Alkyl triflates alkylation

HSAB is particularly useful for assessing the reactivity of ambident nucleophiles or electrophiles, and numerous examples of chemoselective reactions given throughout this book can be explained with the HSAB principle. Hard electrophiles, for example alkyl triflates, alkyl sulfates, trialkyloxonium salts, electron-poor car-benes, or the intermediate alkoxyphosphonium salts formed from alcohols during the Mitsunobu reaction, tend to alkylate ambident nucleophiles at the hardest atom. Amides, enolates, or phenolates, for example, will often be alkylated at oxygen by hard electrophiles whereas softer electrophiles, such as alkyl iodides or electron-poor alkenes, will preferentially attack amides at nitrogen and enolates at carbon. 

Ketones, in which one alkyl group R is sterically demanding, only give the trans-enolate on deprotonation with LDA at —12°C (W.A. Kleschick, 1977, see p. 60f.). Ketones also enolize regioseiectively towards the less substituted carbon, and stereoselectively to the trans-enolate, if the enolates are formed by a bulky base and trapped with dialkyl boron triflates, R2BOSO2CF3, at low temperatures (D A. Evans, 1979). Both types of trans-enolates can be applied in stereoselective aldol reactions (see p. 60f.). 

Lewis acids such as zinc triflate[16] and BF3[17] have been used to effect the reaction of indole with jV-proiected aziridine-2-carboxylate esters. These alkylations by aziridines constitute a potential method for the enantioselective introduction of tryptophan side-chains in a single step. (See Chapter 13 for other methods of synthesis of tryptophans.)... 

Indoles with carbocyclic halogen or triflate substituents are potential starting materials for vinylation, arylation and acylation via palladium-catalysed pro-cesses[l]. Indolylstannanes. indolylzinc halides and indolylboronic acids are also potential reactants. The principal type of substitution which is excluded from such coupling reactions is alkylation, since saturated alkyl groups tend to give elimination products in Pd-catalysed processes. 

Alkyl esters of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, commonly called triflates, have been prepared from the silver salt and an alkyl iodide, or by reaction of the anhydride with an alcohol (18,20,21). Triflates of the 1,1-dihydroperfluoroalkanols, CF2S020CH2R can be prepared by the reaction of perfluoromethanesulfonyl fluoride with the dihydroalcohol in the presence of triethylamine (22,23). Triflates are important intermediates in synthetic chemistry. They are among the best leaving groups known, so they are commonly employed in anionic displacement reactions. 

All lation. In alkylation, the dialkyl sulfates react much faster than do the alkyl haHdes, because the monoalkyl sulfate anion (ROSO ) is more effective as a leaving group than a haHde ion. The high rate is most apparent with small primary alkyl groups, eg, methyl and ethyl. Some leaving groups, such as the fluorinated sulfonate anion, eg, the triflate anion, CF SO, react even faster in ester form (4). Against phenoxide anion, the reaction rate is methyl triflate [333-27-7] dimethyl sulfate methyl toluenesulfonate [23373-38-8] (5). Dialkyl sulfates, as compared to alkyl chlorides, lack chloride ions in their products chloride corrodes and requires the use of a gas instead of a Hquid. The lower sulfates are much less expensive than lower bromides or iodides, and they also alkylate quickly. 

Benzyl and allyl alcohols which can generate stabilized caibocations give Friedel-Crafts alkylation products with mild Lewis acid catalysts such as scandium triflate. ... 

Scandium triflate and lanthanide triflates also catalyze alkylation by secondary methane-sulfonates. ... 

Vinyl Inflates permit alkylation with vinyl cations [24, 25] Fluorobenzene reacts with 2 methyl 1-phenyl 1 propenyl triflate to form a diaryl alkene [24J (equation 17)... 

Another triflate ester that recently has found growing application in organic synthesis is commercially available trimethylsilylmethyl trifluoromethanesul fonate. This powerful alkylating reagent can be used for the synthesis of various methylides by an alkylation-desilylation sequence A representative example is the generation and subsequent trapping by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of indolium methanides from the corresponding indole derivatives and trimethylsilylmethyl trifluoromethanesulfonate [108] (equation 54)... 

