Alkenyl epoxides, substitution reactions

Carbon-centered nucleophiles can also be used to advantage in the reaction with epoxides. For example, the lithium enolate of cyclohexanone 96 engages in nucleophilic attack of cyclohexene oxide 90 in the presence of boron trifluoride etherate to give the ketol 97 in 76% yield with predominant syn stereochemistry about the newly formed carbon-carbon bond <03JOC3049>. In addition, a novel trimethylaluminum / trialkylsilyl triflate system has been reported for the one-pot alkylation and silylation of epoxides, as exemplified by the conversion of alkenyl epoxide 98 to the homologous silyl ether 99. The methyl group is delivered via backside attack on the less substituted terminus of the epoxide <03OL3265>. 

V.2.1.5 Palladium-Catalyzed Substitution Reactions of Alkenyl Epoxides... 

V.2.1.5 Pd-CATALYZED SUBSTITUTION REACTIONS OF ALKENYL EPOXIDES 1799 TABLE 2. Pd-Catalyzed Alkylation of Cyclic Vinyl Oxiranes... 

The first syntheses of dendralenes by C2-C3 bond formation (Scheme 1.25) were reported by Tsuge and coworkers in 1985 and 1986, and proceed via substitution at either a bromide 160 or an epoxide 163, followed by elimination (Scheme 1.26) [116, 117]. Similar addition/elimination sequences to carbonyl groups or epoxides [120], and substitution reactions [121], followed. Such methods have been superseded by cross-coupling techniques that take place between a 2-functionalized 1,3-butadiene and an alkene (each can be either electrophilic or nucleophilic) or a 4-functionalized 1,2-butadiene and alkene, and occur with allylic transposition (Scheme 1.25). No doubt due to the ready availability of alkenyl halides and allenes, and the variety of increasingly mild and selective reaction variants, cross-coupling has provided access to a large number of diversely substituted dendralenes over the past 20 years, some of which have even been part of natural product syntheses [14,122,123]. 

Chiral alkenyl and cycloalkenyl oxiranes are valuable intermediates in organic synthesis [38]. Their asymmetric synthesis has been accomplished by several methods, including the epoxidation of allyl alcohols in combination with an oxidation and olefination [39a], the epoxidation of dienes [39b,c], the chloroallylation of aldehydes in combination with a 1,2-elimination [39f-h], and the reaction of S-ylides with aldehydes [39i]. Although these methods are efficient for the synthesis of alkenyl oxiranes, they are not well suited for cycloalkenyl oxiranes of the 56 type (Scheme 1.3.21). Therefore we had developed an interest in the asymmetric synthesis of the cycloalkenyl oxiranes 56 from the sulfonimidoyl-substituted homoallyl alcohols 7. It was speculated that the allylic sulfoximine group of 7 could be stereoselectively replaced by a Cl atom with formation of corresponding chlorohydrins 55 which upon base treatment should give the cycloalkenyl oxiranes 56. The feasibility of a Cl substitution of the sulfoximine group had been shown previously in the case of S-alkyl sulfoximines [40]. 

Intermolecular carbon-carbon bond formation of alkenylsilanes by electrophilic substitution is rather limited except for the reaction with acyl chlorides.1. The alkenylations of imines and epoxides are achieved with electronically activated alkenylsilanes (Equation (3)).2 a Alkynylsilanes have frequently been used for intermolecular alkynylation of carbon electrophiles activated by a Lewis acid.30 30a-30d... 

Acetals as Chiral Auxiliaries. There have been many applications of acetals of 2,4-pentanediol as chiral auxiliaries to control the diastereoselectivity of reactions on another functional group. Examples include cyclopropanation of alkenyl dioxanes, lithium amide-mediated isomerization of epoxides to allylic alcohols, and addition of dioxane-substituted Grignard reagents or organolithiums to aldehydes. 

Lanthanide Lewis acids catalyze many of the reactions catalyzed by other Lewis acids, for example, the Mukaiyama-aldol reaction [14], Diels-Alder reactions [15], epoxide opening by TMSCN and thiols [14,10], and the cyanosilylation of aldehydes and ketones [17]. For most of these reactions, however, lanthanide Lewis acids have no advantages over other Lewis acids. The enantioselective hetero Diels-Alder reactions reported by Danishefsky et al. exploited one of the characteristic properties of lanthanides—mild Lewis acidity. This mildness enables the use of substrates unstable to common Lewis acids, for example Danishefsky s diene. It was recently reported by Shull and Koreeda that Eu(fod)3 catalyzed the allylic 1,3-transposition of methoxyace-tates (Table 7) [18]. This rearrangement did not proceed with acetates or benzoates, and seemed selective to a-alkoxyacetates. This suggested that the methoxy group could act as an additional coordination site for the Eu catalyst, and that this stabilized the complex of the Eu catalyst and the ester. The reaction proceeded even when the substrate contained an alkynyl group (entry 7), or when proximal alkenyl carbons of the allylic acetate were fully substituted (entries 10, 11 and 13). In these cases, the Pd(II) catalyzed allylic 1,3-transposition of allylic acetates was not efficient. 

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