Allylic substitutions soft nucleophiles

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 substitutions catalysed by palladium NHC complexes have been studied and the activity and selectivity of the catalysts compared to analogous Pd phosphine complexes. A simple catalytic system involves the generation of a Pd(NHC) catalyst in situ in THF, from Pdj(dba)j, imidazolium salt and Cs COj. This system showed very good activities for the substitution of the allylic acetates by the soft nucleophilic sodium dimethyl malonate (2.5 mol% Pdj(dba)3, 5 mol% IPr HCl, 0.1 equiv. C (CO ), THF, 50°C) (Scheme 2.22). Generation of the malonate nncleophile can also be carried out in situ from the dimethyhnalonate pro-nucleo-phile, in which case excess (2.1 equivalents) of Cs COj was used. The nature of the catalytic species, especially the number of IPr ligands on the metal is not clear. 

Scheme 1.1 Mechanism for Pd-catalysed allylic substitution with soft nucleophiles.

In general, Pd-catalyzed allylic substitutions with soft nucleophiles involve nudeophilic attack directly on the allyl unit, on the opposite face to that occupied by the metal. This is contrasted with the situation for hard nucleophiles where the initial attack occurs at the metal, with subsequent migration of the nudeo-phile to the allyl moiety - the addition to the allyl unit therefore occurring from the same face as the metal. Obviously, this has profound implications on the stereochemical outcome. 

The Pd-catalyzed allylic subshtution with soft nucleophiles proceeds via two substitutions with inversion-that is, with a net retention of configuration. By using standard tests, the same steric course was found for the Ir-catalyzed alkylation... 

The regiochemistry of this allylic substitution is determined primarily by steric factors.9 Substitution occurs from the less hindered side of allylic complex 22. This behavior is typical for attack by soft nucleophiles. Soft nucleophiles are distinguished by the fact that their charge can be stabilized by resonance. Examples include not only sulfones but also nitriles, nitro compounds, ketones, and esters of carboxylic acids. 

Since its discovery by Tsuji [15,16] and catalytic expansion by Hata [17] and Atkins [18], allylic substitution has become the most popular palladium-catalyzed method for carbon-carbon bond formation along with crosscoupling reactions. However, the first report using NHC in this transformation only appeared recently [19]. An imidazolium salt with a bulky substituent on the nitrogen atoms, IPr HC1, was found to be a suitable ligand for allylic substitution with soft nucleophiles (Scheme 2). Pd2(dba)3 as palladium source and Cs2C03 as base completed the catalyst system. 

Surprisingly, this anion is also a good soft nucleophile and attacks saturated carbon atoms through the sulfur atom. In this case attack occurs at the less substituted end of an allylic bromide to give an allylic sulfone, which we will use later on. 

Although few investigations have been made to determine the stereochemical course of the reaction of Jt-allylmthenium complexes with nucleophiles, Harman and coworkers recently reported that the reaction with soft nucleophiles exclusively proceeded via an anti mechanism [58]. The observations described here, together with information in the literature, suggest that the ruthenium-catalyzed allylic substitution reaction proceeds via a double inversion (i.e., a net retention) mechanism. 

Substitution reactions of allylic substrates with nucleophiles have been shown to be catalyzed by certain palladium complexes [2, 42], The catalytic cycle of the reactions involves Jt-allylpalladium as a key intermediate (Scheme 2-22). Oxidative addition of the allylic substrate to a palladium(o) species forms a rr-allylpal-ladium(n) complex, which undergoes attack of a nucleophile on the rr-allyl moiety to give an allylic substitution product. The substitution reactions proceed in an Sn or Sn- manner depending on catalysts, nucleophiles, and substituents on the substrates. Studies on the stereochemistry of the allylic substitution have revealed that soft carbon nucleophiles represented by sodium dimethyl malonate attack the TT-allyl carbon directly from the side opposite to the palladium (Scheme 2-23). 

