Aldols, equilibration

Reaction of a solution of 3a,17p-diacetoxy-ll-hydroxy-5p-androst-9(ll)-en-12-one (71) in aqueous propanol with potassium hydroxide, followed by an acidic work-up, afforded the lactone (75 76%). Three events are involved in this transformation (Scheme 16), namely retro-aldol equilibration to give the cii-fused c-o-ring system (72) - (73), stereoselective benzilic acid rearrangement (73) - (74) to... 

Stotter has reported a study that suggests that the low stereoselectivity sometimes observed in aldol reactions of cyclohexanones results from significant aldolate equilibration. As shown in equation (63), the lithium enolate of l-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octan-3-one reacts with benzaldehyde to give, after normal... 

In most cases, aldolate equilibration is to be avoided, since the result is usually to degrade the kinetically established stereoisomer ratio. A good example is seen in the reaction of the lithium enolate of cyclohexanone with benzaldehyde (Scheme 1, vide supra). If this reaction is carried out at -50 °C and worked up after 3 s, the diastereomer ratio is 82 18. If the reaction mixture is worked up after 5 min, however, the ratio is only 60 40. 

If a Michael reaction uses an unsymmetrical ketone with two CH-groups of similar acidity, the enol or enolate is first prepared in pure form (p. llff.). To avoid equilibration one has to work at low temperatures. The reaction may then become slow, and it is advisable to further activate the carbon-carbon double bond. This may be achieved by the introduction of an extra electron-withdrawing silyl substituent at C-2 of an a -synthon. Treatment of the Michael adduct with base removes the silicon, and may lead as well to an aldol addition (G. Stork, 1973, 1974 B R.K. Boeckman, Jr., 1974). 

In the condensation of 2-butanone with citral, if the reaction temperature is kept at 0—10°C, higher yields of the isomethyl pseudoionones, which are the more thermodynamically stable isomers, are obtained. The aldol iatermediates have more time to equilibrate to the more stable isomers at the lower temperature. The type of base used and a cosolvent such as methanol are also very important ia getting a high yield of the isomethyl pseudoionones (168). 

For the other broad category of reaction conditions, the reaction proceeds under conditions of thermodynamic control. This can result from several factors. Aldol condensations can be effected for many compounds using less than a stoichiometric amount of base. Under these conditions, the aldol reaction is reversible, and the product ratio will be determined by the relative stability of the various possible products. Conditions of thermodynamic control also permit equilibration among all the enolates of the nucleophile. The conditions that permit equilibration include higher reaction temperatures, protic solvents, and the use of less tightly coordinating cations. 

The classical aldol addition, which is usually run in protic solvents, is reversible. Most modern aldol methodologies, however, rely on highly reactive preformed metal enolates, whereby proton donors are rigorously excluded. As a consequence, the majority of recent stereoselective aldol additions are performed under kinetic control. Despite this, reversibility and, as a consequence, an equilibration of yrn-aldolates to a t/-aldolates by retro-aldol addition, should not be excluded a priori. 

In general, the rate of syn/anti equilibration increases with decreasing basicity of the enolate and with increasing steric repulsion in the enolate. The first point is illustrated by the fact that aldolates derived from ketones (X = aryl, alkyl) undergo syn/anti equilibration more readily than those derived from amides or carboxylates (X = NR2,0-). It appears that the rate of the retro-aldol addition is higher when the enolate thereby generated is more stable. 

On the other hand, aldolates which contain sterically demanding substituents (Y) in the oc-position display a high tendency to undergo syn/anti equilibration. The release of strain may be a plausible explanation of the latter observation. 

Although lithium aldolates generally display a rather moderate preference for the u/f/z-isomer4, considerable degrees of diastereoselectivity have been observed in the reversible addition of doubly deprotonated carboxylic acids to aldehydes20. For example, the syn- and uw/z-alkox-ides, which form in a ratio of 1.9 1 in the kinctically controlled aldol addition, equilibrate in tetrahydrofuran at 25 C after several hours to a 1 49 mixture in favor of the anti-product20. 

Other studies have provided additional data on the relative stabilities of the lithium aldolates 14 and 15 derived from the condensation of dilithium enediolates 13 (Rj = alkyl, aryl) with representative aldehydes (eq. [ 10]) (16). Kinetic aldol ratios were also obtained for comparison in this and related studies (16,17). As summarized in Table 4, the diastereomeric aldol chelates 14a and ISa, derived from the enolate of phenylacetic acid 13 (R = Ph), reach equilibrium after 3 days at 25° C (entries A-D). The percentage of threo diastere-omer 15 increases with the increasing steric bulk of the aldehyde ligand R3 as expected. It is noteworthy that the diastereomeric aldol chelates 14a and 15a (Rj = CH3, C2HS, i-C3H7) do not equilibrate at room temperature over the 3 day period (16). In a related study directed at delineating the stereochemical control elements of the Reformatsky reaction, Kurtev examined the equilibration of both... 

