Aldol with benzaldehyde

Z75. (a) Dieckmann of dimethyl adipate, alkylation by allyl bromide, hydrolysis and decarboxylation (c) Robinson with CH3CH = CHCOCH3 then reduction (d) form enamine or enolate, acylate with CICOOEt, methylate with CH3I, do aldol with benzaldehyde. 

The synthesis of 3-phenyl-]-(2-pyridyl)-2-propen-]-one (2.4c) via an aldol reaction of 2-acetylpyridine with benzaldehyde has been described in the literature ". O jmpound 2.4a-e have been prepared in high yields, using slightly modified versions of these literature procedures. 

In 1908, while working at University of Heidelberg, Auwers and Muller described the transformation of 4-methyl-2-cumaranone (3) to flavanol 6. Thus aldol condensation of 3 with benzaldehyde gave benzylidene derivative 4, which was brominated to give dibromide 5. Subsequent treatment of 5 with alcoholic KOH then furnished 2-methylflavonol 6. In the following years, Auwers published more extensively on the scope and limitations of this reaction. ... 

The ketone 2-methyfcycloliexanone, for instance, gives the mixed aldol product on reaction with benzaldehyde. 

When an enolate is forced to take the E configuration, e.g, the enolate derived from cyclohexanone, predominant formation of the anti-aldol might be expected. Surprisingly, early experiments gave more or less stereorandom results in that the reaction with benzaldehyde gave a ratio of. vvtt/ant/ -aldols of 48 521B 23, Contrarily, recent investigations24 reveal a substantial anti selectivity (16 84), which is lowered in a dramatic manner (50 50) by the presence of lithium salts. Thus, the low stereoselectivity in the early experiments may be attributed to impurities of lithium salts or lithium hydroxide. 

A powerful variation of the iron acetyl enolate aldol reaction utilizes the cnolate of complex 8 which bears a (pentafluorophenyl)diphenylphosphane ligand in place of the more usual triphenylphosphane47. The enolate species 9. prepared by treatment of 8 with lithium diiso-propylamide, reacts at — 78 °C with benzaldehyde to produce the aldol adduct 10 with a d.r. of 98.5 1.5. 

Dihydro-3-phenylisoxazolc (3) is deprotonated in the eWoposition (see Section D.1.1.1.4.4,2.). Subsequent reaction of the azaenolate with benzaldehyde preferentially provides the, v>7 -aldol adduct 4 as a racemate22. 

When the aromatic group of the sulfoxide is replaced by a heteroaromatic group (e.g., N-methylimidazole), the internal coordination between Li—N to form a five-membered metallocycle apparently predominates over Li—O coordination to form a four-membered metallocycle . Reaction of imidazole (S)-sulfoxide 16 with benzaldehyde produces aldol 17 as the major product in which the a-H and the sulfoxide lone pair are syn (equation 14) imidazole (R)-sulfoxide 18 reacts similarly (equation 15). The stereochemical outcome of these reactions is rationalized in terms of a-lithiosulfoxides in which the reactive diastereomer (i.e., 20 and 21) is that having one diastereotopic face of the five-membered Li—N metallocycle carrying both H and sulfoxide lone pair. 

Due to the high a-C,H acidity in the alkoxyethylidene complexes 6 (e.g.,piCa=8 (R=Me)) [ 16], transformations via an enolate analog are possible and have been used to introduce additional functionality into the carbene side chain to access various Fischer carbene complexes [3]. The a,/J-unsaturated complex 8 could be obtained from 6 (R=Et) by an aldol-type condensation with benzaldehyde 7 in the presence of triethylamine and trimethylsilyl chloride (Scheme 2) [17]. This reaction proceeds completely diastereoselectively to yield only the trans-isomer. Analogously, binuclear complexes have been prepared from 6 and 1,3-and 1,4-phthaldialdehyde in good yields [17]. This type of condensation has... 

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. 

As shown in Scheme 2.20, selective lithiation of substrate 2-87 by treatment with LDA in THF at -78 °C triggers an intramolecular Michael/intermolecular aldol addition process with benzaldehyde to give a mixture of diastereomers 2-90 and 2-91. 2-91 was afterwards transformed into 2-92, which is used as a chiral ligand for Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution reactions [29]. 

Sc(OTf)3 is an effective catalyst in aldol reactions of silyl enol ethers with aldehydes.49 Compared with other typical rare-earth-metal (Y, Yb) trifiates, Sc(OTf)3 has the strongest activity in the reaction of 1-trimethylsiloxycyclohexane with benzaldehyde in dichloromethane. Although the reaction scarcely proceeded at —78°C in the presence of Y(OTf)3 or Yb(OTf)3, the aldol adduct was obtained in 81% yield in the presence of Sc(OTf)3 (Scheme 9). 

