Anodic enolates

Despite the fact that the electrochemical oxidation of most of the nonconjugated dienes generally does not give products which result from interaction of the double bonds with one another, the anodic oxidation l-acetoxy-l,6-heptadienes gives intramolecularly cyclized products, that is, the cyclohexenyl ketones (equation 15)13. The cyclization takes place through the electrophilic attack of the cation generated from enol ester moiety to the double bond. 

Anodic oxidation reactions have been utilized to reverse the polarity of enol ethers and to initiate radical cation cyclizations. As shown below, the ketene acetal 97 is oxidized on a... 

Schafer reported that the electrochemical oxidation of silyl enol ethers results in the homo-coupling products. 1,4-diketones (Scheme 25) [59], A mechanism involving the dimerization of initially formed cation radical species seems to be reasonable. Another possible mechanism involves the decomposition of the cation radical by Si-O bond cleavage to give the radical species which dimerizes to form the 1,4-diketone. In the case of the anodic oxidation of allylsilanes and benzylsilanes, the radical intermediate is immediately oxidized to give the cationic species, because oxidation potentials of allyl radicals and benzyl radicals are relatively low. But in the case of a-oxoalkyl radicals, the oxidation to the cationic species seems to be retarded. Presumably, the oxidation potential of such radicals becomes more positive because of the electron-withdrawing effect of the carbonyl group. Therefore, the dimerization seems to take place preferentially. 

Different nucleophiles such as methanol, allylsilanes, silyl enol ethers, trimethylsilyl-cyanide, and arenes can be used in this process [62]. When the sulfide itself contains an unsaturated or aromatic fragment and the process is carried out in the absence of a nucleophile, an intramolecular anodic sub-stitution/cyclization might occur [61-63]. Methyl esters of 2-benzothiazolyl-2-alkyl or aryl-acetic acid, oxidized in MeOH/Et4 NCIO4 or H2SO4 in the presence of CUCI2, form 2,2-dimethoxy products (Eq. 7) [64]. 

The utility of the electrode to promote bond formation between functional groups of the same polarity provides researchers with an opportunity to explore the chemistry of interesting intermediates, and synthetic strategies that are based on their intermediacy [1,2], Reduction at a cathode, or oxidation at an anode, renders electron-poor sites rich, and electron-rich sites, poor. For example, the reduction of an a, 8-unsaturated ketone leads to a radical anion in which the -carbon possesses nucleophilic, rather than electrophilic character. Similarly, oxidation of an enol ether affords a radical cation wherein the -carbon displays electrophilic, rather than its usual nucleophilic behavior [3]. 

The oxidation of enol ethers at a reticulated vitreous carbon anode [2, 3] (Scheme 1) in a mixture of methanol/THF containing tetraethylammonium tosylate as the electrolyte and 2,6-lutidine as the base leads to substituted tetrahydrofu-ran and tetrahydropyran rings in good yields (51-96%). The major product obtained had a trans-stereochemistry. The cyclization failed to make seven-membered ring products. In order to determine the... 

The same reaction can occur during the anodic oxidation of the enolate of... 

Cycloaddition Reactions with Other Nucleophiles The anodic two-electron oxidation of catechol affords o-quinone that may react with the enolates of 4-hydroxycoumarine or 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione (dimedone). The resulting adducts undergo a second anodic oxidation leading to benzofuran derivatives in good yields (90-95%) (Scheme 53) [75, 76]. 

Intramolecular coupling reactions between nucleophilic olefins have also proven to hold potential as synthetically useful reactions. The first example of this type of reaction was reported by Shono and coworkers who examined the intramolecular coupling reaction of an enol acetate and a monosubstituted olefin (Scheme 41) [50]. This reaction was conducted in an effort to probe the nature of the radical cation intermediate generated from the anodic oxidation of... 

Surprisingly little preparative work has been done on the anodic oxidation of enols and enolates, although the resulting a-carbonyl radicals are important intermediates in synthetic organic chemistry and biological systems [94]. Due to... 