In the equilibration studies previously cited, two mechanisms for the interconversion of aldol diastereoisomers are possible, the most obvious being via the retroaldol process (28). In some instances, however, base-catalyzed equilibration via the aldolate enolate 18 is certainly possible (eq. [11a]), and such enolates are well documented as useful intermediates in synthesis (19). For example, Frdter has demonstrated that aldolate enolate 18a may be generated from... 

It would be highly desirable to be able to correlate metal ion structure as well as the individual steric requirements of the specific substituents Ri, R2, and Ra with the equilibration studies cited above. Because of the numerous uncertainties associated with the data, however, only qualitative generalizations can be made. The higher-valent metal aldolate complexes (M = ZnL, MgL, AIL2), upon equilibration, appear to favor the threo diastereomer to a greater extent than the monovalent metal aldolates (M = Li, Na). With regard to... 

Related reactions, catalyzed by tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride (TBAF), have been reported (74). Under the influence of 5 to 10 mol % of TBAF (THF, -78°C), enolsilane 75 afforded the erythro and threo adducts 76E and 76T whose ratios were time dependent (5 min, E T =1 2 10.5 hr, E T =1 3) (74). The reaction of enolsilane 77 at various temperatures has also been reported (2). At -78 C (1 hr) complete kinetic erythro diastereoselection was observed under the conditions reported by Noyori (74), but at higher temperatures product equilibration was noted (2). It is significant that the kinetic aldol condensation of this tetraalkylammonium enolate exhibits complete erythro selection as noted for the analogous lithium derivative. 

Rate and equilibrium constants have been determined for the aldol condensation of a, a ,a -trifluoroacetophenone (34) and acetone, and the subsequent dehydration of the ketol (35) to the cis- and fraw -isomeric enones (36a) and (36b)." Hydration of the acetophenone, and the hydrate acting as an acid, were allowed for. Both steps of the aldol reaction had previously been subjected to Marcus analyses," and a prediction that the rate constant for the aldol addition step would be 10" times faster than that for acetophenone itself is borne out. The isomeric enones are found to equilibrate in base more rapidly than they hydrate back to the ketol, consistent with interconversion via the enolate of the ketol (37), which loses hydroxide faster than it can protonate at carbon. 

A small DCL was set up using D-mannose (56b) and o-lyxose (56c) as additional substrates. HPLC of the aldol products established equihbration taking place over 16 hours, with reversibility being proven by re-equilibration... 

Aldol reactions have also been used as a means of macrocychzation in total synthesis and were quite successful in some cases. However, over a broader spectrum of substrates, the results are unpredictable at best and yields and stereochemical outcome vary greatly. The predominant reasons are difficulties in selective enolate formation in multi-carbonyl compounds, competing and equilibrating retro-aldolizations—especially with polyketides, which often possess several aldol moieties—and intermolecular instead of intramolecular reaction preference. Whereas most of these drawbacks may be overcome, substrate-independent stereocontrol plays a crucial role. At least one new stereocenter is formed during a macroaldolization, and because of the folding constraints involved, its configuration cannot be adequately predicted. Therefore, this can be useful in special cases but with the current possibilities is not the method of choice for a general diversity-oriented synthesis. 

Because the aldol reaction is reversible, it is possible to adjust reaction conditions so that the two stereoisomeric aldol products equilibrate. This can be done in the case of lithium enolates by keeping the reaction mixture at room temperature until the product composition reaches equilibrium. This has been done, for example, for the product from the reaction of the enolate of ethyl /-butyl ketone and benzaldehyde. 

The stereo- and regioselectivity of deprotonation can be kinetically or thermodynamically (equilibrium) controlled. Equilibrium between enolates occurs when a proton donor is present. The proton donor can be the solvent or an excess of the ketone in relation to the strong base present for generation of the enolate. Ketone enolate equilibration can also proceed via an aldol-rever-... 

Based on the stereospecific transketolase-catalyzed ketol transfer from hydroxy-pyruvate (20) to D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (18), we have thus developed a practical and efficient one-pot procedure for the preparation of the valuable keto-sugar 19 on a gram scale in 82% overall yield [29]. Retro-aldolization of D-fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (2) in the presence of FruA with enzymatic equilibration of the C3 fragments is used as a convenient in-situ source of the triose phosphate 18 (Scheme 2.2.5.8). Spontaneous release of CO2 from the ketol donor 20 renders the overall synthetic reaction irreversible [29]. 

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