Carbanions addition reactions

For Michael additions of CH acidic compounds (e.g. diethyl malonate with a,3-unsaturated ketones) the following recommendations are given "When possible, relatively weak basic catalysts such as piperidine... should be selected. If stronger bases are required, it is normally appropriate to use only 0.1 to 0.3 equivalent of the base." The analogy of these conditions to those specified by our rule A is obvious (concentration control). On the other hand, preformed carbanions (organometallies) are usually employed when the addend is more basic than the enolate produced by attack at the unsaturated carbonyl compound. Though the nature of the metal ion plays a crucial rule in many "carbanionic" addition reactions, a first understanding of the principles involved can be... 

The target molecule above contains a chiral center. An enantioselective synthesis can therefore be developed We use this opportunity to summarize our knowledge of enantioselective reactions. They are either alkylations of carbanions or addition reactions to C = C or C = 0 double bonds ... 

Rifamycin S also undergoes conjugate addition reactions to the quinone ring by a variety of nucleophiles including ammonia, primary and secondary amines, mercaptans, carbanions, and enamines giving the C-3 substituted derivatives (38) of rifamycin SV (117,120,121). Many of the derivatives show excellent antibacterial properties (109,118,122,123). The 3-cycHc amino derivatives of rifamycin SV also inhibit the polymerase of RNA tumor vimses (123,124). 

Because of thetr electron deficient nature, fluoroolefms are often nucleophihcally attacked by alcohols and alkoxides Ethers are commonly produced by these addition and addition-elimination reactions The wide availability of alcohols and fliioroolefins has established the generality of the nucleophilic addition reactions The mechanism of the addition reaction is generally believed to proceed by attack at a vinylic carbon to produce an intermediate fluorocarbanion as the rate-determining slow step The intermediate carbanion may react with a proton source to yield the saturated addition product Alternatively, the intermediate carbanion may, by elimination of P-halogen, lead to an unsaturated ether, often an enol or vinylic ether These addition and addition-elimination reactions have been previously reviewed [1, 2] The intermediate carbanions resulting from nucleophilic attack on fluoroolefins have also been trapped in situ with carbon dioxide, carbonates, and esters of fluorinated acids [3, 4, 5] (equations 1 and 2)... 

In addition reactions to chiral carbonyl compounds, the stereochemical course taken by resonance-stabilized alkali metals or magnesium benzyl anions resembles that taken by localized carbanions of similar bulk. Thus, conditions can be delineated which lead to either the steric approach or chelation control the following serve as examples. 

Optically pure (S)-benzyl methyl sulfoxide 139 can be converted to the corresponding a-lithio-derivative, which upon reaction with acetone gave a diastereomeric mixture (15 1) of the /S-hydroxysulfoxide 140. This addition reaction gave preferentially the product in which the configuration of the original carbanion is maintained. By this reaction, an optically active epoxy compound 142 was prepared from the cyclohexanone adduct 141181. Johnson and Schroeck188,189 succeeded in obtaining optically active styrene oxide by recrystallization of the condensation product of (+ )-(S)-n-butyl methyl sulfoxide 143 with benzaldehyde. 

Of course, we have seen (p. 430) that SnI reactions at vinylic substrates can be accelerated by a substituents that stabilize that cation, and that reactions by the tetrahedral mechanism can be accelerated by P substituents that stabilize the carbanion. Also, reactions at vinylic substrates can in certain cases proceed by addition-elimination or elimination-addition sequences (pp. 428, 430). 

The mechanism of the cyanide- and thioazolium ion-catalyzed conjugate addition reactions is considered to be analogous to the Lapworth mechanism for the cyanide-catalyzed benzoin condensation. Thus the cyano-stabilized carbanion resulting from deprotonation of the cyanohydrin of the aldehyde is presumed to be the actual Michael donor. After conjugate addition to the activated olefin, cyanide is eliminated to form the product and regenerate the catalyst. 

Nucleophilic addition to a, -unsaturated sulfones has long been known. For example, treatment of divinyl sulfone with sodium hydroxide has been known to afford bis( -hydroxyethyl) sulfone "", while the reaction of a- and -naphthyl allyl sulfones and allyl benzyl sulfone " with alkali hydroxide or alkoxide gave -hydroxy or alkoxy derivatives. In the latter reaction, the allyl group underwent prototropy to the 1-propenyl group, which in a subsequent step underwent nucleophilic attack . Amines, alcohols and sulfides are known to add readily to a, -unsaturated sulfones, and these addition reactions have been studied widely. In this section, the addition of carbon nucleophiles to a, ji-unsaturated sulfones and the reactions of the resulting a-sulfonyl carbanions will be examined. 