Again, the exclusive formation of six-membered rings indicates that the cyclization takes place by the electrophilic attack of a cationic center, generated from the enol ester moiety to the olefinic double bond. The eventually conceivable oxidation of the terminal double bond seems to be negligible under the reaction conditions since the halve-wave oxidation potentials E1/2 of enol acetates are + 1.44 to - - 2.09 V vs. SCE in acetonitrile while those of 1-alkenes are + 2.70 to -1- 2.90 V vs. Ag/0.01 N AgC104 in acetonitrile and the cyclization reactions are carried out at anodic potentials of mainly 1.8 to 2.0 V vs. SCE. 

In all of the cyclization reactions, Moeller has found only a small difference between the use of alkyl and silyl enol ethers. Since both styrenes and enol ethers have similar oxidation potentials, even the styrene moiety could function as the initiator for oxidative cyclization reactions. The anodic oxidation of simple styrene type precursors leads to low yields of cyclized products so that enol ether moiety seems to be the more efficient initiator for intramolecular anodic coupling reactions [93]. 

Intermolecular coupling of a vinyl ether with styrene at a carbon anode in methanol is successful, giving a mixture of the cross coupled product and the two homocoupled products [49], Intramolecular coupling between an enol ether and an alkene centre, as in 24 and 25, proceeds to give the cyclized product in good yield [50], Five and six membered rings can be constructed in this way. An easily oxidised vinyl ether group is necessary to initiate the reaction and the second alkene... 

Azide ions are oxidised at low positive potentials and generate azide radicals. Azide radicals will add to an alkene. Thus the anodic oxidation of enol ethers in... 

The chemical dehydrodimcnzaiion of malonate esters can be carried out by the action of iodine on the sodium enolate [23], This route is adapted as an electrochemical process using alcoholic sodium iodide as electrolyte in an undivided cell with carbon electrodes [24, 25]. Base generated at the cathode and iodine generated at the anode serve in a catalytic cycle. 

Generation of the carbon based radical in these processes involves the prior formation of a complex between manganese(lll) and the enol of the carbonyl reactant. Intramolecular electron transfer occurs within this complex. Addition to the olefin then takes place within the co-ordination sphere of manganese. When manganese is present in catalytic amount, the relative values of the equlibrium constants between manganese and both the carbonyl compound and the alkene arc important. If the olefm is more strongly complexed then no radical can form and reaction ceases. Reactions are usually carried out at constant current and the current used must correspond to less than the maximum possible rate for the overall chemical steps involved. Excess current caused the anode potential to rise into a region where Kolbe reaction of acetate can occur and this leads to side reactions [28]. 

Radical cations of 2-alkylidene-l,3-dithianes can be generated electrochemically by anodic oxidation using a reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) anode <2002TL7159>. These intermediates readily react with nucleophiles at C-1. Upon removal of the second electron, the sulfur-stabilized cations were trapped by nucleophilic solvents, such as MeOH, to furnish the final cycloaddition products. Hydroxy groups <20010L1729> and secondary amides <2005OL3553> were employed as O-nucleophiles and enol ethers as C-nucleophiles (Scheme 50) <2002JA10101>. 

The electrolytic oxidation of N- methoxycarbonylpiperidines provides an interesting and potentially valuable method for the functionalization of piperidine derivatives (81JA1172). Anodic oxidation of piperidine (101) gave (102) which reacted, presumably through the acyl imine, with enol ethers to form a carbon-carbon bond a to the nitrogen atom (Scheme 9). The regiochemical control in this reaction is illustrated by the exclusive oxidation at the less substituted carbon atom (55JA439). 

Since silyl enol ethers have a silyl group ji to the jr-system, anodic oxidation of silyl enol ethers takes place easily. In fact, anodic oxidation of silyl enol ethers proceeds smoothly to provide the homo-coupling products, 1,4-diketones (equations 37 and 38)42. This dimerization of the initially generated cation radical intermediate is more likely than the reaction of acyl cations formed by two electron oxidation of unreacted silyl enol ethers in these anodic reactions. 

On the other hand, indirect anodic oxidation of cyclic silyl enol ethers in the presence of iodide ions gives a-iodocyclic ketones (equation 39)43. 

Quite recently, stereoselective electrochemical synthesis of silyl enol ethers using a sacrificial magnesium anode was reported, as shown in equation 100126. 

---