Allyl steric effects

Examples of effects of reactant stmcture on the rate of nucleophilic substitution reactions have appeared in the preceding sections of this chapter. The general trends of reactivity of primaiy, secondary, and tertiaiy systems and the special reactivity of allylic and benzylic systems have been discussed in other contexts. This section will emphasize the role that steric effects can pl in nucleophilic substitution reactions. 

A frequent problem is selective reduction of an acetylene to the olefin in the presence of other easily reducible functions. Usually the reaction can be done without difficulty because of the relatively strong and preferential adsorption of the acetylenic function on the catalyst. Functions adjacent to the triple bond may cause special problems if the resulting allylic compound is itself susceptible to facile hydrogenolysis (18,23). The product composition is, as expected, sensitive to steric effects (82). 

For carbanionic addition, the relative negative charge and the electron densities in the 1- and 3-position in the HOMO of the ambident allylic anion determine, in addition to steric effects, the regioselectivity of the hydroxyalkylation. According to the allopolarization principle13 the following generalizations can be made ... 

The cycloadditions of the C-2 vinyl glicals with maleic anhydride are an interesting example of facial stereocontrol. The allylic methoxy group in dienes 55a and 55b exerts an nnh -stereodirecting effect as shown by the stereochemistry of the endo-cycloadducts 56 and 57 obtained as the sole products from 55a and 55b, respectively, and by the fact that 55c produces [51] a mixture of the diastereoisomers 56c and 57c (Scheme 2.22). When linear acetylenic dienophiles were used, the degree of facial diastereoselectivity decreased, which indicates its dependence on steric effects. 

The mechanism and stereochemistry of the orthoester Claisen rearrangement is analogous to the Cope rearrangement. The reaction is stereospecific with respect to the double bond present in the initial allylic alcohol. In acyclic molecules, the stereochemistry of the product can usually be predicted on the basis of a chairlike TS.233 When steric effects or ring geometry preclude a chairlike structure, the reaction can proceed through a boatlike TS.234... 

These results are similar to those with propylene insofar as they indicate dissociative adsorption of the olefin. The hydrogen that yields the hydroxyl has not been identified but it seems reasonable to suppose that, once again, the allylic hydrogen is lost. Results with butene, however, do differ from those with propylene in two respects first, the dissociation (as evidenced by the OH band) is rapid but not instantaneous as found for propylene second, dissociatively adsorbed butene is more easily removed by room temperature evacuation than dissociatively adsorbed propylene. These facts suggests that steric effects are present hence, the kinetic behavior of these two species may be quite different. 

The selectivity in the Heck reaction of allylic alcohol 111 is interesting, and the factors that lead to the observed preference for (3-hydride elimination toward nitrogen in this system are unclear, although a combination of steric effects and stereoelectronic factors (i.e., alignment of C-H and C-Pd bonds, nN a c H interactions) is likely involved. Examination of related examples from the literature (Scheme 4.20) reveals no clear trend. Rawal and Michoud examined substrate 115, which lacks the influence of both the amine and hydroxyl substituents and also seems to favor (3-hydride elimination within the six-membered ring over formation of the exocyclic olefin under standard Heck conditions [18a]. However, under... 

The reaction of aryldiazoacetates with cyclohexene is a good example of the influence of steric effects on the chemistry of the donor/acceptor-substituted rhodium carbenoids. The Rh2(reaction with cyclohexene resulted in the formation of a mixture of the cyclopropane and the G-H insertion products. The enantios-electivity of the C-H insertion was high but the diastereoselectivity was very low (Equation (31)). 0 In contrast, the introduction of a silyl group on the cyclohexene, as in 15, totally blocked the cyclopropanation, and, furthermore, added sufficient size differentiation between the two substituents at the methylene site to make the reaction to form 16 proceed with high diastereoselectivity (Equation (32)).90 The allylic C-H insertion is applicable to a wide array of cyclic and acyclic substrates, and even systems capable of achieving high levels of kinetic resolution are known.90... 

