Alkenes Julia-Lythgoe olefination

The Julia olefination involves the addition of a sulfonyl-stabilized carbanion to a carbonyl compound, followed by elimination to form an alkene.277 In the initial versions of the reaction, the elimination was done under reductive conditions. More recently, a modified version that avoids this step was developed. The former version is sometimes referred to as the Julia-Lythgoe olefination, whereas the latter is called the Julia-Kocienski olefination. In the reductive variant, the adduct is usually acylated and then treated with a reducing agent, such as sodium amalgam or samarium diiodide.278... 

Alkene-Forming Step of the Julia-Lythgoe Olefination... 

The last step of the Julia-Lythgoe olefination is an elimination, which is typically performed with sodium amalgam and starts with an Elcb elimination to give an alkenyl sulfone (mechanistic analysis Figure 4.40) with its reduction to the alkene following in situ. Both the related mechanism and an explanation of the resulting fraws-selectivity will be outlined later in Figure 17.85. 

The fact that the Julia-Lythgoe olefination requires more than one step to prepare alkenes has generally been accepted as an inconvenient and inevitable part of the procedure developed by Marc Julia and Basil Lythgoe. This flaw kept nagging at Marc Julia s brother Sylvestre, who would not rest until he had found the one-step (Sylvestre) Julia olefination. The (Sylvestre) Julia-Kocienski olefination has become the state-of-the-art-variant of this olefination (Figure 11.23). It may be applied to any kind of aldehyde. 

Fig. 11.22. Julia-Lythgoe olefination of aldehydes to form trans-alkenes in two steps (1) addition of a lithium sulfone B <-> B1 to an aldehyde in-situ acetylation (2) reduction of the syir.cmti-diastereomeric mixture of the resulting sulfonylacetates C with sodium amalgam.

The Julia-Lythgoe olefination has already been addressed twice as an important C=C double bond-forming two- or three-step synthesis of trans-alkenes (trans-B in Figure 17.85). The step... 

Marko, I. E., Murphy, F., Kumps, L., Ates, A., Touillaux, R., Craig, D., Carballares, S., Dolan, S. Efficient preparation of trisubstituted alkenes using the Sml2 modification of the Julia-Lythgoe olefination of ketones and aldehydes. Tetrahedron 2001,57, 2609-2619. 

Samarium iodide can also be used as an alternative to sodium/ mercury amalgam for the reductive elimination of 1,2-acetoxy-sulfones in the Julia-Lythgoe olefination. The alkene is generated in a two-step process that first involves DBU or LDA treatment to generate a vinyl sulfone that is then reductively cleaved with samarium iodide (eq 44). The diastereoselectivity of both transformations is usually quite good and the method is compatible with the synthesis of monoalkenes as well as dienes and trienes. 

The olefination of ketones to prepare trisubstituted alkenes employing Na-Hg affords moderate yields, unpredictable stereoselectivities and large amounts of retro-aldol products from the intermediate jS-alkoxy sulfones. High yields and moderate stereoselectivities of trisubstituted alkenes are obtained by a modification of the Julia-Lythgoe olefination reaction, involving the in situ capture of the intermediate y6-alkoxy sulfones with a... 

Modification of the Julia-Lythgoe olefination reaction between ketones and primary sulfones leads to trisubstituted alkenes in good overall yields reported by Marko and co-workers. Samarium diiodide/HMPA shown to play a crucial role in the reductive elimination step. Starting from sulfone 40, key intermediate 42 was produced in 93% yield, which was further converted to 43 in 73% yield with E/Z ratio of 2 1. More complicated intermediate 44 was similarly reduced by Smh to 45 in 68% yield. 

The use of the Julia-Lythgoe olefination with cyclopropylsulfones and cyclopropylsulfoxides for the synthesis of alkylidenecyclopropanes was reported by Bernard and co-workers. The adduct sulfide 60, prepared from sulfide 58, was oxidized to sulfone 61 and sulfoxide 64 by controlling oxidation temperature. Both intermediate 61 and 64 can be further converted to trisubstituted alkene 63 under different reductive condition. 

