Aldolization, hydroformylation

As an approach to the synthesis of aldols, hydroformylation of (Z)-jS-silylallyl alcohols 46 catalyzed by RhH(CO)(PPh3)3/PPh3 gives 47 with high regioselectiv-ity (>98%) (Eq. 22). ... 

Henry reaction (nitro aldol) Hydroformylation Hydrogenation (H2)... 

Eatty alcohols, prepared from fatty acids or via petrochemical processes, aldol or hydroformylation reactions, or the Ziegler process, react with ammonia or a primary or secondary amine in the presence of a catalyst to form amines (10—12). 

Propane, 1-propanol, and heavy ends (the last are made by aldol condensation) are minor by-products of the hydroformylation step. A number of transition-metal carbonyls (qv), eg, Co, Fe, Ni, Rh, and Ir, have been used to cataly2e the oxo reaction, but cobalt and rhodium are the only economically practical choices. In the United States, Texas Eastman, Union Carbide, and Hoechst Celanese make 1-propanol by oxo technology (11). Texas Eastman, which had used conventional cobalt oxo technology with an HCo(CO)4 catalyst, switched to a phosphine-modified Rh catalyst ia 1989 (11) (see Oxo process). In Europe, 1-propanol is made by Hoechst AG and BASE AG (12). 

The largest commercial process is the hydroformylation of propene, which yields n-butyraldehyde and isobutyraldehyde. n-Butyraldehyde (n-butanal) is either hydrogenated to n-butanol or transformed to 2-ethyl-hexanol via aldol condensation and subsequent hydrogenation. 2-Ethylhexanol is an important plasticizer for polyvinyl chloride. This reaction is noted in Chapter 8. 

Hydroformylation is an important industrial process carried out using rhodium phosphine or cobalt carbonyl catalysts. The major industrial process using the rhodium catalyst is hydroformylation of propene with synthesis gas (potentially obtainable from a renewable resource, see Chapter 6). The product, butyraldehyde, is formed as a mixture of n- and iso- isomers the n-isomer is the most desired product, being used for conversion to butanol via hydrogenation) and 2-ethylhexanol via aldol condensation and hydrogenation). Butanol is a valuable solvent in many surface coating formulations whilst 2-ethylhexanol is widely used in the production of phthalate plasticizers. 

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. 

Abstract Aldehydes obtained from olefins under hydroformylation conditions can be converted to more complex reaction products in one-pot reaction sequences. These involve heterofunctionalization of aldehydes to form acetals, aminals, imines and enamines, including reduction products of the latter in an overall hydroaminomethylation. Furthermore, numerous conversions of oxo aldehydes with additional C.C-bond formation are conceivable such as aldol reactions, allylations, carbonyl olefinations, ene reactions and electrophilic aromatic substitutions, including Fischer indole syntheses. 

The aldol reaction is probably one of the most important reactions in organic synthesis. In many industrially important hydroformylation processes selfcondensation of aldehydes is observed. Sometimes this consecutive reaction is favored as in the production of 2-ethyl hexanol. But synthetic applications of tandem hydroformylation/aldol reactions seem to be limited due regiose-lectivity problems of a mixed aldol reaction (Scheme 28). However, various tandem hydroformylation/intramolecular mixed aldol reactions have been described. 

Scheme 28 Basic principle of the hydroformylation/aldol reaction...

For example, rhodium catalyzed hydroformylation of 2-formyl-N-allyl-pyrrol gives an approx. 1 1 mixture of iso- and u-aldehydes. The latter cyclizes immediately in an aldol reaction followed by dehydration giving 7-formyl-5,6-indolizine in up to 46% (Scheme 29) [83]. Since here only one of the aldehyde groups can act as the enolate nucleophile this cyclization proceed with high regioselectivity (Scheme 29). 

In almost the same manner, tandem hydroformylation/aldol condensation aldol condensation of ketoolefins, such as p,y-unsaturated ketones, gives a single cyclization product under acid catalysis. Similar to the stepwise reaction, the in situ generated aldehyde preferentially acts as the electrophilic carbonyl component, while the ketone acts as the nucleophilic enol to form the five-membered ring product. Subsequent dehydration and hydrogenation of the resulting enone readily occurs under the reductive reaction conditions used (Scheme 30) [84],... 

This method can also be applied to silyl enol ethers of homologous unsaturated ketones as well as of unsaturated aldehydes or esters [85-87]. While unmodified unsaturated esters give only the corresponding aldehydes without cyclization under tandem hydroformylation/aldol reaction conditions, the corresponding silylated ester enolates smoothly cyclize in a tandem hy-droformylation/ Mukaiyama aldol reaction (Scheme 32) [85-87]. 

Similarly, tandem hydroformylation/aldol sequences can be applied to the formation of bicyclic and spirocyclic compounds. Thus silyl enol ethers of 3-vinyl and 3-allyl cycloalkanones give ring anellated products (Scheme 33) [86,87]. 

Very recently, a tandem sequence consisting of enolboration/hydroform-ylation/aldol reaction has been described [88]. Here configuration of the enol boronate is transferred to the aldol product, allowing good to excellent di-astereoselectivities in the hydroformylation/aldol reaction. With this method, 5-7-membered rings are obtained in excellent yields (Scheme 35). 

General Procedure for Sequential Enolboration/Hydroformylation/Aldoladdition. Synthesis of Cyclic Aldol Products. NEt3 (1.05 eq to carbonyl compound) was precomplexed under an argon atmosphere with (cy-hex)2BCl (1.05 eq) in dry CH2C12 at 0 °C for 15 min. The unsaturated carbonyl compound was then added slowly via syringe and the enolbo-... 

Auto-tandem hydroformylation-cyclization, catalyzed by [RhCl(cod)]2, enables expansion of the organic skeleton of unsaturated silyl enol ethers (Scheme 10). Linear aldehydes generated in the hydroformylation step subsequently undergo Rh-catalyzed, intramolecular Mukaiyama aldol addition. Bicyclic ketones are also accessible from cyclic silyl enol ethers. 

In a similar manner, the cyclohydrocarbonylation of A -l-allyl-2-formylpyrrole 80a-c afforded 7-formyl-5,6-dihydroin-dolizine 84a-c in good yield through one-pot cascade hydroformylation-aldol condensation process (Scheme 13)." ... 

---