Allylic position nucleophilic substitution

Pathway A shows the most common reaction where the nucleophilic substitution reaction occurs at the electron-deficient carbon atom due to the strong electron-attracting character of the sulfonyl group. Nucleophilic displacements at the allylic position (SN2 reaction) are shown in pathway B. Pathway C is the formation of a-sulfonyl carbanion by nucleophilic attack on the carbon atom p to the sulfone moiety. There are relatively few reports on substitution reactions where nucleophiles attack the sulfone functionality and displace a carbanion as illustrated in pathway D3. 

This mechanism is exactly analogous to the allylic rearrangement mechanism for nucleophilic substitution (p. 421). The UV spectra of allylbenzene and 1-propenylbenzene in solutions containing NH2 are identical, which shows that the same carbanion is present in both cases, as required by this mechanism. The acid BH protonates the position that will give the more stable product, though the ratio of the two possible products can vary with the identity of BH". It has been shown that base-catalyzed double-bond shifts are partially intramolecular, at least in some cases. The intramolecularity has been ascribed to a conducted tour mechanism (p. 766) in which the base leads the proton from one carbanionic site to the other ... 

The use of chiral transition-metal complexes as catalysts for stereoselective C-C bond forming reactions has developed into a topic of fimdamental importance. The allyhc alkylation is one of the best known of this type of reaction. It allows the Pd-catalyzed substitution of a suitable leaving group in the allylic position by a soft nucleophile. 

Allylic CH bonds Aliphatic alkenes frequently undergo allylic substitution by oxidation of the double bond to a radical cation that undergoes deprotonation at the allylic position and subsequent oxidation of the resulting allyl radical to a cation, which finally combines with the nucleophiles from the electrolyte [21, 22]. The selectivity is mostly low. Regioselec-tive allylic substitution or dehydrogenation is, however, found in some cases with activated alkenes, for example, -ionone that reacts to (1) (Fig. 5) as a major product [23], menthone enolacetate that yields 90% (2) [24], and 3,7-dimethyl-6-octen-l-ol... 

The retrosynthesis involves the following transformations i) isomerisation of the endocyclic doble bond to the exo position ii) substitution of the terminal methylene group by a more stable carbonyl group (retro-Wittig reaction) iii) nucleophilic retro-Michael addition iv) reductive allylic rearrangement v) dealkylation of tertiary alcohol vi) homolytic cleavage and functionalisation vii) dehydroiodination viii) conversion of ethynyl ketone to carboxylic acid derivative ix) homolytic cleavage and functionalisation x) 3-bromo-debutylation xi) conversion of vinyl trimethylstannane to methyl 2-oxocyclopentanecarboxylate (67). 

Nucleophilic substitution at an allylic carbon can also take place by an Sn2 mechanism, in which case no allylic rearrangement usually takes place. However, allylic rearrangements can also take place under Sn2 conditions, by the following mechanism, in which the nucleophile attacks at the y carbon rather than the usual position 182... 

Substitution at the terminal position of the allylstannane, as in crotonyltributyl stannane, however, is not tolerated, because hydrogen abstraction from the allylic position is a competing reaction [21], An extension of the method involves the coupling of the anomeric radical precursors 28 with the allyltributyltin reagent 29 [14], In the reagent 29 the double bond is activated toward addition of nucleophilic radicals by the electron-withdrawing t-butoxy carbonyl group. The obtained product 30 has been useful en route to 3-deoxy-D-marmo-2-octulosonic acid (KDO). 

The major focus in this chapter will be on synthesis, with emphasis placed on more recent applications, particularly those where regiochemistry and stereochemistry are precisely controlled. The reader is referred to the earlier reviews for full mechanistic information and details of historic interest. Electrophilic addition of X—Y to an alkene, where X is the electrophile, gives products with functionality Y (3 to the heteroatom X. Further transformations of X and/or Y provide the basis for diverse synthetic applications. These transformations include replacement of Y by hydrogen, elimination to form a ir-bond (either including the carbon bonded to X or (3 to that carbon so that X is now in an allylic position), and nucleophilic or radical substitution. Representative examples of these synthetic methods will be given below. This chapter will include examples of heterocycles formed in one-pot reactions where the the initial alkene-electrophile adduct contains an electrophilic group that can react further. Examples of heterocycles formed in several steps from alkene-electrophile adducts will also be considered. Cases in which activation by an external electrophile directly results in addition of an internal heteroatom nucleophile are treated in Chapter 1.9 of this volume. 

Four reviews on allylic and vinyl substitution have been published.20-23 The use of pentamethylcyclopentadienylruthenium catalysts for the. S n reactions of allyl substrates has been reviewed.20 The Sn reactions of allyl substrates in the presence of ruthenium catalysts occur primarily at the most substituted position of the allylic group. All the catalysts involve formation of an intermediate where the allyl compound becomes associated with the Ru atom in the catalyst. The regiospecificity (50-98%) depends on the structure of the allylic substrate, the nucleophile, the solvent, the temperature, and the catalyst. These catalysts have also been used for protection of allylic alcohol and amino groups. Some of the reactions are stereospecific. 

Nonsymmetric allyl substrates normally undergo substitution at the least hindered allylic position, with a selectivity that depends on the size of the nucleophile ... 

Nucleophilic attack at the terminal atom of an allenie system can give another type of rearranged substitution product, where the nucleophile is attached to the allylic position (equation 23) (route IX of Scheme... 

In systems such as (241) which are capable of prototropic change, basic nucleophiles could cause preliminary rearrangement to (242). The migration of the double bond places the leaving group in the reactive allylic position, and its replacement becomes very facile. The primary substitution product (243) is the allylic one, but further prototropy could form the vinylic substitution product (244) formally derived directly from (241) (equation 24). This route, which requires highly... 

In the addition-elimination routes, either via a carbanionic intermediate (I) or via a neutral adduct (II), the anionic nucleophile Nu or the neutral nucleophile NuH attacks the /3-carbon with the expulsion of X. In the a,/8-route (IV), the /9,/3-route (VI) and the /8, y- elimination-addition routes (VII), HX is eliminated in the initial step, and the nucleophile and hydrogen are then added to the intermediates. Substitution occurs also by heterolytic C—X bond cleavage in an SN1 process (X). Initial prototropy followed by substitution can also give vinylic substitution products (XII, XIV), as well as two consecutive Sn2 reactions (XV) where the leaving group leaves from an allylic position. 

P-Menthylphosphetanes 77, in which an optical active dioxolane group is introduced at the a-position, have also provided asymmetric catalytic activity in the palladium-catalyzed allylic nucleophilic substitution of 1,3-diphenyl-propenyl acetate with the sodium salt of dimethyl malonate (Equation 12). 

In the presence of a Lewis acid (such as Et2AlCl), allylsilanes react with electrophiles in a regiospecific manner. The intermediate (3-carbocation is stabilized by (a-Tc)-conjugation with the C-Si bond. The most important feature of this reaction is that the electrophile reacts with the terminus (y-carbon) of the allyl system, and the n-system is relocated adjacent to its original position. Even substituted allylic silanes can be acylated at the more hindered site. Because of this predictability and their high nucleophilicity, allylsilanes are valuable in many synthetic transformations. 

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