Triflates of aluminum, gallium and boron, which are readily available by the reaction of the corresponding chlorides with triflic acid, are effective Fnedel-Crafis catalysis for alkylation and acylation of aromatic compounds [119, 120] Thus alkylation of toluene with various alkyl halides m the presence of these catalysts proceeds rapidly at room temperature 111 methylene chloride or ni-tromethane Favorable properties of the triflates in comparison with the correspond mg fluorides or chlorides are considerably decreased volatility and higher catalytic activity [120]... 

Abbreviations Aik, alkyl AN, acetonitrile Ar, aryl Bu, butyl cod, 1,5-cyclooctadiene Cp, cy-clopentadienyl Cp , pentamethylcyclopentadienyl Cy, cyclohexyl dppm, diphenylphosphinome-thane dpme, Ph2PC2H4PMe2 Et, ethyl fod, 6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptafluoro-2,2-dimethyl-3,5-octane-dionate HOMO, highest occupied molecular orbital LUMO, lowest unoccupied molecular orbital Me, methyl MO, molecular orbital nbd, norbornadiene Nuc, nucleophile OTf, triflate Ph, phenyl Pr, propyl py, pyridine THE, tetrahydrofuran TMEDA V,V,M,M-tetramethylethylenediamine. 

Alkylation of chiral triflates with organomagnesium or organolithium reagents for construction of side chains of naturally occurring heterocycles, antibiotics, and enzyme inhibitors 99YGK334. 

Besides a polymerization of the Michael acceptor, a double alkylation of the starting ketone, by reaction with a second Michael acceptor molecule, may take place as a side reaction, and thus further reduce the yield. The polymerization of the enone 2 as well as the double alkylation of the starting ketone can be avoided by application of a modern procedure for the Robinson annulation that uses an organotin triflate as catalyst." ... 

The second element of general importance in the synthesis of a task-specific ionic liquid is the source of the functional group that is to be incorporated. Key to success here is the identification of a substrate containing two functional groups with different reactivities, one of which allows the attachment of the substrate to the core, and the other of which either is the functional group of interest or is modifiable to the group of interest. Functionalized alkyl halides are commonly used in this capacity, although the triflate esters of functionalized alcohols work as well. 

Scheme 5.1-55 The alkylation of benzene with hex-l-ene, catalyzed by scandium(lll) triflate...

Ni(0)-mediated homocouplings of 2-subslituted l,4-phcnylenebis(triflate)s have been reported by Percec et al. [15] to provide substituted poly(/ -phenylene)s 7 containing alkyl, aryl or ester substituents in the 2- and 3-positions of the 1,4-phenylcnc skeleton. This method of preparation appears to be broad in scope, especially due to the ease of preparation of the bis(lriflatc) monomers starting from the corresponding hydroquinone derivatives. 

The oxidative dimerization of the anion of methyl phenyl sulfone (from a Grignard reagent) in ethereal solution in the presence of cupric chloride in 5% yield has been reported47. Despite the reported48 poor stability of the a-sulfonyl C-centered radicals, Julia and coworkers49 provoked the dimerization (in 13 to 56% yields) of the lithiated carbanion of alkyl phenyl sulfones using cupric salts as oxidants. The best results are obtained with cupric triflates in THF-isobutyronitrile medium (56% yield for R = H). For allyl phenyl sulfones the coupling in the 3-3 mode is predominant. 

Haloalkynes (R—C=C—X) react with ArSnBu3 and Cul to give R—C= C—Ar. Acetylene reacts with two equivalents of iodobenzene, in the presence of a palladium catalyst and Cul, to give 1,2-diphenylethyne. 1-Trialkylsilyl alkynes react with 1-haloalkynes, in the presence of a CuCl catalyst, to give diynes and with aryl triflates to give 1-aryl alkynes. Alkynes couple with alkyl halides in the presence of Sml2/Sm. Alkynes react with hypervalent iodine compounds " and with reactive alkanes such as adamantane in the presence of AIBN. ... 

Vinylic copper reagents react with CICN to give vinyl cyanides, though BrCN and ICN give the vinylic halide instead." Vinylic cyanides have also been prepared by the reaction between vinylic lithium compounds and phenyl cyanate PhOCN." Alkyl cyanides (RCN) have been prepared, in varying yields, by treatment of sodium trialkylcyanoborates with NaCN and lead tetraacetate." Vinyl bromides reacted with KCN, in the presence of a nickel complex and zinc metal to give the vinyl nitrile. Vinyl triflates react with LiCN, in the presence of a palladium catalyst, to give the vinyl nitrile." ... 

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