Reductive alkylation, Birch

Scheme 36 Polycyclic structures via the alkylative Birch reduction...

Dibenzothiophene, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-4-keto-synthesis, 4, 905 Dibenzothiophenes alkylation, 4, 724 Birch reduction, 4, 775 C NMR, 4, 11... 

The Y appendage of 2-cyclohexenone 191 cannot be directly disconnected by an alkylation transform. (y-Extended enolates derived from 2-cyclohexenones undergo alkylation a- rather than y- to the carbonyl group). However, 191 can be converted to 192 by application of the retro-Michael transform. The synthesis of 192 from methoxybenzene by way of the Birch reduction product 193 is straightforward. Another synthesis of 191 (free acid) is outlined in... 

The A-ring of the 17-ol (25) derived from equilenin 3-methyl ether is reduced rapidly under Birch reduction conditions, since the 1,4-positions are unsubstituted. The B-ring is reduced at a much slower rate, as is characteristic of aromatic compounds in which 1,4-reduction can occur only if a proton enters an alkylated position. Treatment of (25) with sodium and t-butyl alcohol in ammonia reduces only the A-ring to afford the corresponding 1,4-dihydro compound in over 85% yield.On the other hand,... 

Reactions of 3- and 4-piperidone-derived enamines with a dienester gave intermediates which could be dehydrogenated to tetrahydroquinolines and tetrahydroisoquinolines (678). The methyl vinyl ketone annelation of pyrrolines was extended to an erythrinan synthesis (679). Perhydrophenan-threnones were obtained from 1-acetylcyclohexene and pyrrolidinocyclo-hexene (680) or alternatively from Birch reduction and cyclization of a 2-pyridyl ethyl ketone intermediate, which was formed by alkylation of an enamine with a 2-vinylpyridine (681). 

Asymmetric Birch reduction and reduction-alkylation in synthesis of natural products 99CC1263. 

For the Birch reduction of mono-substituted aromatic substrates the substituents generally influence the course of the reduction process. Electron-donating substituents (e.g. alkyl or alkoxyl groups) lead to products with the substituent located at a double bond carbon center. The reduction of methoxybenzene (anisole) 7 yields 1-methoxycyclohexa-1,4-diene 8 ... 

Reaction No. 5 (Table 11) is part of a synthetically useful method for the alkylation of aromatic compounds. At first the aromatic carboxylic acid is reductively alkylated by way of a Birch reduction in the presence of alkyl halides, this is then followed by an eliminative decarboxylation. In reaction No. 9 decarboxylation occurs probably by oxidation at the nitrogen to the radical cation that undergoes decarboxylation (see... 

Under the conditions of the Birch reduction, IV-Boc amides such as 60 can be reductively alkylated in high yields, presumably via a dianion intermediate which is protonated by ammonia at C-5 leaving an enolate anion at C-2 <96JOC7664>. Quenching the reaction with alkyl halides or ammonium chloride then affords the 3-pyrrolines 61. 

The isolated double bonds in the dihydro product are much less easily reduced than the conjugated ring, so the reduction stops at the dihydro stage. Alkyl and alkoxy aromatics, phenols, and benzoate anions are the most useful reactants for Birch reduction. In aromatic ketones and nitro compounds, the substituents are reduced in preference to the Dissoiving-Memi... 

The anionic intermediates formed in Birch reductions can be used in tandem alkylation reactions. 

The synthesis of longifolene in Scheme 13.30 commenced with a Birch reduction and tandem alkylation of methyl 2-methoxybenzoate (see Section 5.6.1.2). Step C is an intramolecular cycloaddition of a diazoalkane that is generated from an aziridinoimine intermediate. 

Liquefaction Solvents. The solvents used in the present study are listed in Tables 2 and 3. Alkylated and hydrogenated pyrenes were synthesized by Friedel-Crafts and Birch reduction, respectively. Details have ° been described in another place (9). 

The first part is a Birch reduction, with NH3 as the proton source. It gives the carboxylate enolate as the initial product. When the alkyl halide is added, the enolate acts as a nucleophile to give the C3-C7 bond in an Sn2 reaction. 

Synthetic applications of the asymmetric Birch reduction and reduction-alkylation are reported. Synthetically useful chiral Intermediates have been obtained from chiral 2-alkoxy-, 2-alkyl-, 2-aryl- and 2-trialkylsllyl-benzamides I and the pyrrolobenzodlazeplne-5,ll-diones II. The availability of a wide range of substituents on the precursor benzoic acid derivative, the uniformly high degree of dlastereoselection in the chiral enolate alkylation step, and the opportunity for further development of stereogenic centers by way of olefin addition reactions make this method unusually versatile for the asymmetric synthesis of natural products and related materials. 

The Birch reduction has been used by several generations of synthetic organic chemists for the conversion of readily available aromatic compounds to alicyclic synthetic intermediates. Birch reductions are carried out with an alkali metal in liquid NH3 solution usually with a co-solvent such as THF and always with an alcohol or related acid to protonate intermediate radical anions or related species. One of the most important applications of the Birch reduction is the conversion of aryl alkyl ethers to l-alkoxycyclohexa-l,4-dienes. These extremely valuable dienol ethers provide cyclohex-3-en-l-ones by mild acid hydrolysis or cyclohex-2-en-l-ones when stronger acids are used (Scheme 1). 

The Birch reduction of derivatives of 2-methoxybenzoic acid followed by alkylation of the intermediate enolate is of even greater strategic value. The resulting chiral cyclohexa-... 

Because dianion formation appears to be more important when lithium rather than potassium is used, many of the Birch reductions and reduction-alkylations of I and II that have been developed utilize potassium as the reducing metal. Piperylene is added prior to the alkylation reagent to consume any remaining metal and thereby prevent reduction of the alkylation reagent. In the event that the alkylation reagent is unstable to strong bases (e.g. homoallylic and arylethyl halides) LiBr is added to reduce the basicity of the reaction medium. 

It is important to perform both the Birch reduction of 5 and the alkylation of enolate 6 at —78 °C. Enolate 6 obtained directly from 5 at low temperatures is considered to be a kinetic enolate . A thermodynamic enolate obtained from 6 by equilibration techniques has been shown to give an opposite sense of stereoselection on alkylation. Although a comprehensive study of this modification has not been carried out, diastereoselectivities for formation of 8 were found to be greater than 99 1 for alkylations with Mel, EtI, and PhCH2Br. Thus, it should be possible to obtain both enantiomers of a target structure by utilization of a single chiral benzamide. SE... 

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