Allenes reduction

Knight and Allen. This is a copper reduction method for reducing sugars in white sugar up to 0.02%. It utilizes EDTA to determine excess unreacted copper. Tests undertaken in 1994 to extend the range of this method were unsuccesshil. In spite of poor performance in ring tests, it remains an official ICUMSA method. 

Terry Allen, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate (retired), DuPont Central Research and Development (Section 20, Size Reduction and Size Enlargement)... 

Allen, D. (1992). The Role of Catalysis in Industrial Waste Reduction. Industrial Environmental Chemistry, ed. D. T. Sawyer, and A. E. Martell, 89-98. New York Plenum Press. 

Selectivity depends importantly on the catalytic metal. A number of selectivity series have been determined for simple olefins, and the presumption is that the sequence holds for more complex polyenes as well. Selectivity for the reduction of allene to propylene declined with metal in the order palladium... 

Secondary amines can be added to certain nonactivated alkenes if palladium(II) complexes are used as catalysts The complexation lowers the electron density of the double bond, facilitating nucleophilic attack. Markovnikov orientation is observed and the addition is anti An intramolecular addition to an alkyne unit in the presence of a palladium compound, generated a tetrahydropyridine, and a related addition to an allene is known.Amines add to allenes in the presence of a catalytic amount of CuBr " or palladium compounds.Molybdenum complexes have also been used in the addition of aniline to alkenes. Reduction of nitro compounds in the presence of rhodium catalysts, in the presence of alkenes, CO and H2, leads to an amine unit adding to the alkene moiety. An intramolecular addition of an amine unit to an alkene to form a pyrrolidine was reported using a lanthanide reagent. 

The inertness of ordinary double bonds toward metallie hydrides is quite useful, since it permits reduction of, say, a carbonyl or nitro group, without disturbing a double bond in the same molecule (see Chapter 19 for a discussion of selectivity in reduction reactions). Sodium in liquid ammonia also does not reduce ordinary double bonds, although it does reduce alkynes, allenes, conjugated dienes, and aromatic rings (15-14). 

This method provides a convenient synthesis of alkenes with the double bond in a relatively unstable position. Thus reduction of the p-toluenesulfonylhydrazones of a,(3-unsaturated aryl ketones and conjugated dienones gives rise to nonconjugated olefins. Unsaturated ketones with endocyclic double bonds produce olefins with double bonds in the exocyclic position. The reduction of p-toluenesulfonylhydrazones of conjugated alkynones furnishes a simple synthesis of 1,3-disubstituted allenes. ... 

A full account has appeared of the reactions of the ester phosphoranes (30 R = H) with acyl chlorides. Equimolecular proportions gave the salts (31) from which /8-ketoesters were obtained on electrolytic reduction. A 2 1 excess of phosphorane gave the allenic esters (32), presumably via the betaines (33). 

A possible reaction mechanism shown in Scheme 7-10 includes (a) oxidative addition of the S-H bond to Pd(0), (b) insertion of the allene into the Pd-H bond to form the tt-allyl palladium 38, (c) reductive elimination of allyl sulfide, (d) oxidative addition of the I-aryl bond into the Pd(0), (e) insertion of CO into the Pd-C bond, (f) insertion of the tethered C=C into the Pd-C(O) bond, and (g) P-elimination to form 37 followed by the formation of [baseHjI and Pd(0). 

These reactions could proceed either via (1) insertion of the alkyne or the allene into the M-Se bonds, and (2) C-H bond-forming reductive elimination (or protolysis by selenol) or via (1) insertion of the alkyne or the aUene into the M-H bond, and (2) C-Se bond-forming reductive elimination. 

The mechanism of [3 + 2] reductive cycloadditions clearly is more complex than other aldehyde/alkyne couplings since additional bonds are formed in the process. The catalytic reductive [3 + 2] cycloaddition process likely proceeds via the intermediacy of metallacycle 29, followed by enolate protonation to afford vinyl nickel species 30, alkenyl addition to the aldehyde to afford nickel alkoxide 31, and reduction of the Ni(II) alkoxide 31 back to the catalytically active Ni(0) species by Et3B (Scheme 23). In an intramolecular case, metallacycle 29 was isolated, fully characterized, and illustrated to undergo [3 + 2] reductive cycloaddition upon exposure to methanol [45]. Related pathways have recently been described involving cobalt-catalyzed reductive cyclo additions of enones and allenes [46], suggesting that this novel mechanism may be general for a variety of metals and substrate combinations. 

This Pd(0)/formic acid system was effective for the cyclization of substituted 5-allene-l-ynes to give diene 140 (Eq. 25) through initial insertion into the internal 7r-bond of the allene followed by insertion into the alkyne [79]. All of the examples provided were geminally substituted within the backbone to facilitate cyclization. Intramolecular allene-alkyne reductive couplings to generate six-membered rings were not achieved. 

Allenynes 160 were also cyclized chemo- and regioselectively to methylen-eyclopentane derivatives 161 and 162 using Rh(acac)(CO)2 as the catalyst and silanes or alkoxysilanes as the reductant (Eq. 32) [96]. The major product resulted from initial insertion of the internal Jt-bond of the allene into the Rh-Si bond. Only 1,1-disubstituted allenes were used for this reaction others may show less selectivity for the internal Jt-bond of the allene. 

A typical second step after the insertion of CO into aryl or alkenyl-Pd(II) compounds is the addition to alkenes [148]. However, allenes can also be used (as shown in the following examples) where a it-allyl-r 3-Pd-complex is formed as an intermediate which undergoes a nucleophilic substitution. Thus, Alper and coworkers [148], as well as Grigg and coworkers [149], described a Pd-catalyzed transformation of o-iodophenols and o-iodoanilines with allenes in the presence of CO. Reaction of 6/1-310 or 6/1-311 with 6/1-312 in the presence of Pd° under a CO atmosphere (1 atm) led to the chromanones 6/1-314 and quinolones 6/1-315, respectively, via the Jt-allyl-r 3-Pd-complex 6/1-313 (Scheme 6/1.82). The enones obtained can be transformed by a Michael addition with amines, followed by reduction to give y-amino alcohols. Quinolones and chromanones are of interest due to their pronounced biological activity as antibacterials [150], antifungals [151] and neurotrophic factors [152]. 

Lauryl alcohol has been prepared by the reduction of the aldehyde with zinc dust and acetic acid 1 by the reduction of esters of lauric acid with sodium and absolute alcohol 2 or with sodium, liquid ammonia, and absolute alcohol 3 by the reduction of lauramide with sodium and amyl alcohol.4 The method in the above procedure is essentially that described by Levene and Allen.5... 

Clavepictines A and B (210 and 211, respectively) were obtained from the allenic ester 227. The reduction of its ester group to aldehyde, followed of addition to the latter of hexylmagnesium bromide, OH protection, and N-deprotection gave compound 228. A silver(i)-mediated cyclization of this compound afforded quinolizidine 229 and its C-6 epimer in a 7 1 ratio (Scheme 44). The former compound was readily converted into the target alkaloids <1997JOC4550>. 

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