The /3-electrophilic additions of pentaamineosmium(ll) complexes bearing various 4,5-tf -coordinated pyrroles to carbonyl compounds have been reported by Harman and co-workers (Scheme 78). 1 1-Methylpyrrole complex, when reacted with benzaldehyde or its dimethylacetal in the presence of /-butyldimethylsilyl triflate (TBSOTf), afforded the corresponding aldol adduct 177 as a 1 1 ratio of diastereoisomers. Pyrrole, 1-methylpyrrole, or 2,5-dimethylpyr-role osmium complexes reacted with an excess of acetone in the presence of TBSOTf to give the O-silylated 377-pyrrolium aldol adducts 178, which may serve as intermediates for various other reactions. 

The first promising asymmetric aldol reactions through phase transfer mode will be the coupling of silyl enol ethers with aldehydes utilizing chiral non-racemic quaternary ammonium fluorides,1371 a chiral version of tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride (TBAF). Various ammonium and phosphonium catalysts were tried138391 in the reaction of the silyl enol ether 41 of 2-methyl-l-tetralone with benzaldehyde, and the best result was obtained by use of the ammonium fluoride 7 (R=H, X=F) derived from cinchonine,1371 as shown in Scheme 14. 

Tandem processes mediated by triethylborane involving conjugate addition to enones followed by aldol reaction are reported (Scheme 52, Eq. 52a). More recently, a tandem process involving addition of an isopropyl radical to an o ,/3-unsaturated oxime ether afforded an azaenolate intermediate that reacts with benzaldehyde in the presence of trimethylaluminum. The aldol product cyclizes to afford an isopropyl substituted y-bulyroloaclonc in 61% overall yield (Scheme 52) [116]. In these reactions, triethylborane is acting as a chain transfer reagent that delivers a boron enolate or azaenolate necessary for the aldolization process. 

Kinetic Aldol Condensations of Acyclic Lithium Ketone Enolates with Benzaldehyde (eq. [17]) (2,26)... 

The enolization (LDA, THF) and subsequent condensation of a-amino ester 53a under kinetic conditions affords low levels of kinetic aldol diastereoselection. From the preceding discussion it is probable that the major enolate derived from 53a possesses the E)-geometry. The observation that moderate levels of erythro diastereoselection are observed with benzaldehyde (Table 16) are consistent... 

Aldol Condensation of 60 and 61 with Benzaldehyde (eq. [49,50]) Solvent and ligand Effects (6)... 

A summary of representative stereochemically defined metal enolates and their respective kinetic aldol condensations with benzaldehyde is provided in Table 24. Both the metal center and the enolate substituent Ri for the substituted carbonyl derivatives... 

Influence of Metal Center on Kinetic Aldol Reactions with Benzaldehyde... 

Aldol Condensation of Zinc Ester Enolates with Benzaldehyde Anil Solvent Effects (Scheme 16) (76)... 

Table 1 summarizes the yields and selectivities of the addition of dienolate 2 to various aldehydes. It can be seen that the yield and enantioselectivity very much depend on the solvent, with THF being the best tested. The best results were obtained with pentanal (55% yield, 92% ee). On the other hand, when spiro dienolate 1 was used in these aldol reactions, benzaldehyde gave the best... 

Fig.l Possible transition states in the vinylogous aldol reaction of 8 with benzaldehyde... 

Table 9.2 summarises some of the results reported by Evans and coworkers in aldol condensations of boron enolates with benzaldehyde [14]. 

TABLE 9.2. Aldol condensations of dialkylboron enolates with benzaldehyde... 

The chiral A/ -propionyl-2-oxazolidones (32 and 38) are also useful chiral auxiliaries in the enantioselective a-alkylation of carbonyl compounds, and it is interesting to observe that the sense of chirality transfer in the lithium enolate alkylation is opposite to that observed in the aldol condensation with boron enolates. Thus, whereas the lithium enolate of 37 (see Scheme 9.13) reacts with benzyl bromide to give predominantly the (2/ )-isomer 43a (ratio 43a 43b = 99.2 0.8), the dibutylboron enolate reacts with benzaldehyde to give the (3R, 25) aldol 44a (ratio 44a 44b = 99.7 0.3). The resultant (2R) and (25)-3-phenylpropionic acid derivatives obtained from the hydrolysis of the corresponding oxazolidinones indicated the compounds to be optically pure substances. 

In the aldol-Tishchenko reaction, a lithium enolate reacts with 2 mol of aldehyde, ultimately giving, via an intramolecular hydride transfer, a hydroxy ester (51) with up to three chiral centres (R, derived from rYhIO). The kinetics of the reaction of the lithium enolate of p-(phenylsulfonyl)isobutyrophenone with benzaldehyde have been measured in THF. ° A kinetic isotope effect of fee/ o = 2.0 was found, using benzaldehyde-fil. The results and proposed mechanism, with hydride transfer rate limiting, are supported by ab initio MO calculations. 

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