Boron enol ethers

This chapter is primarily concerned with keto-enol equilibrium and the chemistry of dissociated enols (enoxides) and lithium enolates. The acid-base aspects of the chemistry of other metal enolates (e.g. silyl enol ethers "", boron enol ethers" " " , aluminium , tin " , gallium , bismuth , zinc " ", rhodium , palladium " , manganese ", copper , nickel , magnesium " , titanium " , molybdenum , zirconium" " and ammonium" " enolates) have been reported elsewhere. 

It is all very well knowing what enolates give rise to what aldol products, but this is not much use unless we can choose to have cis or trans enolates. Clearly with cyclopentanone there is no option but to form a trans enolate. But with an acyclic ketone we will need a little more care. Boron enol ethers provide an answer. Two common boron reagents used are 9-BBN chloride 46 (derived from 9-BBN 45) and another is dicyclohexylboron chloride 47. Other reagents include the corresponding triflates. There are also the chiral boron reagents that we shall meet later chapters. 

Boron enolates (other names are vinyloxyboranes, enol borinates, or boron enol ethers) are often employed in the aldol reaction because they show higher stereoselectivity than alkali and magnesium enolates. Extensive developmental work in this area has been carried out by Evans, Masamune and Mukaiyama, and their respective coworkers. - - The correspondence between enolate geometry and aldol stereochemistry is exceptional (Z)-enolates give syn/erythro aldol products, whereas ( )-enolates give anti/threo aldol products, albeit with slightly lower selectivity. 

The dimethyl acetal (94) is readily prepared from the 22-aldehyde (93) by direct reaction with methanol in the presence of hydrogen chloride. Ena-mines (95) are formed without a catalyst even with the poorly reactive piperidine and morpholine.Enol acetates (96) are prepared by refluxing with acetic anhydride-sodium acetate or by exchange with isopropenyl acetate in pyridine.Reaction with acetic anhydride catalyzed by boron trifluoride-etherate or perchloric acid gives the aldehyde diacetate. 

An interesting example from carbohydrate chemistry is the boron trifluoride-diethyl ether complex catalyzed nucleophilic addition of silyl enol ethers to chiral imines (from n-glyceralde-hyde or D-serinal)22. This reaction yields unsaturated y-butyrolactones with predominantly the D-arabino configuration (and almost complete Cram-type erythro selectivity). 

Geometrically defined a/ -epoxysilanes have been shown (6) to undergo a highly stereoselective rearrangement to silyl enol ethers (see also Chapter 15). This rearrangement is catalysed by boron trifluoride etherate, and seems to involved-opening of the epoxysilane, as shown ... 

Boron trifluoride etherate (1 mmol) was added dropwise to a stirred solution of the epoxysilane (1 mmol) in dichloromethane (5 ml) at -78 °C, and the mixture was stirred for 5min. The reaction mixture was quenched with saturated sodium hydrogen carbonate solution (1 ml), and allowed to warm gradually to ambient temperature. The organic phase was washed with brine (3 x 5 ml), dried and concentrated. The (Z)-epoxysilane gave the (Z)-silyl enol ether (68%, 96 4(Z) (E)), and the (E)-isomer gave the (E)-silyl enol ether (69%, 95 5 ( ) (Z)). 

Reaction conditions that involve other enolate derivatives as nucleophiles have been developed, including boron enolates and enolates with titanium, tin, or zirconium as the metal. These systems are discussed in detail in the sections that follow, and in Section 2.1.2.5, we discuss reactions that involve covalent enolate equivalents, particularly silyl enol ethers. Scheme 2.1 illustrates some of the procedures that have been developed. A variety of carbon nucleophiles are represented in Scheme 2.1, including lithium and boron enolates, as well as titanium and tin derivatives, but in... 

Z-Boron enolates can also be obtained from silyl enol ethers by reaction with the bromoborane derived from 9-BBN (9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane). This method is necessary for ketones such as 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentanone, which give E-boron enolates by other methods. The Z-stereoisomer is formed from either the Z- or E-silyl enol ether.20... 

The enolates of other carbonyl compounds can be used in mixed aldol reactions. Extensive use has been made of the enolates of esters, thiol esters, amides, and imides, including several that serve as chiral auxiliaries. The methods for formation of these enolates are similar to those for ketones. Lithium, boron, titanium, and tin derivatives have all been widely used. The silyl ethers of ester enolates, which are called silyl ketene acetals, show reactivity that is analogous to silyl enol ethers and are covalent equivalents of ester enolates. The silyl thioketene acetal derivatives of thiol esters are also useful. The reactions of these enolate equivalents are discussed in Section 2.1.4. 