The acyclic version of Larock s heteroannulation was successfully applied to the synthesis of highly substituted pyridines [166]. The annulation of rert-butylimine 210 with phenyl propargyl alcohol produced pyridine 211 regioselectively in excellent yield. The regiochemistry obtained was governed by steric effects. Furthermore, the choice of imines was crucial to the success of the heteroannulations. terr-Butylimine was the substrate of choice, since all other imines including methyl, isopropyl, allyl and benzyl imines failed completely to produce the desired heterocyclic products. 

There is one report that showed how torsional, involving allylic CH bonds and steric effects but not orbital distortions, provide an explanation for the stereoselectivity of pyrrolidinone enolate alkylations. A prediction was... 

The steric effect of the introduction of an cr-methyl group in the allyl portion of allyl trichloromethyl sulfoxide produces a shift in the equilibrium toward the sulfenate (Braverman and Stabinsky, 1967) that immediately brings to mind the fact that a similar structural alteration in thiolsulfinate [23] had a similar effect on the thiolsulfinate-thiolsulfoxylate equilibria in (87) and (88). 

The regioselectivity in palladium-catalyzed alkylations has been attributed to the dynamic behavior of trihapto pentadienyl metal complexes60. For example, competing electronic and steric effects influence product formation in dienyl epoxides, but in palladium-catalyzed reactions steric factors were often found to be more important. Thus, alkylation of dienyl epoxide 76 with bulky nucleophiles such as bis(benzenesulfonyl)me-thane in the presence of (Ph3P)4Pd occurred exclusively at the terminal carbon of the dienyl system producing allyl alcohol 77 (equation 39). However, the steric factors could be overcome by electronic effects when one of the terminal vinylic protons was replaced with an electron-withdrawing group. Thus, alkylation of dienyl epoxide 78 affords homoal-lylic alcohol 79 as the major product (equation 40). 

Similarly to the triphenylmethyl system, captodative-substituted 1,5-hexa-dienes, which can be cleaved thermally in solution into the corresponding substituted allyl radicals [15], dissociate more easily than dicaptor-substituted systems (Van Hoecke et al., 1986). Since ground-state and radical substituent effects cannot be separated cleanly, not only because of electronic but also because of steric effects, a conclusive answer cannot be provided. 

The presence of the stereogenic centre at C(l) introduces an additional factor in the asymmetric epoxidation now, besides the enantiofacial selectivity, the diastereoselectivity must also be considered, and it is helpful to examine epoxidation of each enantiomer of the allylic alcohol separately. As shown in Fig. 10.2, epoxidation of an enantiomer proceeds normally (fast) and produces an erythro epoxy alcohol. Epoxidation of the other enantiomer proceeds at a reduced rate (slow) because the steric effects between the C(l) substituent and the catalyst. The rates of epoxidation are sufficiently significative to achieve the kinetic resolution and either the epoxy alcohol or the recovered allylic alcohol can be obtained with high enantiomeric purity [9]. 

The steric effect observed in solution should be amplified in the zeolite if either of the models depicted in Fig. 4 operate because the sodium counterion should force the allylic substiment R to reside to an even greater extent on the face approached by singlet oxygen. This should lead to an increase in allylic hydroperoxy A at the expense of B in stark contrast to the experimental observation (e.g., the A/B ratio does not increase, but actually decreases from 2.4 to 1.58... 

Previous discussions (20, 39) on the propagation rate, kp, point out the effect caused by the resonance energy of the radical formed. Our results support this view and enable us to complete the arrangement by families according to the groups adjacent to the attacked function—alkyl, benzyl, alkoxy, allyl, hydroxyl. The steric effect does not reveal itself in any important way—e.g., a-methylbenzylic ether has a kp which is close to that of benzylic ether, and the tertiary carbons in the former product are generally attacked at rates comparable with that of a less-encumbered carbon. 

Finally, steric effects have an important influence on regioselectivity. This is very clearly demonstrated, for example, in the case of allyl carbanions substituted with silyl groups16. Therefore, despite wide investigation of this topic17, understanding of regiocontrol is still very poor, due to the complexity of the situation. 

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