Alkenes, cyclic, addition stereochemistry

The stereochemistry of radical addition of hydrogen bromide to alkenes has been studied with both acyclic and cyclic alkenes. Anti addition is favored.This is contrary to what would be expected if the s[p- carbon of the radical were rapidly rotating or inverting with respect to the remainder of the molecule ... 

The classic analysis that implicates the formation of a cyclic halonium ion emphasizes the stereochemistry of the products. With unconjugated alkenes, anti addition is consistently seen. This requires backside attack of the nucleophile, indicating that the "frontside" has been blocked. For example, the addition of bromine to 3-t-butylcyclohexene gives trans-dibromo products (Eq. 10.15). 

The preferred stereochemistry of addition to cyclic alkenes is anti The additions are not as highly stereoselective as hydrogen bromide addition, however. 

If the carbanion has even a short lifetime, 6 and 7 will assume the most favorable conformation before the attack of W. This is of course the same for both, and when W attacks, the same product will result from each. This will be one of two possible diastereomers, so the reaction will be stereoselective but since the cis and trans isomers do not give rise to different isomers, it will not be stereospecific. Unfortunately, this prediction has not been tested on open-chain alkenes. Except for Michael-type substrates, the stereochemistry of nucleophilic addition to double bonds has been studied only in cyclic systems, where only the cis isomer exists. In these cases, the reaction has been shown to be stereoselective with syn addition reported in some cases and anti addition in others." When the reaction is performed on a Michael-type substrate, C=C—Z, the hydrogen does not arrive at the carbon directly but only through a tautomeric equilibrium. The product naturally assumes the most thermodynamically stable configuration, without relation to the direction of original attack of Y. In one such case (the addition of EtOD and of Me3CSD to tra -MeCH=CHCOOEt) predominant anti addition was found there is evidence that the stereoselectivity here results from the final protonation of the enolate, and not from the initial attack. For obvious reasons, additions to triple bonds cannot be stereospecific. As with electrophilic additions, nucleophilic additions to triple bonds are usually stereoselective and anti, though syn addition and nonstereoselective addition have also been reported. 

The stereochemistry of oxymercuration has been examined in a number of systems. Conformationally biased cyclic alkenes such as 4-r-butylcyclohexene and 4-f-butyl-l-methycyclohexene give exclusively the product of anti addition, which is consistent with a mercurinium ion intermediate.17,22... 

Dipolar addition to nitroalkenes provides a useful strategy for synthesis of various heterocycles. The [3+2] reaction of azomethine ylides and alkenes is one of the most useful methods for the preparation of pyrolines. Stereocontrolled synthesis of highly substituted proline esters via [3+2] cycloaddition between IV-methylated azomethine ylides and nitroalkenes has been reported.147 The stereochemistry of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides derived from aromatic aldehydes and L-proline alkyl esters with various nitroalkenes has been reported. Cyclic and acyclic nitroalkenes add to the anti form of the ylide in a highly regioselective manner to give pyrrolizidine derivatives.148... 

According to the stepwise electrophilic reaction mechanism, the differences in the stereochemistries of the products from the reactions of alkenes with cyclic 49 and acyclic 51 disulfonium dications can be explained by the larger rates of the intramolecular reactions. In the case of a cyclic dication, the carbocationic center in intermediate 94, which is formed as the result of initial attack by a S-S dication on a double C=C bond reacts with nucleophile intramolecularly, thus conserving the configuration of the substituents at the double bond. On the other hand, an acyclic dication undergoes transformation to two separate particles (95 and dimethylsulfide) with a consequent loss of stereoselectivity. Additional experiments with deuteretad alkenes confirm that reaction is not stereoselective, lending further support to the stepwise mechanism (Scheme 36).106... 

