Aldehydes synthesis from alkenes

The synthesis of aldehydes via hydroformylation of alkenes is an important industrial process used to produce in the region of 6 million tonnes a year of aldehydes. These compounds are used as intermediates in the manufacture of plasticizers, soaps, detergents and pharmaceutical products [7], While the majority of aldehydes prepared from alkene hydroformylation are done so in organic solvents, some research in 1975 showed that rhodium complexes with sulfonated phosphine ligands immobilized in water were able to hydroformylate propene with virtually complete retention of rhodium in the aqueous phase [8], Since catalyst loss is a major problem in the production of bulk chemicals of this nature, the process was scaled up, culminating in the Ruhrchemie-Rhone-Poulenc process for hydroformylation of propene, initially on a 120000 tonne per year scale [9], The development of this biphasic process represents one of the major transitions since the discovery of the hydroformylation reaction. The key transitions in this field include [10] ... 

As described in Section 2.3.2, vinylaziridines are versatile intermediates for the stereoselective synthesis of (E)-alkene dipeptide isosteres. One of the simplest methods for the synthesis of alkene isosteres such as 242 and 243 via aziridine derivatives of type 240 and 241 (Scheme 2.59) involves the use of chiral anti- and syn-amino alcohols 238 and 239, synthesizable in turn from various chiral amino aldehydes 237. However, when a chiral N-protected amino aldehyde derived from a natural ot-amino acid is treated with an organometallic reagent such as vinylmag-nesium bromide, a mixture of anti- and syn-amino alcohols 238 and 239 is always obtained. Highly stereoselective syntheses of either anti- or syn-amino alcohols 238 or 239, and hence 2,3-trans- or 2,3-as-3-alkyl-2-vinylaziridines 240 or 241, from readily available amino aldehydes 237 had thus hitherto been difficult. Ibuka and coworkers overcame this difficulty by developing an extremely useful epimerization of vinylaziridines. Palladium(0)-catalyzed reactions of 2,3-trons-2-vinylaziri-dines 240 afforded the thermodynamically more stable 2,3-cis isomers 241 predominantly over 240 (241 240 >94 6) through 7i-allylpalladium intermediates, in accordance with ab initio calculations [29]. This epimerization allowed a highly stereoselective synthesis of (E) -alkene dipeptide isosteres 243 with the desired L,L-... 

Trialkylsilyl groups have a modest stabilizing effect on adjacent carbanions (see Part A, Section 3.4.2). Reaction of the carbanions with carbonyl compounds gives (3-hydroxyalkylsilanes. (3-Hydroxyalkylsilanes are converted to alkenes by either acid or base.270 These eliminations provide the basis for a synthesis of alkenes. The reaction is sometimes called the Peterson reaction.211 For example, the Grignard reagent derived from chloromethyltrimethylsilane adds to an aldehyde or ketone and the intermediate can be converted to a terminal alkene by acid or base.272... 

This is an extremely useful reaction for the synthesis of alkenes. It involves the addition of a phosphonium ylid, e.g. (136), also known as a phosphorane, to the carbonyl group of an aldehyde or ketone the ylid is indeed a carbanion having an adjacent hetero atom. Such species are generated by the reaction of an alkyl halide, RR CHX (137), on a trialkyl- or triaryl-phosphine (138)—very often Ph3P—to yield a phosphonium salt (139), followed by abstraction of a proton from it by a very strong base, e.g. PhLi ... 

The synthesis of aldehydes from alkenes known as hydroformylation using CO and hydrogen and a homogeneous catalyst is a very important industrial process [204]. Today, over seven million tons of oxoproducts are formed each year using this procedure, with the majority of butanal and butanol from propene. To further increase the efficiency of this process it can be combined with other transformations in a domino fashion. Eilbracht and coworkers [205] used a Mukaiyama aldol reaction as a second step, as shown for the substrate 6/2-63 which, after 3 days led to 6/2-65 in 91% yield via the primarily formed adduct 6/2-64 (Scheme 6/2.13). However, employing a reaction time of 20 h gave 6/2-64 as the main product. 

Using the catalyst system described above in combination with a rhodium phosphine catalyst Lebel reported the de novo synthesis of alkenes from alcohols [100]. They developed a one-pot process, avoiding the isolation and purification of the potentially instable aldehyde intermediate. They combined the oxidation of alcohols developed by Sigman [89] with their rhodium-catalyzed methylenation of carbonyl derivatives. The cascade process is compatible with primary and secondary aliphatic as well as benzyUc alcohols in good yields. They even added another reaction catalyzed by a NHC complex, the metathesis reaction, which has not been addressed in this review as there are many good reviews, which exclusively and in great depth describe all aspects of the reaction. 

Dondoni et al. prepared a 1-hydroxyethylene peptide using a thiazole-aldehyde synthesis starting from an amino acid.[38] The aldehyde is converted into an alkanoate by Wittig alkenation and reduction of the double bond (Scheme 18). Then, removal of the tert-bu-tyldimethylsilyl group gives the unsubstituted lactone. In the last step, the lactone is alkylated using the method reported by Kleinman and co-workers. 20 ... 

