Amide enolates, reactions with electrophiles

The enolates of fluoroacetate or fluorothioacetate esters are generated either through deprotonation with a lithium amide or by an in situ reduction of ethyl bromofluoroacetate with zinc. These enolates can undergo diverse reactions with electrophiles (Figure 2.7) ... 

Ketone dilithio-c /S-dianions (30, formed by treatment of /3 -stannylketones, RCOCH2-CH2SnBuCl2, with 4 equiv. of BuLi) react with imines and hydrazone selectively at the /3-anion portion to give dilithium enolate amides (31).82 Subsequent reaction with electrophiles gives y-amino ketones and related heterocycles. 

The reactions of ketone dilithio ,/i-dianions with imines and hydrazones have been investigated.77 The nucleophilic addition reaction to C—N double bonds took place selectively at the -position of dianions to form lithium (Z)-enolates containing a lithium amide portion, which is then transformed into y-amino ketones and related compounds by the subsequent reaction with electrophiles. 

This asymmetric synthesis in a reaction with electrophiles is due to the chirality of the amide enolate created by the generation of intramolecular chelate of the enolate and the oxygen atom. An interesting fact is the effect of the group that participates in the chelation on the induced asymmetric centers. Hydroxyl and methoxyl induce formation of opposing asymmetric centers. Neither this fact nor the mechanism of the reaction and the intermediates involved has been discussed and explained. 

Ambident anions are mesomeric, nucleophilic anions which have at least two reactive centers with a substantial fraction of the negative charge distributed over these cen-ters ) ). Such ambident anions are capable of forming two types of products in nucleophilic substitution reactions with electrophilic reactants . Examples of this kind of anion are the enolates of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, phenolate, cyanide, thiocyanide, and nitrite ions, the anions of nitro compounds, oximes, amides, the anions of heterocyclic aromatic compounds e.g. pyrrole, hydroxypyridines, hydroxypyrimidines) and others cf. Fig. 5-17. 

Generation of the Enolate and Reactions with Electrophiles. The enolate of the title reagent (1) is generated with lithium amide bases and reacts with electrophiles such as benzylic bromides or tricarbonyl(fluorobenzene)chromium to give the corresponding 4,4-disubstituted derivatives of type (2), which are hydrolyzed under acidic conditions " to, for instance, the amino... 

Five- and six-membered ring enolates with an endocyclic double bond also react to deliver an electrophile from the sterically less hindered face. Enolate 498 was obtained by treatment of 497 with lithium amide. Subsequent reaction with an alkyl halide led to delivery of the halide from the face opposite the alkenyl group (path a) and the trans product shown (499) was isolated in 60% yield.-. Approach via path b would have serious steric consequences, and that transition state is destabilized. Similar effects are observed with 3-alkyl-cyclohexanone derivatives. 

During the coverage period of this chapter, reviews have appeared on the following topics reactions of electrophiles with polyfluorinated alkenes, the mechanisms of intramolecular hydroacylation and hydrosilylation, Prins reaction (reviewed and redefined), synthesis of esters of /3-amino acids by Michael addition of amines and metal amides to esters of a,/3-unsaturated carboxylic acids," the 1,4-addition of benzotriazole-stabilized carbanions to Michael acceptors, control of asymmetry in Michael additions via the use of nucleophiles bearing chiral centres, a-unsaturated systems with the chirality at the y-position, and the presence of chiral ligands or other chiral mediators, syntheses of carbo- and hetero-cyclic compounds via Michael addition of enolates and activated phenols, respectively, to o ,jS-unsaturated nitriles, and transition metal catalysis of the Michael addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds. ... 

Deprotonation of a dihydrothiazine ring, followed by a reaction with an electrophile, is most straightforward in benzothiazin-3-ones (general structure 35), which are deprotonated at the 2-position by lithium diisopropyl amide (LDA). The enolate can then react with a variety of electrophiles including deuterium oxide, methyl iodide, and aldehydes <1982T3059>. Compound 70 was prepared in this manner from 2,4-dimethyldihydro-l,4-benzothiazin-3-one (Equation 27) <1985T569>. 

Treatment of the potentially electrophilic Z-xfi-unsaturated iron-acyl complexes, such as 1, with alkyllithium species or lithium amides generates extended enolate species such as 2 products arising from 1,2- or 1,4-addition to the enone functionality are rarely observed. Subsequent reaction of 2 with electrophiles results in regiocontrolled stereoselective alkylation at the a-position to provide j8,y-unsaturated products 3. The origin of this selective y-deproto-nation is suggested to be precoordination of the base to the acyl carbonyl oxygen (see structures A), followed by proton abstraction while the enone moiety exists in the s-cis conformation23536. 

HSAB is particularly useful for assessing the reactivity of ambident nucleophiles or electrophiles, and numerous examples of chemoselective reactions given throughout this book can be explained with the HSAB principle. Hard electrophiles, for example alkyl triflates, alkyl sulfates, trialkyloxonium salts, electron-poor car-benes, or the intermediate alkoxyphosphonium salts formed from alcohols during the Mitsunobu reaction, tend to alkylate ambident nucleophiles at the hardest atom. Amides, enolates, or phenolates, for example, will often be alkylated at oxygen by hard electrophiles whereas softer electrophiles, such as alkyl iodides or electron-poor alkenes, will preferentially attack amides at nitrogen and enolates at carbon. 

Aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic esters, carboxylic amides, imines and iV,jV-disubstituted hydrazones react as electrophiles at their sp2-hybridized carbon atoms. These compounds also become nucleophiles, if they contain an H atom in the a position relative to their C=0 or C=N bonds. This is because they are C,H-acidic at that position, that is, the H atom in the a position can be removed with a base (Figure 10.1). The deprotonation forms the conjugate bases of these substrates, which are called enolates. Depending on the origins of these enolates, they may be called aldehyde enolates, ketone enolates, ester enolates, or amide enolates. The conjugate bases of imines and hydra-zones are called aza-enolates. The reactions discussed in this chapter all proceed via enolates. 

Related Reagents. The synthesis of chiral diazenedicarboxylates as potential chiral electrophilic aminating agents has received little attention. A series of chiral bomyl, isobomyl and menthyl diazenedicarboxylates has been reported and their reaction with achiral enolates of esters and N,N-dimethyl amides afforded a-hydrazino acid derivatives with little or no selectivity. Incorporation of a chiral azodicarboxamide unit into a chiral bridging binaphthyl moiety afforded a-hydrazino acid derivatives with high stereoselectivity in reactions with achiral oxazolidinone anions. ... 

Epoxides can also be used as substrates in pseudoephedrine amide enolate alkylation reactions, but react with opposite di-astereofacial selectivity (suggesting a change in mechanism, proposed to involve delivery of the epoxide electrophile by coordina-... 

Although alkylation reactions of pseudoephedrine amide enolates are successful with a broad range of electrophiles, a few problematic substrates have been identified. Among these are secondary alkyl halides, such as cyclohexyl bromide, and alkyl halides that are both (3-branched and (3-alkoxy substituted. However, there is evidence that the thermal stability of pseudoephedrine amide enolates may be such that extended reaction times at ambient temperature, or even heating, may be tolerated ... 

Aldol Reactions. Pseudoephedrine amide enolates have been shown to undergo highly diastereoselective aldol addition reactions, providing enantiomerically enriched p-hydroxy acids, esters, ketones, and their derivatives (Table 11). The optimized procedure for the reaction requires enolization of the pseudoephedrine amide substrate with LDA followed by transmeta-lation with 2 equiv of ZrCp2Cl2 at —78°C and addition of the aldehyde electrophile at — 105°C. It is noteworthy that the reaction did not require the addition of lithium chloride to favor product formation as is necessary in many other pseudoephedrine amide enolate alkylation reactions. The stereochemistry of the alkylation is the same as that observed with alkyl halides and the formation of the 2, i-syn aldol adduct is favored. The tendency of zirconium enolates to form syn aldol products has been previously reported. The p-hydroxy amide products obtained can be readily transformed into the corresponding acids, esters, and ketones as reported with other alkylated pseudoephedrine amides. An asymmetric aldol reaction between an (S,S)-(+)-pseudoephe-drine-based arylacetamide and paraformaldehyde has been used to prepare enantiomerically pure isoflavanones. ... 

Some carbonyl-based compounds (imines, carboxylic acids) are better electrophiles under acidic conditions than they are under basic conditions. Reactions using these compounds as electrophiles are usually executed under acidic conditions. On the other hand, enolates are always better nucleophiles than enols when carbonyl compounds are required to react with electrophiles that are not particularly reactive, such as esters or alkyl bromides, basic conditions are usually used. Carbonyl compounds that are particularly low in energy (esters, amides) have such a small proportion of enol at equilibrium that they cannot act as nucleophiles at the a-carbon under acidic conditions. Nevertheless, no matter whether acidic or basic conditions are used, carbonyl compounds are always nucleophilic at the a-carbon and electrophilic at the carbonyl carbon. 

Perhaps the most interesting developments in the area of selective lithiations to appear this year have been concerned with the control of absolute stereochemistry. The application of chiral amide bases to the enantioselective deprotonation of epoxides was first described some years ago by Whitesell and co-workers, but this year several groups have reported on other aspects of these useful reaqents. Symmetrically substituted ketones (5 R=Me, CH2Ph) have been shown by Simpkins to undergo an enantioselective deprotonation under kinetically controlled conditions to give, after reaction with an electrophile (iodomethane, allyl bromide or acetic anhydride), optically active ketones (6) or enol acetates (7) (Scheme 2). The ability of a number of bases to discriminate between the two prochiral protons present in (5) were evaluated and the most effective of those studied was the camphor derivative (8) deprotonation of (5 R=Me) proceeded in 74% enantiomeric excess... 

Good crossed aldol condensations require one component to enolize and act as a nucleophile and the other not to enolize and to act as the electrophile. Here follows a list of carbonyl substituents that prevent enolization and therefore force a carbonyl compound to take the role of the electrophilic partner. They are arranged roughly in order of reactivity with the most reactive towards nucleophilic attack by an enolate at the top. You do, of course, need two substituents to block enolization so typical compounds also appear in the list. Note that the last two entries—esters and amides—do not normally do aldol reactions with enolates, but they do react as acylating agents for enolates, as you will see later in this chapter. 

A full report has appeared on the direct lithiation of NN-di-isopropylformamide by t-butyl-lithium and the use of the acyl carbanion thus obtained in the synthesis of a-keto-amides. The lithium enolate of NN-dimethylacetamide has been isolated for the first time, as a white solid, and has been shown to react well with a usual range of electrophiles. A Canadian group have also discussed the synthesis and reactions of such enolates, in particular their behaviour with ketones from which 70% yields of jS-hydroxyamides can routinely be obtained. " These enolates when generated as in the above methods, using lithium di-isopropylamide, also afford good yields of a-(methylthio)-amides when treated with dimethyl disulphide, in contrast to when sodium in liquid ammonia is used as base, which results in polysulphenylation of the amide. ... 

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