Carbene-catalyzed Reactions

Strained rings may be opened by a ruthenium carbene-catalyzed reaction with a second alkene following the mechanism of the Cross Metathesis. The driving force is the relief of ring strain. As the products contain terminal vinyl groups, further reactions of the Cross Metathesis variety may occur. Therefore, the reaction conditions must be optimized to favour the desired product. 

Nair V, Vellalath S, Poonoth M, Suresh E (2006a) N-Heterocyclic carbene catalyzed reaction of enals and 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds stereoselective synthesis of spiro y-butyrolactones. Org Lett 8 507-509... 

Movassaghi M, Schmidt MA (2005) N- Ielcrocyclic carbene-catalyzed amida-tion of unactivated esters with amino alcohols. Org Lett 7 2453-2456 Nair V, Vellalath S, Poonoth M, Mohan R, Suresh E (2006a) N- Ielcrocyclic carbene catalyzed reaction of enals and 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds stereoselective synthesis of spiro y-butyrolactones. Org Lett 8 507-509 Nair V, Vellalath S, Poonoth M, Suresh E (2006b) V-Heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed reaction of chalcones and enals via homoenolate an efficient synthesis of 1,3,4-trisubstituted cyclopentenes. J Am Chem Soc 128 8736-8737... 

Figure 7.25 N-Heterocyclic carbenes catalyze reactions between ary aldehydes and enals. Depending on the nature of the catalysts, " "" 1,4-diones (Stetter products), y-lactones or even a 2+1 adduct (a hemiacetal) can be formed...

HeterocycHc carbene-catalyzed reactions of C—C unsaturated bonds 130BC7991. 

Selected examples (a) J. Kaeobamrung, J. Mahatthananchai, P. Zheng, J. W. Bode, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010,132, 8810-8812. An enantioselective Claisen rearrangement catalyzed by N-heterocyclic carbenes. (b) Z. Q. Zhu, J. C. Xiao, Adv. Synth. Catal. 2010, 352, 2455-2458. N-heterocychc carbene-catalyzed reaction of alkynyl aldehydes with 1,3-ketoesters or 1,3-diketones. 

Mahatthananchai J, Zheng P, Bode JW (2011) Observation and mechanistic investigation of a,P-unsaturated acyl azoliums liom N-heterocyclic carbene catalyzed reactions. Angew Chem Int Ed 50 1673-1677... 

Abstract The discovery and development of new A-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed reaction is described. Based on inspiration from nature, we have taken thiazolium-based approaches to umpolung reactivity and invented a suite of related reactions involving acyl anions, homoenolate, and enolate nucleophiles all generated under catalytic conditions. 

Nair, V., VeUalath, S., Poonoth, M., Suresh, E. (2006). N-heterocycUc carbene-catalyzed reaction of chalcones and enals via homoenolate an efficient synthesis of 1,3,4-trisubstituted cyclopentenes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 128, 8736-8737. 

Nair, V., Beneesh, P. B., Sreekumar, V., Eringathodi, S. (2008). Stereoselective synthesis of spirocyclopentanones via N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed reactions of enals and dienones. Chemical Communications, 747-749. 

Katz and Sivavec, who used a Fischer tungsten carbene complex as a catalyst. After the report of a chromium-catalyzed reaction by Mori et al., they disclosed the utility of ruthenium-carbene complexes for the enyne metathesis (Scheme 24.44). The Ru-carbene-catalyzed reaction under the ethylene atmosphere brought about good results in the case of terminal alkyne substrates such as 164b. ... 

Furan and thiophene undergo addition reactions with carbenes. Thus cyclopropane derivatives are obtained from these heterocycles on copper(I) bromide-catalyzed reaction with diazomethane and light-promoted reaction with diazoacetic acid ester (Scheme 41). The copper-catalyzed reaction of pyrrole with diazoacetic acid ester, however, gives a 2-substituted product (Scheme 42). 