This reaction is important for a number of reasons. It is an industrial synthesis of aldehydes from alkenes by the addition of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of a cobalt catalyst. A prime example is the synthesis... 

Alkene synthesis. A modified version of an earlier synthesis of alkenes from the tosylhydrazones of aldehydes and certain alkyllithium reagents (9, 472-473) employs the N-r-butyldimethylsilyl derivatives (1) of tosylhydrazones of a,f)-enals, which undergo only 1,2-addition of an alkyllithium at - 78°. The adducts (2) decom-... 

Allylic alcohols from sulfones.1 Polish chemists have extended the Julia synthesis of alkenes (11, 474) to a synthesis of allylic alcohols. In the presence of 1 equiv. of BF3 etherate, a-alkoxy aldehydes react with lithiafed sulfones to form adducts that are converted to allylic alcohols on reduction with sodium amalgam. This reaction was developed specifically for a synthesis of prostaglandins from Corey s lactone-aldehyde, but should have wider application. 

Another synthetic application of Roush s crotylboration methodology using a (Z)-crotylboronate can be found in the formal synthesis of (+)-discodermolide (75)29 (Scheme 3.1z). The aldehyde (S)-67, which was prepared from the Roche ester, reacted with (Z)-crotylboronate (S,S)-43Z to give the syn-homoallylic alcohol 76. Silylation of alcohol and oxidative cleavage of the alkene 77 provided the aldehyde 78, from which the final product (75) can be synthesized according to a known procedure.30... 

One-pot synthesis of ( )-alkenes has been directly performed from nitromethane by a radical process (Liu and Yao, 2001). In fact, the strategy is to react P-nitrostirene (3) as shown in Figure 2.1, in situ prepared from aromatic aldehydes (1) with nitromethane (2) in the acetic acid solution with a catalytic amount of ammonium acetate at 70-100°C, with triethylborane in the biphase of diethyl ether and aqueous solution in the presence of oxygen in air as radical initiator, to generate (4). 

The modified Julia-Lythgoe alkenation known as Julia-Kocienski alkenation is one-step synthesis of alkenes from benzothiazol-2-yl sulfones (RCH2SO2BT) 4.59 and aldehydes, which is an alternative procedure that leads to the alkene in one step and offers very good -selectivity. 

Synthesis and Reaction Chemistry of a,p-Unsaturated Acyl Complexes Derived from (2). Two methods for the preparation of optically active ( )- and (Z)-a,p-unsaturated iron acyls from (2) have been reported." One method involves aldol condensation of (2) with aldehydes followed by 0-methylation to produce diastereomeric acyls (18). This mixture (18) is then treated with Sodium Hydride to produce predominantly ( )-a,p-unsaturated acyl complexes (19) (eq 13). Alternatively, (2) can be depro-tonated and treated with Chlorotrimethylsilane to produce the C-silylated complex which is subsequently deprotonated and treated with an aldehyde. This Peterson alkenation produced mixtures... 

A second application of the use of Lewis acid catalysis in the Julia coupling can be found in the synthesis of trans-Biiktnt isosteres of dipeptides (478 Scheme 62). Initially, attempts to couple aldehydes derived from amino acids (473) resulted in poor overall yield of the alkene. This difficulty was solved by reversing the substituents, and introducing the amino acid portion as the anion of sulfone (476) to the chiral aldehyde (477). The dianion of the sulfone was formed and to it were added 2 equiv. of aldehyde and 1 equiv. of diisobutylaluminum methoxide. The resulting p-hydroxy sulfone was t en on to the reductive elimination step to produce the desired ( )-alkene (478), in 74% overall yield. 

The Bamford-Stevens reaction is the base-catalyzed decomposition of arenesulfonylhydrazones of aldehydes and ketones, leading to the formation of alkenes an or cyclopropanes. There are several important general reviews in this area of organic synthesis. Since the reactions are mostly carried out either in protic or in aprotic solvents, the reaction types are divided into the protic and aprotic Bamford-Stevens processes. This section reviews recent examples in the synthesis of alkenes and cyclopropanes from arenesulfonylhydrazones, which is closely related to the following Shapiro reaction. 

Brown and coworkers have described an alternative synthesis of chiral alkylboronic esters. In this synthesis prochiral alkenes are hydroborated with monoisopinocamphenylborane to yield isopinocam-phenylalkylboranes which are then readily transformed to chiral alkyllraronic esters (Scheme 39). Homologation with dichloromethyllithium, followed by reduction with potassium triisopropoxyborohy-dride (KIPBH) and oxidation, finely yields B-chiral alcohols (Scheme 40). These alcohols are not easily prepared by other methods. Aldehydes can be prepared by homologation from chiral alkylboronic esters with LiCH(OMe)SPh and oxidation (Scheme 41). ... 

A novel method for the synthesis of alkenes is based on the coupling of aldehydes with dithioacetals to give the corresponding hydroxy thioacetals, which afford vicinal disulfides via reductive phenylthio migration.242 The syn-diastereomers are the major products from symmetrical compounds while the anti-isomers are obtained with high selectivity with unsymmetrical compounds. Separation of the diastereomers, oxidation to the 1,2-disulfones, and reductive elimination give the corresponding alkenes with moderate stereoselectivities (Eq. 137).242... 

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