Addition reactions aldol

Conjugation of the newly formed double bond with the carbonyl group stabilizes the a p unsaturated aldehyde provides the driving force for the dehydration and controls Its regioselectivity Dehydration can be effected by heating the aldol with acid or base Normally if the a p unsaturated aldehyde is the desired product all that is done is to carry out the base catalyzed aldol addition reaction at elevated temperature Under these conditions once the aldol addition product is formed it rapidly loses water to form the a p unsaturated aldehyde... 

Note also the stereochemistry. In some cases, two new stereogenic centers are formed. The hydroxyl group and any C(2) substituent on the enolate can be in a syn or anti relationship. For many aldol addition reactions, the stereochemical outcome of the reaction can be predicted and analyzed on the basis of the detailed mechanism of the reaction. Entry 1 is a mixed ketone-aldehyde aldol addition carried out by kinetic formation of the less-substituted ketone enolate. Entries 2 to 4 are similar reactions but with more highly substituted reactants. Entries 5 and 6 involve boron enolates, which are discussed in Section 2.1.2.2. Entry 7 shows the formation of a boron enolate of an amide reactions of this type are considered in Section 2.1.3. Entries 8 to 10 show titanium, tin, and zirconium enolates and are discussed in Section 2.1.2.3. 

The first element of stereocontrol in aldol addition reactions of ketone enolates is the enolate structure. Most enolates can exist as two stereoisomers. In Section 1.1.2, we discussed the factors that influence enolate composition. The enolate formed from 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentanone under kinetically controlled conditions is the Z-isomer.5 When it reacts with benzaldehyde only the syn aldol is formed.4 The product stereochemistry is correctly predicted if the TS has a conformation with the phenyl substituent in an equatorial position. 

Zirconium enolates can also prepared by reaction of lithium enolates with (Cp)2ZrCl2, and they act as nucleophiles in aldol addition reactions.34... 

Aldol Addition Reactions of Enolates of Esters and Other Carbonyl Derivatives... 

Despite the ability to control ester enolate geometry, the aldol addition reactions of unhindered ester enolate are not very stereoselective.37... 

Among the most useful carbonyl derivatives are (V-acyloxazolidinones, and as we shall see in Section 2.3.4, they provide facial selectivity in aldol addition reactions. l,3-Thiazoline-2-thiones constitute another useful type of chiral auxiliary, and they can be used in conjunction with Bu2B03SCF3,44 Sn(03SCF3)2,45 or TiCl446 for generation of enolates. The stereoselectivity of the reactions is consistent with formation of a Z-enolate and reaction through a cyclic TS. 

The Mukaiyama aldol reaction refers to Lewis acid-catalyzed aldol addition reactions of silyl enol ethers, silyl ketene acetals, and similar enolate equivalents,48 Silyl enol ethers are not sufficiently nucleophilic to react directly with aldehydes or ketones. However, Lewis acids cause reaction to occur by coordination at the carbonyl oxygen, activating the carbonyl group to nucleophilic attack. 

The Mukaiyama aldol reaction can provide access to a variety of (3-hydroxy carbonyl compounds and use of acetals as reactants can provide (3-alkoxy derivatives. The issues of stereoselectivity are the same as those in the aldol addition reaction, but the tendency toward acyclic rather than cyclic TSs reduces the influence of the E- or Z-configuration of the enolate equivalent on the stereoselectivity. 

The stereogenic centers may be integral parts of the reactants, but chiral auxiliaries can also be used to impart facial diastereoselectivity and permit eventual isolation of enantiomerically enriched product. Alternatively, use of chiral Lewis acids as catalysts can also achieve facial selectivity. Although the general principles of control of the stereochemistry of aldol addition reactions have been well developed for simple molecules, the application of the principles to more complex molecules and the... 

Stereochemical Control by the Enolate or Enolate Equivalent. The facial selectivity of aldol addition reactions can also be controlled by stereogenic centers in the nucleophile. A stereocenter can be located at any of the adjacent positions on an enolate or enolate equivalent. The configuration of the substituent can influence the direction of approach of the aldehyde. 

These examples and those in Scheme 2.6 illustrate the key variables that determine the stereochemical outcome of aldol addition reactions using chiral auxiliaries. The first element that has to be taken into account is the configuration of the ring system that is used to establish steric differentiation. Then the nature of the TS, whether it is acyclic, cyclic, or chelated must be considered. Generally for boron enolates, reaction proceeds through a cyclic but nonchelated TS. With boron enolates, excess Lewis acid can favor an acyclic TS by coordination with the carbonyl electrophile. Titanium enolates appear to be somewhat variable but can be shifted to chelated TSs by use of excess reagent and by auxiliaries such as oxazolidine-2-thiones that enhance the tendency to chelation. Ultimately, all of the factors play a role in determining which TS is favored. 

Enantioselective Catalysis of the Aldol Addition Reaction. There are also several catalysts that can effect enantioselective aldol addition. The reactions generally involve enolate equivalents, such as silyl enol ethers, that are unreactive toward the carbonyl component alone, but can react when activated by a Lewis acid. The tryptophan-based oxazaborolidinone 15 has proven to be a useful catalyst.148... 