In the light of these results, it becomes important to question whether a particular catalytic result obtained in a transition metal-catalyzed reaction in an imidazolium ionic liquid is caused by a metal carbene complex formed in situ. The following simple experiments can help to verify this in more detail a) variation of ligands in the catalytic system, b) application of independently prepared, defined metal carbene complexes, and c) investigation of the reaction in pyridinium-based ionic liquids. If the reaction shows significant sensitivity to the use of different ligands, if the application of the independently prepared, defined metal-carbene complex... 

Ruthenium porphyrin complexes are also active in cyclopropanation reactions, with both stoichiometric and catalytic carbene transfer reactions observed for Ru(TPP)(=C(C02Et)2> with styrene. Ru(Por)(CO)orRu(TMP)(=0)2 catalyzed the cyclopropanation of styrene with ethyidiazoacetate, with aiiti.syn ratios of 13 1... 

Zhang YR, He L, Wu X, Shao PL, Ye S (2008) Chiral N-heterocyclic carbene catalyzed Staudinger reaction of ketenes with imines highly enantioselective synthesis of W-Boc P-lactams. Org Lett 10 277-280... 

Metal-Catalyzed. Cyclopropanation. Carbene addition reactions can be catalyzed by several transition metal complexes. Most of the synthetic work has been done using copper or rhodium complexes and we focus on these. The copper-catalyzed decomposition of diazo compounds is a useful reaction for formation of substituted cyclopropanes.188 The reaction has been carried out with several copper salts,189 and both Cu(I) and Cu(II) triflate are useful.190 Several Cu(II)salen complexes, such as the (V-f-butyl derivative, which is called Cu(TBS)2, have become popular catalysts.191... 

In most transition metal-catalyzed reactions, one of the carbene substituents is a carbonyl group, which further enhances the electrophilicity of the intermediate. There are two general mechanisms that can be considered for cyclopropane formation. One involves formation of a four-membered ring intermediate that incorporates the metal. The alternative represents an electrophilic attack giving a polar species that undergoes 1,3-bond formation. 

The common by-products obtained in the transition-metal catalyzed reactions are the formal carbene dimers, diethyl maleate and diethyl fumarate. In accordance with the assumption that they owe their formation to the competition of olefin and excess diazo ester for an intermediate metal carbene, they can be widely suppressed by keeping the actual concentration of diazo compound as low as possible. Usually, one attempts to verify this condition by slow addition of the diazo compound to an excess (usually five- to tenfold) of olefin. This means that the addition rate will be crucial for the yields of cyclopropanes and carbene dimers. For example, Rh6(CO)16-catalyzed cyclopropanation of -butyl vinyl ether with ethyl diazoacetate proceeds in 69% yield when EDA is added during 30 minutes, but it increases to 87 % for a 6 h period. For styrene, the same differences were observed 65). 

As it is known from experience that the metal carbenes operating in most catalyzed reactions of diazo compounds are electrophilic species, it comes as no surprise that only a few examples of efficient catalyzed cyclopropanation of electron-poor alkeiies exist. One of those examples is the copper-catalyzed cyclopropanation of methyl vinyl ketone with ethyl diazoacetate 140), contrasting with the 2-pyrazoline formation in the purely thermal reaction (for failures to obtain cyclopropanes by copper-catalyzed decomposition of diazoesters, see Table VIII in Ref. 6). 

Exclusive O/H insertion takes place in the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed reaction of diethyl diazomalonate with a,(J-unsaturated y-hydroxyesters 167 a-c163). This is not surprising in view of the reluctance of electrophilic metal carbenes to add to electron-poor double bonds (see Sect. 2.3.2). However, the more electron-rich double bond of p-methoxybenzyl clavulanate 168 also cannot compete with the O—H function for the same carbenoid 164). The steric situation at the trisubstituted double bonds of 167 and 168 may be reason enough to render an attack there highly unfavorable as compared to the easily accessible O—H function, no matter how nucleophilic the double bond is. 

