysis and prediction of the direction of the preferred reaction depends on the same principles as for simple diastereoselectivity and are done by consideration of the attractive and repulsive interactions in the presumed TS. In the Felkin model for nucleophilic addition to carbonyl centers the larger a-substituent is aligned anti to the approaching enolate and yields the 3,4-syn product. If reaction occurs by an alternative approach, the stereochemistry is reversed, and this is called an anti-Felkin approach. 

Thus we see that steric effects, chelation, and the polar effects of a- and (3-substituents can influence the facial selectivity in aldol additions to aldehydes. These relationships provide a starting point for prediction and analysis of stereoselectivity... 

Entry 2 shows an E-enolate of a hindered ester reacting with an aldehyde having both an a-methyl and (3-methoxy group. The reaction shows a 13 1 preference for the Felkin approach product (3,4-syn) and is controlled by the steric effect of the a-methyl substituent. Another example of steric control with an ester enolate is found in a step in the synthesis of (-t-)-discodermolide.99 The E-enolate of a hindered aryl ester was generated using LiTMP and LiBr. Reaction through a Felkin TS resulted in syn diastereoselectivity for the hydroxy and ester groups at the new bond. 

Entry 4 has siloxy substituents in both the (titanium) enolate and the aldehyde. The TBDPSO group in the aldehyde is in the large Felkin position, that is, perpendicular to the carbonyl group.121 The TBDMS group in the enolate is nonchelated but exerts a steric effect that governs facial selectivity.122 In this particular case, the two effects are matched and a single stereoisomer is observed. 

The TS proposed for these proline-catalyzed reactions is very similar to that for the proline-catalyzed aldol addition (see p. 132). In the case of imines, however, the aldehyde substituent is directed toward the enamine double bond because of the dominant steric effect of the (V-aryl substituent. This leads to formation of syn isomers, whereas the aldol reaction leads to anti isomers. This is the TS found to be the most stable by B3LYP/6-31G computations.199 The proton transfer is essentially complete at the TS. As with the aldol addition TS, the enamine is oriented anti to the proline carboxy group in the most stable TS. 

Synclinal and antiperiplanar conformations of the TS are possible. The two TSs are believed to be close in energy and either may be involved in individual systems. An electronic tt interaction between the stannane HOMO and the carbonyl LUMO, as well as polar effects appear to favor the synclinal TS and can overcome the unfavorable steric effects.161bi 162 Generally the synclinal TS seems to be preferred for intramolecular reactions. The steric effects that favor the antiperiplanar TS are not present in intramolecular reactions, since the aldehyde and the stannane substituents are then part of the intramolecular linkage. 

The best carbonyl components for these reactions are highly electrophilic compounds such as glyocylate, pyruvate, and oxomalonate esters, as well as chlorinated and fluorinated aldehydes. Most synthetic applications of the carbonyl-ene reaction utilize Lewis acids. Although such reactions may be stepwise in character, the stereochemical outcome is often consistent with a cyclic TS. It was found, for example, that steric effects of trimethylsilyl groups provide a strong stereochemical influence.28... 

The syntheses in Schemes 13.45 and 13.46 illustrate the use of oxazolidinone chiral auxiliaries in enantioselective synthesis. Step A in Scheme 13.45 established the configuration at the carbon that becomes C(4) in the product. This is an enolate alkylation in which the steric effect of the oxazolidinone chiral auxiliary directs the approach of the alkylating group. Step C also used the oxazolidinone structure. In this case, the enol borinate is formed and condensed with an aldehyde intermediate. This stereoselective aldol addition established the configuration at C(2) and C(3). The configuration at the final stereocenter at C(6) was established by the hydroboration in Step D. The selectivity for the desired stereoisomer was 85 15. Stereoselectivity in the same sense has been observed for a number of other 2-methylalkenes in which the remainder of the alkene constitutes a relatively bulky group.28 A TS such as 45-A can rationalize this result. 

The catalyzed hydrogenation of an aldehyde- vs. a ketone-carbonyl is invariably faster because of steric effects (23), and the data for 6 vs. 10 are in line with this (eqs. 4 and 5). Thus, conversions of 6a-c after 0.5 h at standard conditions are 86, 47, and 97%, respectively, while corresponding values for lOa-c after 4 h are 78, 36 and 49%, respectively. Indeed, the aldehydes can be reduced at 25 °C under otherwise identical conditions (6b gives 38% conversion after 4 h, and 6c gives 99% after 15 h). The above reactivity trend for the ketones lOa-c shows that the hydrogenation rates depend on the substituent para to the carbonyl functionality and increase in the order H > OMe > OH. For the aldehyde susbtrates, the more limited data (substrate 6 with R = H and R = OMe was not available) suggest a similar para-substitucnt effect (at least OMe > OH). Note that this is the reverse trend to that observed for reduction of the activated C=C systems described above. 

The process tolerates alkyl, methoxy, tertiary amino, and nitro groups at the salicylaldehyde. However, the yields of the nitro- and the amino-substituted salicy-laldehydes are rather low. Best results were obtained with aldehydes containing electron-donating groups (entries 4, 6, and 7). Steric effects clearly also play an im-... 

In the design of chiral sulfides for sulfur ylide-mediated asymmetric epoxidation of aldehydes, two factors are important. First, a single sulfur ylide should be produced. Otherwise, the diastereomeric sulfur ylides may react with aldehydes in different ways and thus cause a drop in stereoselectivity. This may be achieved by choosing a rigid cyclic structure to make one of the lone pairs more accessible than the other. Second, the structure should be amenable to structural modification in order to study the electronic and steric effects of the sulfur on the enantioselectivity of the epoxidation reaction. 

Remote steric effects have also been noted to play an unanticipated role in the sense of asymmetric induction. This is apparent from related condensations carried out on aldehydes 106 (26) and 107 (eqs. [76]-[78]) (26,92). Other examples illustrating the influence of remote structural perturbations on the carbonyl addition process have been observed in these laboratories. The addition of the lithio benzoxazole 110 to aldehyde 108 proceeded with good Cram diastereoface selection (95a), whereas the same nucleophilic addition to aldehyde 109 was stereorandom (95b). 

Recently, the improved chiral ethyl ketone (5)-141, derived in three steps from (5)-mandelic acid, has been evaluated in the aldol process (115). Representative condensations of the derived (Z)-boron enolates (5)-142 with aldehydes are summarized in Table 34b, It is evident from the data that the nature of the boron ligand L plays a significant role in enolate diastereoface selection in this system. It is also noteworthy that the sense of asymmetric induction noted for the boron enolate (5)-142 is opposite to that observed for the lithium enolate (5)-139a and (5>139b derived from (S)-atrolactic acid (3) and the related lithium enolate 139. A detailed interpretation of these observations in terms of transition state steric effects (cf. Scheme 20) and chelation phenomena appears to be premature at this time. Further applications of (S )- 41 and (/ )-141 as chiral propionate enolate synthons for the aldol process have appeared in a 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthesis recently disclosed by Masamune (115b). 

According to Heathcock and his associates the configurational dependence on the ratio of Lewis acid to aldehyde must be related to steric effects, and they conclude that the aldols 103 and 102 result from the open transition states A and B, respectively (Scheme 9.33). If the Lewis acid is small, transition state A is preferred because it minimises gauche interactions about the forming bond, but if the Lewis... 

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