Alkenes, carboalumination

Effective catalysts have recently been developed for the addition of trialkyl-aluminum reagents to alkenes (carboalumination). 6 -(Pentamethylcyclopentadienyl) zirconium dimethylide activated by fra-(pentafluorophenyl)boron promotes the addition of trimethylaluminum to terminal alkenes.221... 

Allyl aryl ethers undergo accelerated Claisen and [1,3] rearrangements in the presence of a mixture of trialkylalanes and water or aluminoxanes. The addition of stoichiometric quantities of water accelerates both the trimethylaluminum-mediated aromatic Claisen reaction and the chiral zirconocene-catalyzed asymmetric carboalumination of terminal alkenes. These two reactions occur in tandem and, after oxidative quenching of the intermediate trialkylalane, result in the selective formation of two new C-C bonds and one C-0 bond (Eq. 12.70).153 Antibodies have also been developed to catalyze Claisen154 and oxy-Cope155 rearrangements. 

Zirconium-catalyzed asymmetric carboalumination of alkenes (ZACA reaction) 272... 

Scheme 30 Zirconium-catalyzed enantioselective carboalumination of alkenes.

Negishi reported the zirconium-catalyzed enantioselective carboalumination of alkenes, which consisted of a hydroalumination/alkylalumination tandem process.133-135 This permits the asymmetric syntheses of methyl-substituted alkanols and other derivatives, typically with >90% ee, which represents an increase in ee value by 15% from the previously obtained 70-80%.136-138 The hydroalumination/zirconium-catalyzed enantioselective carboalumination of alkenes was carried out using (—)-bis(neomenthylindenyl)zirconium dichloride as the catalyst (Table 15).133... 

Although the application of carboalumination to the synthesis of natural products is still in its infancy, a few preliminary results shown in Scheme 1.50 [167,168,171,172] suggest that it promises to become a major asymmetric synthetic reaction, provided that (i) the singularly important case of methylalumination can be made to proceed with S90% ee, and (ii) satisfactory and convenient methods for enantiomeric and diastereo-meric separation/purification can be developed. In this context, significant increases in ee in the synthesis of methyl-substituted alkanols from around 75 % to 90—93 % achieved through some strategic modifications are noteworthy (Scheme 1.50) [168]. Shortly before the discovery of the Zr-catalyzed enantioselective carboalumination, a fundamentally discrete Zr-catalyzed asymmetric reaction of allylically heterosubstituted alkenes proceeding via cyclic carbozirconation was reported, as discussed later in this section. 

An important observation in the area of Zr-catalyzed carboaluminations of alkenes is that made by Wipf and Ribe that addition of water leads to substantial acceleration of the C—C bond-forming process [35]. Thus, as illustrated in Scheme 6.14, whereas catalytic alkylation of the silylated alkene 41 does not afford any of the desired product, upon addition of one equivalent of water, 42 is formed in 85 % yield with 80 % ee. As is also depicted in Scheme 6.14, carboaluminations of unsaturated alcohols are less efficient (—> 43, but better than reactions without water), while those involving alkenes that bear an a-branched substituent are less selective (—> 44). Another impressive example of rate... 

Syntheses of isolable organometallic species by carbometallations of alkenes are difficult because many side reactions can occur, namely p-hydride elimination and chain propagation. As a consequence, only a few examples have been reported to date, mainly concerning reactions in which the initial carboalumination product is trapped through fast intra-... 

Carbometallation is a term coined for describing chemical processes involving net addition of carbon-metal bonds to carbon-carbon Jt-bonds [1] (Scheme 4.1). It represents a class of insertion reactions. Whereas the term insertion per se does not imply anything chemical, the term carbometallation itself not only explicitly and clearly indicates carbon-metal bond addition but also is readily modifiable to generate many additional, more specific terms such as carboalumination, arylpalladation, and so on. In principle, carbometallation may involve addition of carbon-metal double and triple bonds, that is, carbene- and carbyne-metal bonds, as well as those of metallacycles. Inasmuch as alkene- and alkyne-metal Jt-complexes can also be represented as three-membered metallacycles, their ring expansion reactions via addition to alkenes and alkynes may also be viewed as carbometallation processes (Scheme 4.1). 

Since the discovery of the Zr-catalyzed controlled monocarboalumination of alkynes in 1978 (1] (Eq. 4.1), its application to the development of a related Zr-catalyzed enantioselective carboalumination of alkenes as shown in Equation 4.2 has been an attractive but rather elusive synthetic goal. Although enantioselective hydroboration of 1,1-disubstituted alkenes produces related organoboron products, hydroboration of 1,1-disubstituted alkenes has exhibited very low levels (usually <10-20% ee) of enantioselectivity [7] (Eq. 4.3) (Scheme 4.5). 

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