Products of a so-called vinylogous Wolff rearrangement (see Sect. 9) rather than products of intramolecular cyclopropanation are generally obtained from P,y-unsaturated diazoketones I93), the formation of tricyclo[2,1.0.02 5]pentan-3-ones from 2-diazo-l-(cyclopropene-3-yl)-l-ethanones being a notable exception (see Table 10 and reference 12)). The use of Cu(OTf), does not change this situation for diazoketone 185 in the presence of an alcoholl93). With Cu(OTf)2 in nitromethane, on the other hand, A3-hydrinden-2-one 186 is formed 160). As 186 also results from the BF3 Et20-catalyzed reaction in similar yield, proton catalysis in the Cu(OTf)2-catalyzed reaction cannot be excluded, but electrophilic attack of the metal carbene on the double bond (Scheme 26) is also possible. That Rh2(OAc)4 is less efficient for the production of 186, would support the latter explanation, as the rhodium carbenes rank as less electrophilic than copper carbenes. 

Rhodium(II) acetate was found to be much more superior to copper catalysts in catalyzing reactions between thiophenes and diazoesters or diazoketones 246 K The outcome of the reaction depends on the particular diazo compound 246> With /-butyl diazoacetate, high-yield cydopropanation takes place, yielding 6-eco-substituted thiabicyclohexene 262. Dimethyl or diethyl diazomalonate, upon Rh2(OAc)4-catalysis at room temperature, furnish stable thiophenium bis(alkoxycarbonyl)methanides 263, but exclusively the corresponding carbene dimer upon heating. In contrast, only 2-thienylmalonate (36 %) and carbene dimer were obtained upon heating the reactants for 8 days in the presence of Cul P(OEt)3. The Rh(II)-promoted ylide formation... 

The view has been expressed that a primarily formed ylide may be responsible for both the insertion and the cyclopropanation products 230 246,249). In fact, ylide 263 rearranges intramolecularly to the 2-thienylmalonate at the temperature applied for the Cul P(OEt)3 catalyzed reaction between thiophene and the diazomalonic ester 250) this readily accounts for the different outcome of the latter reaction and the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed reaction at room temperature. Alternatively, it was found that 2,5-dichlorothiophenium bis(methoxycarbonyl)methanide, in the presence of copper or rhodium catalysts, undergoes typical carben(oid) reactions intermole-cularly 251,252) whether this has any bearing on the formation of 262 or 265, is not known, however. 

The EfZ ratio of stilbenes obtained in the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed reaction was independent of catalyst concentration in the range given in Table 22 357). This fact differs from the copper-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate, where the ratio diethyl fumarate diethyl maleate was found to depend on the concentration of the catalyst, requiring two competing mechanistic pathways to be taken into account 365), The preference for the Z-stilbene upon C ClO -or rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of aryldiazomethanes may be explained by the mechanism given in Scheme 39. Nucleophilic attack of the diazoalkane at the presumed metal carbene leads to two epimeric diazonium intermediates 385, the sterically less encumbered of which yields the Z-stilbene after C/C rotation 357,358). Thus, steric effects, favoring 385a over 385 b, ultimately cause the preferred formation of the thermodynamically less stable cis-stilbene. 

It has been widely accepted that the carbene-transfer reaction using a diazo compound and a transition metal complex proceeds via the corresponding metal carbenoid species. Nishiyama et al. characterized spectroscopically the structure of the carbenoid intermediate that underwent the desired cyclopropanation with high enantio- and diastereoselectivity, derived from (91).254,255 They also isolated a stable dicarbonylcarbene complex and demonstrated by X-ray analysis that the carbene moiety of the complex was almost parallel in the Cl—Ru—Cl plane and perpendicular to the pybox plane (vide infra).255 These results suggest that the rate-determining step of metal-catalyzed cyclopropanation is not carbenoid formation, but the carbene-transfer reaction.254... 

Scheme 3.17 Potential mechanism for the carbene-catalyzed benzoin reaction...

Hoveyda and co-workers also tested optically active A-heterocyclic carbenes and their silver complexes in copper-catalyzed reactions of allylic phosphates with dialkylzincs.402 The ratios of Sn2 SN2 products were higher than 98 2 and the ee varied from 34% to 98%. 

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