Among the various carbon-carbon and carbon-hetero atom bond forming reactions promoted or catalyzed by transition metals, allylic substitution via electrophilic n-allyl-complexes is of utmost importance. Studies focused on the synthetic potential of alkyl or aryl substituted ( n3-allyl)Fe(CO)4 1+) complexes have shown that nucleophilic attack by soft carbon and hetero atom nucleophiles preferentially proceeds regioselectively at the less or syn-substituted allyl terminus.4 Additionally, polar effects on the regioselectivity of this reaction caused by electron-withdrawing functionalities (e.g., CO2R, CONR2) have been examined by the... 

Allylic substitutions are among the most important carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions in organic synthesis. Palladium-catalyzed allylic substitutions and their asymmetric version have been extensively studied and widely used in a variety of total syntheses [78]. The palladium catalysis mostly requires soft nucleophiles such as malonate carbanions to achieve high stereo- and regioselectivity. 

Allylic ethers and alcohols have long been known to react with Grignard reagents in the presence of an appropriate Ni-based complex containing phosphine ligands [26]. These reactions are related to the well-studied Pd-catalyzed allylic substitution reactions that utilize soft nucleophiles [27], and a number of important mechanistic studies on the stereochemical outcome of this class of transformations have been carried out [28]. 

In general, the catalytic cycle for the transition-metal catalyzed allylic substitution reactions involves initial attack of the metal at the double bond followed by oxidative insertion into the antiperiplanar C-0 bond to afford the Ti-allyl system. At this point, depending on whether soft or hard nucleophiles are used, however, the alkylation reaction proceeds through distinctly different pathways (Scheme 10). With soft nucleophiles, where Pd is often the metal center of choice. 

The most important class of allylic substitutions are palladium-catalyzed reactions with so-called soft nucleophiles such as stabilized carbanions or amines, and with few exceptions, the enantioselective transformations discussed in this chapter belong to this category. The mechanism of these reactions has been firmly established and a detailed picture of the catalytic cycle can be drawn [1, 2,3,4,5,6,13,14,15]. The course of allylic substitutions catalyzed by metals other than palladium is less clear and information about the intermediates involved is scarce. 

Electrophilic activation of allylic alcohols. Formation of lithium allyloxy-triphenylborates enables the Pd(0)-catalyzed substitution of allyl alcohols with soft nucleophiles such as malonate ester enolates. 

The problem with allylic substitutions, such as reaction (a), is that a soft nucleophile attacks the complexes 2 from the side opposite to the ligands L as a result the distance between the reaction centers and the chiral inductor is large. 

Catalytic reactions of allylic electrophiles with carbon or heteroatom nucleophiles to form the products of formal S 2 or S 2 substitutions (Equation 20.1) are called "catalytic allylic substitution reactions." Tliese reactions have become classic processes catalyzed by transition metal complexes and are often conducted in an asymmetric fashion. The aUylic electrophile is typically an allylic chloride, acetate, carbonate, or other t)q e of ester derived from an allylic alcohol. The nucleophile is most commonly a so-called soft nucleophile, such as the anion of a p-dicarbonyl compound, or it is a heteroatom nucleophile, such as an amine or the anion of an imide. The reactions with carbon nucleophiles are often called allylic alkylations. 

The molybdenum and tungsten complexes catalyze reactions of soft nucleophiles, such as malonates, related 1,3-dicarbonyl compoimds, and nitroalkanes. Azlactones are also soft carbanions, and Trost has shown that complexes formed from molybdenum and the bis(pyridine) ligands catalyze enantioselective and diastereoselective allylation of azlactones with allylic phosphates to form quaternary amino acids (Equation 20.40). In these reactions, the nucleophile adds to the more substituted position of the allylic electrophile, and a stereocenter is formed at both the allyl carbon and the azlactone carbon. One route to the protease inhibitor tipranavir by the molybdenum-catalyzed allylation with 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds was demonstrated by Trost (Equation 20.41), and the Merck process group used related allylation chemistry with Trost s bis(pyridine) ligand to prepare the cyclopentanone precursor to various analogs of tipranavir (Equation 20.42). 

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