ALKENES unhindered

Intramolecular reactions with alkenes. While the intermolecular reaction is limited to unhindered alkenes, the intramolecular version permits the participation of even hindered substituted alkenes, and various cyclic compounds are prepared by the intramolecular Heck reaction. Particularly the... 

Mono-, di-, and trialkylboranes may be obtained from olefins and the trifunctional borane molecule. Simple unhindered alkenes yield trialkylboranes and it is not possible to halt the reaction at the mono- or dialkylborane stage. With more hindered and trisubstituted alkenes the reaction can be controlled to stop at the dialkylborane stage. 

A number of less hindered monoalkylboranes is available by indirect methods, eg, by treatment of a thexylborane—amine complex with an olefin (69), the reduction of monohalogenoboranes or esters of boronic acids with metal hydrides (70—72), the redistribution of dialkylboranes with borane (64) or the displacement of an alkene from a dialkylborane by the addition of a tertiary amine (73). To avoid redistribution, monoalkylboranes are best used /V situ or freshly prepared. However, they can be stored as monoalkylborohydrides or complexes with tertiary amines. The free monoalkylboranes can be hberated from these derivatives when required (69,74—76). Methylborane, a remarkably unhindered monoalkylborane, exhibits extraordinary hydroboration characteristics. It hydroborates hindered and even unhindered olefins to give sequentially alkylmethyl- and dialkylmethylboranes (77—80). 

Primary dialkylboranes react readily with most alkenes at ambient temperatures and dihydroborate terminal acetylenes. However, these unhindered dialkylboranes exist in equiUbtium with mono- and ttialkylboranes and cannot be prepared in a state of high purity by the reaction of two equivalents of an alkene with borane (35—38). Nevertheless, such mixtures can be used for hydroboration if the products are acceptable for further transformations or can be separated (90). When pure primary dialkylboranes are required they are best prepared by the reduction of dialkylhalogenoboranes with metal hydrides (91—93). To avoid redistribution they must be used immediately or be stabilized as amine complexes or converted into dialkylborohydtides. 

As is true for most reagents, there is a preference for approach of the borane from the less hindered face of the alkene. Because diborane itself is a relatively small molecule, the stereoselectivity is not high for unhindered alkenes. Table 4.4 gives some data comparing the direction of approach for three cyclic alkenes. The products in all cases result from syn addition, but the mixtures result from both the low regioselectivity and from addition to both faces of the double bond. Even 7,7-dimethylnorbornene shows only modest preference for endo addition with diborane. The selectivity is enhanced with the bulkier reagent 9-BBN. 

The unhindered phospha-alkene (175) has been characterised in solution as a complex involving ir-donation from the double bond to a tungsten carbonyl acceptor. This complex reacts with 1,3-dienes to give adducts e.g. (176), in which the phosphorus atom... 

Following Wilkinson s discovery of [RhCl(PPh3)3] as an homogeneous hydrogenation catalyst for unhindered alkenes [14b, 35], and the development of methods to prepare chiral phosphines by Mislow [36] and Horner [37], Knowles [38] and Horner [15, 39] each showed that, with the use of optically active tertiary phosphines as ligands in complexes of rhodium, the enantioselective asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral C=C double bonds is possible (Scheme 1.8). 

The method is suitable for the preparation of ethers having primary alkyl groups only. The alkyl group should be unhindered and the temperature be kept low. Otherwise the reaction favours the formation of alkene. The reaction follows S l pathway when the alcohol is secondary or tertiary about which you will learn in higher classes. However, the dehydration of secondary and tertiary alcohols to give corresponding ethers is unsuccessful as elimination competes over substitution and as a consequence, alkenes are easily formed. 

Nucleophilic displacement using [ F] fluoride works well in aUphatic systems where reactive haUdes or sulfonates esters can undergo substitution at unhindered sites. In order to introduce a F fluorine atom in a secondary or tertiary position, a two steps strategy was developed. It involves a F-bromofluorination of alkenes, followed by reductive debromination (n-BujSnH, AIBN). [ F]BrF is usually generated in situ from [ F]potassium fluoride and l,3-dibromo-5,5-dimethylhydantoin (DBH) in sulfuric acid. This methodology was successfully applied to label steroids at the 11 and 6a positions [245] (Scheme 60) and to prepare [ F]fluorocyclohexanes [246]. 

Preparation of alkenes Ketone reacts with phosphorus ylide to give alkene. By dividing a target molecule at the double bond, one can decide which of the two components should best come from the carbonyl, and which from the ylide. In general, the ylide should come from an unhindered alkyl halide since triphenyl phosphine is bulky. 

Bimolecular dehydration is generally used for the synthesis of symmetrical ethers from unhindered 1° alcohols. Industrially, diethyl ether is obtained by heating ethanol at 140 °C in the presence of H2SO4. In this reaction, ethanol is protonated in the presence of an acid, which is then attacked hy another molecule of ethanol to give diethyl ether. This is an acid-catalysed Sn2 reaction. If the temperature is too high, alkene is formed via elimination. 

Addition to alkenes,2 The reagent (1) adds to unhindered alkenes to form anti-Markownikoff adducts the same reaction catalyzed by BF3 ethcrate gives the Markownikoff adduct. The products on oxidation with m-chloroperbenzoic acid give vinyl sulfones. 