Marko and co-workers also made an efforts on the modification of the classical Julia-Lythgoe olefination using sulfoxides instead of sulfones. The modified reaction, after in situ benzoylation and Sml2/HMPA- or DMPU-mediated reductive elimination, provides 1,2-di-, tri-, and tetra-substituted olefins in moderate to excellent yields and E/Z selectivity. For example benzoated sulfoxide 67 was obtained by addition of sulfoxide 66 to aldehyde 33, which was subsequently reduced into alkene 68 in 67% yield with E/Z ratio of > 95 1. 

The Julia-Lythgoe olefination and Kocienski modification have applied broadly in the synthesis of nature products. Isoprostane of A2 and h are isomeric of the cyclopentenone prostaglandins A2 and J2, respectively, which are reported to exert unique biological effects. Prostaglandins of A2 and J2 series have been reported to be active against a wide variety of DNA and RNA viruses, including HIV-1 and influenza virus. They also possess a potent anti-inflammatory activity due to the inhibition and modification of the subunit IKKP of the enzyme IA B kinase. Zanoni and co-workers reported the first total synthesis of A2 Isoprostane 101 employed a stereoselective Julia-Lythgoe olefination in the formation of C 13 14 double bond. The intermediate 99, obtained in 87% yield by addition of sulfone 97 to aldehyde 98, was reduced by Na(Hg) to alkene 100 in 81% yield. 

Hennoxazole A displays potency against Herpes Simplex virus type 1 and peripheral analgesic activity comparable to that of indomethacin. Williams and co-workers reported a total synthesis of (-)-hennoxazole A 141. The Kocienski modification of the Julia-Lythgoe olefination was very successfully employed in the formation of Cn-Cis alkene in 85% yield with excellent iJ-selectivity E/Z = 91 9) by reacting sulfone 140 with aldehyde 139. Hydrolysis of the C4 pivaloate ester (LiOH in aqueous THF/MeOH) provided synthetic hennoxazole A (141) in 72% yield. 

Marko IE, Murphy F, Dolan S. Efficient preparation of tri-substituted alkenes using the Julia-Lythgoe olefination of ketones. On the key-role of Sml2 in the reductive ehmination step. Tetrahedron Lett. 1996 37(12) 2089-2092. 

The Julia-Lythgoe-Kocienski olefination reaction7 between 5 and 8 to obtain alkene 23... 

The first step in this multistage reaction is the nucleophilic addition of sulfone anion 28 to aldehyde 8 (Scheme 14.6). This produces a p-alkoxysulfone intermediate 29 which is trapped with acetic anhydride. The resulting P acetoxysulfone mixture 22 is then subjected to a reductive elimination with Na/Hg amalgam to obtain alkene 23. The tendency of Julia-Lythgoe-Kocienski olefinations to provide ( )-1,2-disubstituted alkenes can be rationalised if one assumes that an a-acyloxy anion is formed in the reduction step, and that this anion is sufficiently long-lived to allow the lowest energy conformation to be adopted. Clearly, this will... 

The strategy described here should find considerable use as a method for the stereoselective synthesis of alkenes. Although this olefination strategy involves one more step than the classic Wittig reaction, in many cases it may prove to be the more practical method. Finally, the scope, overall efficiency, and stereoselectivity of the 0-lactone route compares favorably to the Wittig, Julia-Lythgoe, and related established strategies for the synthesis of tri- and tetrasubstituted alkenes. 

Julia-Lythgoe olefmation is probably the most important method for synthesizing acceptor-free, -configured alkenes, starting from an aldehyde and a primary alkylphenyl sulfone. In this two-step procedure, first the sulfone reacts with the aldehyde to form an acetyl-protected alcoholate and second this species undergoes Elcb elimination to afford the desired alkene. (Sylvestre) Julia olefination is a one-step procedure. It also affords -configured olefins from an aldehyde and an alkylsulfone as substrates, but is limited to base-resistant aldehydes. The most advanced variant is (Sylvestre) Julia-Kocienski olefination, which is also a one-step procedure and is applicable to all kinds of aldehydes. The mechanism is shown below. 

Marc Julia and Paris invented this methodology for the preparation of E)-olefin in the synthesis of Liaisons in 1973. The Julia coupling was applied to the synthesis of mono-, di- and tetra-substituted alkenes in the original communication. Kocienski and Lythgoe first demonstrated the trans... 

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