The overall course of reaction depends on the relative rate constants for the various secondary radical processes. Aliphatic ketones are often photoreduced to secondary alcohols (4.121, but although there are interesting features in the stereochemistry of the reduction, the method is not a worthwhile alternative to thermal reduction using hydride reagents, except in cases where the substrate is sensitive to basic conditions. Photoaddition of methanol is promoted in the presence of titaniurnfiv) chloride, both for acyclic and cyclic (4.33) ketones the titanium involvement probably starts in the early steps of the reaction, but the detailed mechanism is not known. Addition may also be a major pathway when cyclohexene is used as hydrogen source (4.341 unlike many other simple alkenes, cydohexene does not readily give oxetanes by photocycloaddition (see p. 126). 

The stereochemistry of palladium-catalyzed hydrocyanation has been studied further using [Pd(DIOP)2] (133) as catalyst.607 It was shown that the addition of HCN to both cyclic and acyclic alkenes is cis. The mechanism is believed to be the same as for the nickel-catalyzed reaction (Scheme 58). 

The stereochemistry of addition to acyclic, cyclic and polycyclic alkenes is essentially identical to that of hydroxymercuration wherever the two processes have been compared. Fewer data have been accumulated for alkoxymercuration however. 

Each of the syntheses of seychellene summarized in Scheme 20 illustrates one of the two important methods for generating vinyl radicals. In the more common method, the cyclization of vinyl bromide (34) provides tricycle (35).93 Because of the strength of sjp- bonds to carbon, the only generally useful precursors of vinyl radicals in this standard tin hydride approach are bromides and iodides. Most vinyl radicals invert rapidly, and therefore the stereochemistry of the radical precursor is not important. The second method, illustrated by the conversion of (36) to (37),94 generates vinyl radicals by the addition of the tin radical to an alkyne.95-98 The overall transformation is a hydrostannylation, but a radical cyclization occurs between the addition of the stannyl radical and the hydrogen transfer. Concentration may be important in these reactions because direct hydrostannylation of die alkyne can compete with cyclization. Stork has demonstrated that the reversibility of the stannyl radical addition step confers great power on this method.93 For example, in the conversion of (38) to (39), the stannyl radical probably adds reversibly to all of the multiple bond sites. However, the radicals that are produced by additions to the alkene, or to the internal carbon of the alkyne, have no favorable cyclization pathways. Thus, all the product (39) derives from addition to the terminal alkyne carbon. Even when cyclic products might be derived from addition to the alkene, followed by cyclization to the alkyne, they often are not found because 0-stannyl alkyl radicals revert to alkenes so rapidly that they do not close. 

As with alkenes, in general, anti-addition is often the course of reaction, especially when halonium ions are involved109-112. However, as mentioned earlier, syn addition can take place in the bromination of /Tsilylslyrenes. This stereochemistry is explained by stabilization of the open-chain carbocation by the aromatic group, compared to the cyclic bromonium ion. In this case the conformer 83 has the maximum hyperconjugative stabilization, and is formed by the least motion rotation about the carbon-carbon bond. 

Stereochemistry of the addition of a cyclic disulfonium dication generated from 1,4-dithiane to alkenes has been shown to be non-stereospecific, presumably as a result of a stepwise mechanism.44... 

Fig. Anti-stereochemistry of bromine addition to a cyclic alkene.

The anti addition of diethyl 7V,Ar-dibromophosphoramidates to acyclic and cyclic alkenes was achieved in the presence of boron trifluoride, which makes the ionic dissociation of the N —Br bond more labile94,9s. After reduction of the initial /J,lV-dibromo adducts with sodium bisulfite, the /i-bromo-A -hydrophosphoramides 3 precursor of / -bromo amine hydrochlorides 4 were obtained (Table 4). However, a mixture of diastereomers was obtained from (Z)-l-phenyl-l-propene and (E)- and (Z)-l,2-diphenylethylene. Direct assignment of stereochemistry by H NMR of the phosphoroamidates derived from 2-butenes was not possible. Detailed analysis is, however, possible for the H-NMR spectra of the /J-bromo amine hydrochlorides. As determined by 31P NMR spectroscopy all additions to unsymmetrical aliphatic alkenes were not regiospecific. The /f-bromo amine hydrochlorides were converted to 1,2-diamines95. 

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