Carbanions addition to ketones

A few examples of chemoselective additions of allyltitanium reagents to aliphatic and aromatic carbonyl compounds are reported in Table 7. Appreciable chemoselectivity toward the aldehydic function is achieved by the titanium ate conqtlex (23), whereas the reverse chemoselectivity toward ketones is realized using aminotitanium complex (104) and the analogous ate complexes (24) and (25), as is shown in Table 7. This is very interestii since it represents a rare case of chemoselectivity in favor of carbanion addition to ketones. A tentative explanation of this inverse chemoselection considers a fast transfer of the aminyl ligand onto the aldehyde function which becomes protected , as in (105), and thus unreactive in respect to the keto group. Ketones react also selectively compared with esters, as is shown by the reaction of ethyl levulinate (1) with the ate complex (23 equation 40). ... 

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. 

In the absence of a proton donor, the alkoxide ion generated by carbanion addition to the carbonyl function can interact with a carbon-halogen bond in the 8 2 displacement reaction. Reactions of this type have led to some novel carbon chain forming processes. Ketones are converted to homologated enones in good yield by... 

We have seen at least two examples of nucleophilic addition to ketones and aldehydes. A Grignard reagent (a strong nucleophile resembling a carbanion, R= ) attacks the electrophilic carbonyl carbon atom to give an alkoxide intermediate. Subsequent protonation gives an alcohol. 

The strategies presented in Table 8.1 can be generalized in the following manner (1) carbanion addition to aldimine or ketimine derivatives (2) sequential amination-alkylation of aldehydes (carbanion addition to in situ formed aldimine derivatives) (3) transfer hydrogenation or hydrogenation of imines (4) reductive amination of ketones and (5) N-acetylenamide reduction. Because of the difficulty of their synthesis, a-alkyl,-alkyl substituted amines are highlighted whenever possible. 

Still conducted pioneering investigations on the use of chelate-controlled reactions of carbanions in additions to ketones for the stereoselective syntheses of simple vicinal diols. The results demonstrate that Mg Il) is superior to Li(I) for the formation of chelates (Equation 4) [64]. Surprisingly, THF proved to be the optimal solvent in the additions and provided 52 in >100 1 di Of additional interest is the observation that only a minor temperature dependence was observed in the addition reactions with substrate 51, including MEM as a protecting group. 

One of the key pioneers in this area was Solladie, who thoroughly investigated the reactions of chiral sulfoxide carbanions [21], Their diastereoselec-tive additions to ketones and aldehydes are illustrative of the method (Scheme 13.16) [67]. Addition of 104 to cyclohexyl methyl ketone (105) thus furnished adduct 106. The sulfoxide, having fulfilled its role as an auxiliary, is subsequently subjected to reductive cleavage to afford hydroxy ester 107. After transesterification, alcohol 108 was produced in 95 % ee. Despite the numerous years that have transpired since these results were first published, such optically active tertiary alcohols remain otherwise difficult to prepare, a feature that attests to the potential value of chiral sulfoxide anions in asymmetric synthesis. 

Dimethylpropanoyl)-l, 2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolincs 16 form dipole-stabilized lithium carbanions on deprotonation, but their addition to aldehydes or methyl ketones proceeds nevertheless with low simple diastereoselectivity22 23. However, a high preference for the formation of the w-diastereomer is observed after transmetalation with magnesium bromide22"24. 

Acyloins (a-hydroxy ketones) are formed enzymatically by a mechanism similar to the classical benzoin condensation. The enzymes that can catalyze reactions of this type arc thiamine dependent. In this sense, the cofactor thiamine pyrophosphate may be regarded as a natural- equivalent of the cyanide catalyst needed for the umpolung step in benzoin condensations. Thus, a suitable carbonyl compound (a -synthon) reacts with thiamine pyrophosphate to form an enzyme-substrate complex that subsequently cleaves to the corresponding a-carbanion (d1-synthon). The latter adds to a carbonyl group resulting in an a-hydroxy ketone after elimination of thiamine pyrophosphate. Stereoselectivity of the addition step (i.e., addition to the Stand Re-face of the carbonyl group, respectively) is achieved by adjustment of a preferred active center conformation. A detailed discussion of the mechanisms involved in thiamine-dependent enzymes, as well as a comparison of the structural similarities, is found in references 1 -4. 

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) ... 

Another synthetically useful reaction involves the addition to aldehydes and ketones of carbanions, e.g. (100), derived from aliphatic nitro... 

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