The addition reaction of enolates and enols with carbonyl compounds is of broad scope and of great synthetic importance. Essentially all of the stabilized carbanions mentioned in Section 1.1 are capable of adding to carbonyl groups, in what is known as the generalized aldol reaction. Enolates of aldehydes, ketones, esters, and amides, the carbanions of nitriles and nitro compounds, as well as phosphoms- and sulfur-stabilized carbanions and ylides undergo this reaction. In the next section we emphasize the fundamental regiochemical and stereochemical aspects of the reactions of ketones and aldehydes. 

An important synthetic application of this reaction is in dehalogenation of dichloro- and dibromocyclopropanes. The dihalocyclopropanes are accessible via carbene addition reactions (see Section 10.2.3). Reductive dehalogenation can also be used to introduce deuterium at a specific site. The mechanism of the reaction involves electron transfer to form a radical anion, which then fragments with loss of a halide ion. The resulting radical is reduced to a carbanion by a second electron transfer and subsequently protonated. 

Crossed aldol condensations, where both aldehydes (or other suitable carbonyl compounds) have a-H atoms, are not normally of any preparative value as a mixture of four different products can result. Crossed aldol reactions can be of synthetic utility, where one aldehyde has no a-H, however, and can thus act only as a carbanion acceptor. An example is the Claisen-Schmidt condensation of aromatic aldehydes (98) with simple aliphatic aldehydes or (usually methyl) ketones in the presence of 10% aqueous KOH (dehydration always takes place subsequent to the initial carbanion addition under these conditions) ... 

This reaction of aromatic aldehydes, ArCHO, resembles the Cannizzaro reaction in that the initial attack [rapid and reversible—step (1)] is by an anion—this time eCN—on the carbonyl carbon atom of one molecule, the donor (125) but instead of hydride transfer (cf. Cannizzaro, p. 216) it is now carbanion addition by (127) to the carbonyl carbon atom of the second molecule of ArCHO, the acceptor (128), that occurs. This, in common with cyanohydrin formation (p. 212) was one of the earliest reactions to have its pathway established— correctly —in 1903. The rate law commonly observed is, as might be expected,... 

We have already discussed a large group of reactions in which carbanions add to the C=0 group (cf. pp. 221-234), including examples of intramolecular carbanion addition, e.g. an aldol reaction (p. 226), Dieckmann reaction (p. 230), and the benzilic acid rearrangement (p. 232), and also to the C=C—C=O system, the Michael reaction... 

Both overt carbanions and organometallic compounds, such as Grignard reagents, are powerful nucleophiles as we have seen in their addition reactions with C=0 (p. 221 et seq.) they tend therefore to promote an SN2 pathway in their displacement reactions. Particularly useful carbanions, in preparative terms, are those derived from CH2(C02Et)2, (3-ketoesters, l,3-( 3-)diketones, e.g. (55), a-cyanoesters, nitroalkanes, etc.—the so-called reactive methylenes ... 

Organometallic compounds or carbanions undergo a number of reactions in which the carbanion or carbanion-like moiety of the organometallic compound acts as a nucleophilic displacing agent. Examples are the formation of hydrocarbons from alkyl halides, alkyl halides from halogens, and ketones from acid chlorides or esters. The latter two reactions are closely related to the base-catalyzed condensations and are perhaps additions as well as displacement reactions. Related addition reactions are the carbonation of organometallic compounds and the addition to ketones or aldehydes. 

This special feature arises from the combination of the transition metal behavior such as the coordination of a carbon-carbon multiple bond, oxidative addition, reductive elimination, P-hydride elimination, addition reactions and the behavior of classical c-carbanion towards electrophiles. 

Other reactions involving the addition of carbanions are reactions like Perkin s reaction, Claisen condensation, benzilic acid rearrangement and Michael addition. 

Thus the carbanion owe their importance in the synthesis of great variety of bond-forming reactions. Unlike carbocations most carbanions do not undergo rearrangements but in many cases react in substitution and addition reactions in high yields. Changing the cation and solvent can greatly affect the reaction. 

There are of course borderline cases when the reacting hydrocarbon is acidic (as in the case of 1-alkynes) a direct attack of the proton at the carbanion can be envisaged. It has been proposed that acyl metal complexes of the late transition metals may also react with dihydrogen according to a o-bond metathesis mechanism. However, for the late elements an alternative exists in the form of an oxidative addition reaction. This alternative does not exist for d° complexes such as Sc(III), Ti(IV), Ta(V), W(VI) etc. and in such cases o-bond metathesis is the most plausible mechanism. 

Two types of intermediates, i.e., radicals or carbanions or their organometallic equivalents, can be used to perform addition reactions to Michael acceptors. The free-radical route has already been investigated with nickel or cobalt complexes as catalysts [62-64]. These studies have been reinvestigated recently with the aim of improving the turn-over of the catalyst and/or using easily prepared cheap complexes. 

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