Allylic regioselectivity

Regioselective epoxidation of allylic and homo-allylic alcohols... 

Regioselective Hydrogenation- allylic and hornoallylie alcohols are hydrogenated faster than isolated double bonds... 

Allylic acetoxy groups can be substituted by amines in the presence of Pd(0) catalysts. At substituted cyclohexene derivatives the diastereoselectivity depends largely on the structure of the palladium catalyst. Polymer-bound palladium often leads to amination at the same face as the aoetoxy leaving group with regioselective attack at the sterically less hindered site of the intermediate ri -allyl complex (B.M. Trost, 1978). 

Allyllic ether 53 is oxidized regioselectively to the /3-alkoxy ketone 54, which is converted into the a,/i-unsaturated ketone 55 and used for annulation[99]. The ester of homoallylic alcohol 56 is oxidized mainlv to the 7-acetoxy ketone 57[99]. 

In contrast to oxidation in water, it has been found that 1-alkenes are directly oxidized with molecular oxygen in anhydrous, aprotic solvents, when a catalyst system of PdCl2(MeCN)2 and CuCl is used together with HMPA. In the absence of HMPA, no reaction takes place(100]. In the oxidation of 1-decene, the Oj uptake correlates with the amount of 2-decanone formed, and up to 0.5 mol of O2 is consumed for the production of 1 mol of the ketone. This result shows that both O atoms of molecular oxygen are incorporated into the product, and a bimetallic Pd(II) hydroperoxide coupled with a Cu salt is involved in oxidation of this type, and that the well known redox catalysis of PdXi and CuX is not always operalive[10 ]. The oxidation under anhydrous conditions is unique in terms of the regioselective formation of aldehyde 59 from X-allyl-A -methylbenzamide (58), whereas the use of aqueous DME results in the predominant formation of the methyl ketone 60. Similar results are obtained with allylic acetates and allylic carbonates[102]. The complete reversal of the regioselectivity in PdCli-catalyzed oxidation of alkenes is remarkable. 

Chlorohydrin 61 is formed by the nucleophilic addition to ethylene with PdCl2 and CuCl2[103,104]. Regioselective chlorohydroxylation of the allylic amine 62 is possible by the participation of the heteroatom to give chlorohydrin 63. Allylic sulfides behave similarly[105]. 

Many examples of stereospecific allylation consistent with the above mechanism have been reported. As one example, the regioselective and highly diastereoselective allylation of the lactone 17 with the optically active allylic phosphate 16 proceeded with no appreciable racemization of the allylic part to give the lactones l8 and 19, and the reaction has been used for the synthesis of a polypropionate chain[26]. 

The allyl-substituted cyclopentadiene 122 was prepared by the reaction of cyclopentadiene anion with allylic acetates[83], Allyl chloride reacts with carbon nucleophiles without Pd catalyst, but sometimes Pd catalyst accelerates the reaction of allylic chlorides and gives higher selectivity. As an example, allylation of the anion of 6,6-dimethylfulvene 123 with allyl chloride proceeded regioselectively at the methyl group, yielding 124[84]. The uncatalyzed reaction was not selective. 

Another preparative method for the enone 554 is the reaction of the enol acetate 553 with allyl methyl carbonate using a bimetallic catalyst of Pd and Tin methoxide[354,358]. The enone formation is competitive with the allylation reaction (see Section 2.4.1). MeCN as a solvent and a low Pd to ligand ratio favor enone formation. Two regioisomeric steroidal dienones, 558 and 559, are prepared regioselectively from the respective dienol acetates 556 and 557 formed from the steroidal a, /3-unsaturated ketone 555. Enone formation from both silyl enol ethers and enol acetates proceeds via 7r-allylpalladium enolates as common intermediates. 

Various terminal allylic compounds are converted into l-alkenes at room temperature[362]. Regioselective hydrogenolysis with formate is used for the formation of an exo-methylene group from cyclic allylic compounds by the formal anti thermodynamic isomerization of internal double bonds to the exocyclic position[380]. Selective conversion of myrtenyl formate (579) into /9-pinene is an example. The allylic sulfone 580 and the allylic nitro compound... 

Furthermore, the regioselective hydrogenolysis can be extended to internal allylic systems. In this case, clean differentiation of a tertiary carbon from a secondary carbon in an allylic system is a problem. The regioselectivity in the hydrogenolysis of unsymmetrically substituted internal allylic compounds depends on the nature and size of the substituents. The less substituted alkene 596 was obtained from 595 as the main product, but the selectivity was only... 

On the other hand, the expected alkene 598 was regioselectively formed from the allylic carbonate 597[388]. In these reactions, the hydride from formate preferentially attacks the tertiary carbon rather than the secondary carbon. 

Hydride attacks regioselectively at the Si-substituted carbon in the hydro-genolysis of the silylated allylic carbonate 626 with formate, affording the allylic silane 627[I42]. 

The Pd-catalyzed hydrogenolysis of vinyloxiranes with formate affords homoallyl alcohols, rather than allylic alcohols regioselectively. The reaction is stereospecific and proceeds by inversion of the stereochemistry of the C—O bond[394,395]. The stereochemistry of the products is controlled by the geometry of the alkene group in vinyloxiranes. The stereoselective formation of stereoisomers of the syn hydroxy group in 630 and the ami in 632 from the ( )-epoxide 629 and the (Z)-epoxide 631 respectively is an example. 

Desulfonylation of equally substituted allylic sulfones with NaBH4 and LiBHEt3 usually yields a mixture of regioisomeric alkenes[406,407]. However, the regioselective attack of the less substituted side of the unsymme-trically substituted allylic system with LiEtjBH has been utilized for the removal of the allylic sulfone group in synthesis of the polyprenoid 658[408],... 

---