Borane may react sequentially with 3 mol of alkene to form mono-, di-, and trialk-ylboranes. Both the alkene structure and reaction conditions affect product distribution. Trialkylboranes are usually formed from terminal olefins [Eq. (6.57)] and unhindered disubstituted alkenes such as cyclopentene irrespective of the reactant ratio.340 The reaction cannot be stopped at the mono- or dialkylborane stage. In contrast, hindered disubstituted olefins (e.g., cyclohexene) and trisubstituted alkenes are converted mainly to dialkylboranes [Eq. (6.58)]. Careful control of... 

These bulky boranes still possess B-H bonds and can add further to a multiple bond, but they are highly selective reagents and add only if the alkene or alkyne is unhindered. This selectivity can be useful, particularly in additions... 

An especially selective hydroborating reagent is prepared from 1,5-cyclooctadiene and borane. The product is a bicyclic compound of structure 1 (often abbreviated as 9-BBN), in which the residual B-H bond adds to unhindered alkenes with much greater selectivity than is observed with other hydroborating reagents. It is also one of the few boranes that reacts sufficiently slowly with oxygen that it can be manipulated in air. 

If in the reactions of vinyl halides with alkenes a sterically unhindered secondary amine is used as base, different products are obtained (equation 192).6SO Incorporation of the amine occurs to give unsaturated tertiary amine as the major product. The conjugated dienes which would be expected from reaction (191) are present as minor products. 

Vinyl substitutions on alkenes not having their double bonds conjugated with carbonyl groups often proceed more rapidly and give better product yields when the reactions are conducted in the presence of an unhindered secondary amine. Conjugated and nonconjugated dienes are usually only minor products in these cases. The major products normally are allylic amines obtained by nucleophilic attack of the secondary amine upon the ir-allylpalladium intermediates. Since allylic amines may be quatemized and subjected to the Hoffmann elimination, this is a two-step alternative to the direct vinyl substitution reaction.90... 

The insertion reaction is stereospecific and syn. Moreover the /S-hydride elimination is also syn. For acyclic alkenes there is free rotation in the organopalladium intermediate so that the more stable /ra .v-alkene is formed. Electron-withdrawing groups in the alkene also increase the rate of the insertion reaction and give higher yields generally, but the reaction is limited to relatively sterically unhindered alkenes. In general, polar solvents such as DMF or acetonitrile are most commonly used. There are several common additives which aid in the reaction. These include lithium or tetraalkylammonium chlorides and bromide, silver salts, or cuprous iodide, but exactly how they function is unknown at present. 

Asymmetric hydroboration.2 In a review of asymmetric hydroboration, Brown el al. conclude that this is the preferred reagent for asymmetric hydroboration of unhindered n j-alkenes. Thus, (R)-(—)-2-butanol can be prepared from cis-2-butene with ( —)-l in 98% ee and (S)-( + )-2-butanol is obtained using (+)-l in 95% ee. The alcohols obtained in this way have the same absolute configuration. 

Whereas the intermolecular Heck reaction is limited to unhindered alkenes, the intramolecular version permits the participation of even hindered substituted alkenes, and many cyclic compounds can be prepared by the intramolecular Heck reaction [37]. The stereospecific synthesis of an A ring synthon of la-hydroxyvitamin D has been carried out. Cyclization of the (7T)-alkene 88 gives the (fT)-exo-diene 90, and the (Z)-alkene 91 affords the (Z)-exo-diene 92 [38]. These reactions are stereospecific, and can be understood by cis carbopalladation to form 89 and the. sun-elimination mechanism. 

Hofmann s Rule implies that steric effects have the greatest influence on the outcome of the Hofmann or similar eliminations. The loss of the (3-hydrogen occurs preferably from the most unhindered (least substituted) position [-CH3 > -CH2-R > -CH(R2)]. The product alkene with fewer substitutents will predominate. 

Unhindered alkenes react rapidly with borane to give initially monoalkylboranes, then dialkylboranes, and finally trialkylboranes. The reaction of borane with ethene is illustrated in Equation B1.4. 

Unsymmetric alkenes, which carry more alkyl substituents at the center than at the Ca center, are also hydroborated by the unhindered BH3 with considerable regioselectivity... 

Formation of the Hofmann Product Bulky bases can also accomplish dehydrohalo-genations that do not follow the Zaitsev rule. Steric hindrance often prevents a bulky base from abstracting the proton that leads to the most highly substituted alkene. In these cases, it abstracts a less hindered proton, often the one that leads to formation of the least highly substituted product, called the Hofmann product. The following reaction gives mostly the Zaitsev product with the relatively unhindered ethoxide ion, but mostly the Hofmann product with the bulky tert-butoxide ion. 

The least expensive method for synthesizing simple symmetrical ethers is the acid-catalyzed bimolecular condensation (joining of two molecules, often with loss of a small molecule like water), discussed in Section 11-10B. Unimolecular dehydration (to give an alkene) competes with bimolecular condensation. To form an ether, the alcohol must have an unhindered primary alkyl group, and the temperature must not be allowed to rise too high. If the alcohol is hindered or the temperature is too high, the delicate balance between substitution and elimination shifts in favor of elimination, and very little ether is formed. Bimolecular condensation is used in industry to make symmetrical ethers from primary alcohols. Because the condensation is so limited in its scope, it finds little use in the laboratory synthesis of ethers. 

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