A DFT study found a corresponding TS to be the lowest energy.167 This study also points to the importance of the solvent, DMSO, in stabilizing the charge buildup that occurs. A further computational study analyzed the stereoselectivity of the proline-catalyzed aldol addition reactions of cyclohexanone with acetaldehyde, isobu-tyraldehyde, and benzaldehyde on the basis of a similar TS.168 Another study, which explored the role of proline in intramolecular aldol reactions, is discussed in the next section.169... 

Predict the stereochemical outcome of the following aldol addition reactions involving chiral auxiliaries. 

The Reformatsky reaction is related to both organometallic and aldol addition reactions and probably involves a cyclic TS. The Reformatsky reagent from /-butyl bromoacetate crystallizes as a dimer having both O—Zn (enolate-like) and C—Zn (organometallic-like) bonds (see Figure 7.5).165... 

Z-vinyl iodide was obtained by hydroboration and protonolysis of an iodoalkyne. The two major fragments were coupled by a Suzuki reaction at Steps H-l and H-2 between a vinylborane and vinyl iodide to form the C(ll)-C(12) bond. The macrocyclization was done by an aldol addition reaction at Step H-4. The enolate of the C(2) acetate adds to the C(3) aldehyde, creating the C(2)-C(3) bond and also establishing the configuration at C(3). The final steps involve selective deprotonation and oxidation at C(5), deprotection at C(3) and C(7), and epoxidation. 

Scheme 13.71 shows the most recent version of a synthesis of (-l-)-discodermolide developed by Ian Paterson s group at Cambridge University. The synthesis was based on three major subunits and used boron enolate aldol addition reactions to establish the stereochemistry. 

This finding is also in agreement with another three-component Michael/aldol addition reaction reported by Shibasaki and coworkers [14]. Here, as a catalyst the chiral AlLibis[(S)-binaphthoxide] complex (ALB) (2-37) was used. Such hetero-bimetallic compounds show both Bronsted basicity and Lewis acidity, and can catalyze aldol [15] and Michael/aldol [14, 16] processes. Reaction of cyclopentenone 2-29b, aldehyde 2-35, and dibenzyl methylmalonate (2-36) at r.t. in the presence of 5 mol% of 2-37 led to 3-hydroxy ketones 2-38 as a mixture of diastereomers in 84% yield. Transformation of 2-38 by a mesylation/elimination sequence afforded 2-39 with 92 % ee recrystallization gave enantiopure 2-39, which was used in the synthesis of ll-deoxy-PGFla (2-40) (Scheme 2.8). The transition states 2-41 and 2-42 illustrate the stereochemical result (Scheme 2.9). The coordination of the enone to the aluminum not only results in its activation, but also fixes its position for the Michael addition, as demonstrated in TS-2-41. It is of importance that the following aldol reaction of 2-42 is faster than a protonation of the enolate moiety. 

An expedient and fully stereocontrolled synthesis of epothilones A (435, R = H) and B (435, R = Me) has been realized (473, 474). The routes described, involve an extensive study of nitrile oxide cycloadditions, as substitutes for aldol addition reactions, leading to the realization of a highly convergent synthesis, based on the Kanemasa hydroxyl-directed nitrile oxide cycloaddition. 

The aldol addition reaction has long been recognized as one of the most useful tools that the synthetic chemist has for the construction of new C—C bonds [2]. Concomitant with the C—C bond-forming process is the formation of one or two new stereocenters, allowing us to approach a broad range of both natural and novel compounds. 

The utilization of a-amino acids and their derived 6-araino alcohols in asymmetric synthesis has been extensive. A number of procedures have been reported for the reduction of a variety of amino acid derivatives however, the direct reduction of a-am1no acids with borane has proven to be exceptionally convenient for laboratory-scale reactions. These reductions characteristically proceed in high yield with no perceptible racemization. The resulting p-amino alcohols can, in turn, be transformed into oxazolidinones, which have proven to be versatile chiral auxiliaries. Besides the highly diastereoselective aldol addition reactions, enolates of N-acyl oxazolidinones have been used in conjunction with asymmetric alkylations, halogenations, hydroxylations, acylations, and azide transfer processes, all of which proceed with excellent levels of stereoselectivity. 

The prototypical aldol addition reaction is the acid- or base-catalyzed dimerization of a ketone or aldehyde.1 Under certain conditions, the reaction product may undergo... 

Boron enolates can also be obtained from esters21 and amides,22 and these too undergo aldol addition reactions. Various combinations of boronating reagents and amines have been used, and the E Z ratios are dependent on the reagents and conditions. In most... 

Considerable effort has been devoted to finding Lewis acid or other catalysts that could induce high enantioselectivity in the Mukaiyama reaction. As with aldol addition reactions involving enolates, high diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity requires involvement of a transition state with substantial facial selectivity with respect to the electrophilic reactant and a preferred orientation of the nucleophile. Scheme 2.4 shows some examples of enantioselective catalysts. 

The group of Samuel Danishefsky at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York has also been active in the synthesis of the natural epothilones and biologically active analogs. One of these syntheses also uses the olefin metathesis reaction (not shown). The synthesis in Scheme 13.51 uses an alternative approach to create the macrocycle. One of the key steps is a Suzuki coupling carried out at step H-(l,2) between a vinylborane and vinyl iodide. The macrocyclization is an aldol addition reaction at step H-4. The enolate of the acetate adds to the aldehyde, creating the C(2)-C(3) bond of the macrolactone and also establishing the stereocenter at C-3. 

---