And the Mukaiyama aldol reaction

Using a cyclic enone 2-29b and an ester-TMS enolate 2-30 in the presence of catalytic amounts of SmI2(THF)2, the Michael addition and the Mukaiyama/aldol reaction with the added aldehyde 2-32 led to the diastereomeric adducts 2-33 and 2-34 via 2-31 with a dr =80 20 to 98 2 and 70-77% yield (Scheme 2.7) [13]. The major product is the trans-l,2-disubstituted cycloalkanone. 

The use of indium in acpieous solution has been reported by Li and co-workers as a new tool in org nometallic chemistry. Recently Loh reported catalysis of the Mukaiyama-aldol reaction by indium trichloride in aqueous solution". Fie attributed the beneficial effect of water to a eg tion phenomena in connection with the high internal pressure of this solvenf This woric has been severely criticised by... 

The Mukaiyama aldol reaction refers to Lewis acid-catalyzed aldol addition reactions of silyl enol ethers, silyl ketene acetals, and similar enolate equivalents,48 Silyl enol ethers are not sufficiently nucleophilic to react directly with aldehydes or ketones. However, Lewis acids cause reaction to occur by coordination at the carbonyl oxygen, activating the carbonyl group to nucleophilic attack. 

Quite a number of other Lewis acids can catalyze the Mukaiyama aldol reaction, including Bu2Sn(03SCF3)2,51 Bu3SnC104,52 Sn(03SCF3)2,53 Zn(03SCF3)2,54 and... 

The Mukaiyama aldol reaction can provide access to a variety of (3-hydroxy carbonyl compounds and use of acetals as reactants can provide (3-alkoxy derivatives. The issues of stereoselectivity are the same as those in the aldol addition reaction, but the tendency toward acyclic rather than cyclic TSs reduces the influence of the E- or Z-configuration of the enolate equivalent on the stereoselectivity. 

Scheme 2.2 illustrates several examples of the Mukaiyama aldol reaction. Entries 1 to 3 are cases of addition reactions with silyl enol ethers as the nucleophile and TiCl4 as the Lewis acid. Entry 2 demonstrates steric approach control with respect to the silyl enol ether, but in this case the relative configuration of the hydroxyl group was not assigned. Entry 4 shows a fully substituted silyl enol ether. The favored product places the larger C(2) substituent syn to the hydroxy group. Entry 5 uses a silyl ketene thioacetal. This reaction proceeds through an open TS and favors the anti product. 

Silyloxy)alkenes were first reported by Mukaiyama as the requisite latent enolate equivalent to react with aldehydes in the presence of Lewis acid activators. This process is now referred to as the Mukaiyama aldol reaction (Scheme 3-12). In the presence of Lewis acid, anti-aldol condensation products can be obtained in most cases via the reaction of aldehydes and silyl ketene acetals generated from propionates under kinetic control. 

The isomerization of an O-silyl ketene acetal to a C-silyl ester is catalyzed by a cationic zirconocene—alkoxide complex [92], This catalysis was observed as a side reaction in the zirconocene-catalyzed Mukaiyama aldol reactions and has not yet found synthetic use. The solvent-free bis(triflate) [Cp2Zr(OTf)2] also catalyzes the reaction in nitromethane (no reaction in dichloromethane), but in this case there may be competitive catalysis by TMSOTf (cf. the above discussion of the catalysis of the Mukaiyama aldol reaction) [91] (Scheme 8.51). 

The addition of an enolsilane to an aldehyde, commonly referred to as the Mukaiyama aldol reaction, is readily promoted by Lewis acids and has been the subject of intense interest in the field of chiral Lewis acid catalysis. Copper-based Lewis acids have been applied to this process in an attempt to generate polyacetate and polypropionate synthons for natural product synthesis. Although the considerable Lewis acidity of many of these complexes is more than sufficient to activate a broad range of aldehydes, high selectivities have been observed predominantly with substrates capable of two-point coordination to the metal. Of these, benzy-loxyacetaldehyde and pyruvate esters have been most successful. 

The salt 18 was explored in the Mukaiyama aldol reaction with acetophenone, and a yield of 96% was obtained after 1 h at -78 °C (Scheme 11). When MejSiOTf was used as a catalyst, a yield of 0% was observed. Me3SiNTf3 and Et3SiNTf3 resulted in 12% and 8% yield, respectively. 

In order to enhance the catalytic activity of a carbocationic center, the novel Lewis acid 54 was designed by Mukaiyama [149-152]. The 1-oxoisoindolium-based carbenium salt 54 [149], possessing a weak coordinating borate counter anion, proved to be a very active catalyst in the aldoUzation (Scheme 58) [150]. The Mukaiyama aldol reaction was catalyzed by 1 mol% of salt 54 and proceeded in up to 97% yield in 30 min. 

Lewis acids are quite often used as catalysts in organic synthesis. Although most Lewis acids decompose in water, it was found that rare earth triflates such as Sc(OTf)3, Yb(OTf)3, etc. can be used as Lewis acid catalysts in water or water-containing solvents (water-compatible Lewis acids) [6-9]. For example, the Mukaiyama aldol reactions of aldehydes with silyl enol ethers were catalyzed by Yb(OTf)3 in water-THF (1 4) to give the corresponding aldol adducts in high yields [10, 11]. Interestingly, when the reactions were carried out in dry THF (without water), the yield of the aldol adducts was very low (ca. 10%). Thus, this catalyst is not only compatible with water but also is activated by water, probably due to dissociation of the counteranions from the Lewis acidic metal. Furthermore, the catalyst can be easily recovered and reused. 

Bismuth triflate has been reported by Dubac as an efficient catalyst for the Mukaiyama aldol reaction with silyl enol ethers [27] and was recently used with a chiral ligand, as reported by Kobayashi in an elegant hydroxymethylation reaction... 

The Lewis acid-mediated reactions of 2-aza-l,3-dienes and aldehydes, resulting in tetrahydro-l,3-oxazin-4-one derivatives, were explained in terms of the competitive existence of two reaction pathways a [4+2] hetero-Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction and a Mukaiyama aldol reaction <2001TA439>. 

One of the early syntheses of orlistat (1) by Hoffmann-La Roche utilized the Mukaiyama aldol reaction as the key convergent step. Therefore, in the presence of TiCU, aldehyde 7 was condensed with ketene silyl acetal 8 containing a chiral auxiliary to assemble ester 9 as the major diastereomer in a 3 1 ratio. After removal of the amino alcohol chiral auxiliary via hydrolysis, the a-hydroxyl acid 10 was converted to P-lactone 11 through the intermediacy of the mixed anhydride. The benzyl ether on 11 was unmasked via hydrogenation and the (5)-7V-formylleucine side-chain was installed using the Mitsunobu conditions to fashion orlistat (1). 

Asymmetric lanthanide complexes derived from lanthanide triflates and a chiral bidentate sulfonamide ligand were applied to the Mukaiyama aldol reaction (Scheme 19) [299]. Enantiomeric excesses were moderate and the reaction proceeded best in CH2C12 solvent and with ytterbium as metal center. 

Because these asymmetric aldol reactions are ideal methods for constructing (3-hydroxy carbonyl compounds in optically active form, the development of an asymmetric aldol reaction without the use of an organostannane would be advantageous. Yamagishi and coworkers have reported the Mukaiyama aldol reaction using trimethylsilyl enol ethers in the presence of the BINAP-AgPF6 complex to afford the adducts with moderate enantioselectivities (Table 9.9).18 They have also assigned... 

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