If there is no other interaction, the reaction proceeds through an acyclic TS and steric factors determine the amount of syn versus anti addition. This is the case with BF3, where the tetracoordinate boron-aldehyde adduct does not offer any free coordination sites for formation of a cyclic TS. Stereoselectivity increases with the steric bulk of the silyl enol ether substituent R1.50... 

In general, BF3 -catalyzed Mukaiyama reactions lack a cyclic organization because of the maximum coordination of four for boron. In these circumstances, the reactions show a preference for the Felkin type of approach and exhibit a preference for syn stereoselectivity that is independent of silyl enol ether structure.119... 

In a similar way, Carreaux and coworkers [53] used 1-oxa-l,3-butadienes 4-155 carrying a boronic acid ester moiety as heterodienes [54], enol ethers and saturated as well as aromatic aldehydes. Thus, reaction of 4-155 and ethyl vinyl ether was carried out for 24 h in the presence of catalytic amounts of the Lewis acid Yb(fod)3 (Scheme 4.33). Without work-up, the mixture was treated with an excess of an aldehyde 4-156 to give the desired a-hydroxyalkyl dihydropyran 4-157. Although this is not a domino reaction, it is nonetheless a simple and useful one-pot procedure. 

A one-pot reaction between a tryptophan ester, benzotriazole, and 2,5-dimethoxytetrahydrofuran in acetic acid gives the diastereomeric benzotriazolyl tetracycles, 349, in good yield. Substitution of the benzotriazole by reaction with silyl enol ethers and boron trifluoride etherate gives the corresponding ketones 350 and 351, and reaction with allylsilanes gives the corresponding alkenes 352 and 353. If the boron trifluoride etherate is added to the mixture before the silane, elimination of benzotriazole from 349 is also observed (Scheme 83) <1999T3489>. 

The aldol reactions introduced thus far have been performed under basic conditions where enolate species are involved as the reactive intermediate. In contrast to the commonly accepted carbon-anion chemistry, Mukaiyama developed another practical method in which enol species can be used as the key intermediates. He is the first chemist to successfully demonstrate that acid-catalyzed aldol reactions using Lewis acid (such as TiCU) and silyl enol ether as a stable enol equivalent can work as well.17 Furthermore, he developed the boron tri-fluoromethane sulfonate (triflate)-mediated aldol reactions via the formation of formyl enol ethers. 

Tandem processes mediated by triethylborane involving conjugate addition to enones followed by aldol reaction are reported (Scheme 52, Eq. 52a). More recently, a tandem process involving addition of an isopropyl radical to an o ,/3-unsaturated oxime ether afforded an azaenolate intermediate that reacts with benzaldehyde in the presence of trimethylaluminum. The aldol product cyclizes to afford an isopropyl substituted y-bulyroloaclonc in 61% overall yield (Scheme 52) [116]. In these reactions, triethylborane is acting as a chain transfer reagent that delivers a boron enolate or azaenolate necessary for the aldolization process. 

Lewis acid-catalysed deprotection of enol ethers to yield carbonyl compounds is aided by the addition of tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride. Optimum yields were obtained with equimolar amounts of the enol ether in dichloromethane with the fluoride and boron trifluoride etherate [20, 21]. 

Although in the recent years the stereochemical control of aldol condensations has reached a level of efficiency which allows enantioselective syntheses of very complex compounds containing many asymmetric centres, the situation is still far from what one would consider "ideal". In the first place, the requirement of a substituent at the a-position of the enolate in order to achieve good stereoselection is a limitation which, however, can be overcome by using temporary bulky groups (such as alkylthio ethers, for instance). On the other hand, the ( )-enolates, which are necessary for the preparation of 2,3-anti aldols, are not so easily prepared as the (Z)-enolates and furthermore, they do not show selectivities as good as in the case of the (Z)-enolates. Finally, although elements other than boron -such as zirconium [30] and titanium [31]- have been also used succesfully much work remains to be done in the area of catalysis. In this context, the work of Mukaiyama and Kobayashi [32a,b,c] on asymmetric aldol reactions of silyl enol ethers with aldehydes promoted by tributyltin fluoride and a chiral diamine coordinated to tin(II) triflate... 

Bischler-Napieralski reaction, 6, 2 Bis(chloromethyl) ether, 1, 3 19, warning Boron enolates, 51, 1 Borane reagents, for allylic transfer, 73,... 

Moureu investigated the addition of alcohols, catalyzed by sodium methoxide, to acetylenic esters and has shown that enol ethers are formed as primary adducts. It has been shown that compounds such as potassium cyanide, a mixture of mercuric oxide, boron trifluoride,... 

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