Alkylations sodium hexamethyldisilazide

To a solution of the silylated glycinate (50 mmol) in ether (50 ml), cooled to —10 to 0°C, was added a solution of sodium hexamethyldisilazide (55 mmol) in ether (100ml) with stirring. Stirring was continued at ambient temperature for a short time, and then the alkyl halide (50 mmol) was added dropwise. The mixture was heated under reflux for 10-15 h, cooled, filtered, and the product was distilled directly (52-70%). 

Page et al. (see [298] and references therein) have shown that generally excellent stereocontrol in organic reactions can be obtained by using DITOX (1,3-dithiane-l-oxide) derivatives as chiral auxiliaries. The one-pot stereo-controlled cycloalkanone synthesis given here outlines some aspects of the chemistry worked out for efficient acylation-alkylations steps. Of note are the use of N-acyl imidazoles under mixed base (sodium hexamethyldisilazide/n-butyllithium) conditions to yield the lithium enolates of 2-acyl-l,3-dithiane-l-oxides) and the sequential alkylation-cyclization of the latter (steps (iv) and (v)). 

The acid is converted with thionyl chloride into the corresponding acid chloride, which reacts in a second step with the anion of the Lvans oxazolidinone 3714 to give an /V-acyloxazolidinone. This is then deprotonated with sodium hexamethyldisilazide and subsequently alkylated selectively with methyl iodide to produce compound 8. 

Macrocyclic ketones. A recent method for synthesis of macrocyclic ketones involves intramolecular alkylation of protected cyanohydrins. Sodium hexamethyldisilazide... 

Methyl ethers are usually prepared by some variant of the Williamson ether synthesis in which an alcohol reacts with either iodomethane, dimethyl sulfate, or methyl triflate (HAZARD) in the presence of a suitable base. A word of caution dimethyl sulfate and methyl triflate, tike all powerful alkylating agents, are potentially carcinogenic and therefore should only be handled in a well-ventilated fume hood. For the 0-methylation of phenols (pKa 10) a comparatively weak base such as potassium carbonate in conjunction with dimethyl sulfate is sufficient,193 whereas simple aliphatic alcohols require stronger bases such as sodium hydride [Scheme 4.111]22 or lithium hexamethyldisilazide [Scheme 4.112].203 The latter transformation is notable for the fact that 0-methyiation was accomplished without competing elimination. 

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