Alkynes carboalumination

At this point in time carboalumination of alkynes has been more widely applied in synthesis. The most frequently used catalyst is (Cp)2ZrCl2. It is believed that a bimetallic species is formed.227... 

Small amounts of water accelerate carboalumination of alkynes.228 This acceleration may be the result of formation of aluminoxanes. 

Scheme 4.10 gives some examples of application of alkyne carboalumination in synthesis. The reaction in Entry 1 was carried out as part of a synthesis of the immunosuppressant drug FK-506. The vinyl alane was subsequently transmetallated to a cuprate reagent (see Chapter 8). In Entry 2, the vinyl alane was used as a nucleophile for opening an epoxide ring and extending the carbon chain by two atoms. In Entries 3 to 5, the vinyl alane adducts were converted to vinyl iodides. In Entry 6, the vinyl alane was converted to an ate reagent prior to reaction with formaldehyde. 

Petasis reported an efficient addition of vinyl boronic acid to iminium salts.92 While no reaction was observed when acetonitrile was used as solvent, the reaction went smoothly in water to give allyl amines (Eq. 11.54). The reaction of the boron reagent with iminium ions generated from glyoxylic acid and amines affords novel a-amino acids (Eq. 11.55). Carboalumination of alkynes in the presence of catalytic Cp2ZrCl2 and H2O affords vinylalane intermediates, which serve as nucleophiles in the subsequent addition to enantiomerically enriched... 

Scheme 26 Carboalumination strategy for aldehyde/alkyne alkylative coupling...

Scheme 4 Acyclic and cyclic mechanisms for the Zr-catalyzed carboalumination of alkynes.

The synthetic utility of the Zr-catalyzed carboalumination of alkynes may be indicated by over 100 natural products including highly complex ones that have been synthesized by using this reaction74 178 (Table 2). 

Scheme 1.24. Synthesis of alkenylalanes by Zr-catalyzed carboalumination of alkynes followed by Pd- or Ni-catalyzed cross-coupling.

Many dozen complex natural products have been synthesized in a highly selective manner by the use of Zr-catalyzed carboalumination of alkynes. Although most of them are not mentioned here due to space limitation, those that have been reported by the author s group over the past few years alone include freelingyne [160], coenzyme Q10 [159], and (3- and y-carotenes [163], which were synthesized with unprecedented efficiency and selectivity. 

As is clear from the mechanisms, these reactions cannot occur with methylmetals. Their extensions beyond ethylmetallation are possible, but are prone to various side reactions [201,202], In contrast to the widely observable Zr-catalyzed carboalumination of al-kynes discussed earlier, the alkyne version of the Zr-catalyzed ethylmagnesation has not been widely observable, the only successful examples being those of conjugated diynes [203], In this context, further investigation of the Zr-catalyzed carbozincation of alkynes reported as early as 1983 [204,205] appears to be very desirable. 

The result of the retrosynthetic analysis of rac-lO is 2-hydroxyphenazine (9) and the terpenoid unit rac-23, which may be linked by ether formation [29]. The rac-23 component can be dissected into the alkyl halide rac-24 and the (E)-vinyl halide 25. A Pd(0)-catalyzed sp -sp coupling reaction is meant to ensure both the reaction of rac-24 and 25 and the ( )-geometry of the C-6, C-7 double bond. Following Negishi, 25 is accessible via carboalumination from alkyne 27, which might be traced back to (E,E)-farnesyl acetone (28). The idea was to produce 9 in accordance with one of the methods reported in the literature, and to obtain rac-24 in a few steps from symmetrical 3-methyl-pentane-1,5-diol (26) by selective functionalization of either of the two hydroxyl groups. 

The preparation of vinyl iodide 39 first required the transformation of (E,E)-farnesyl acetone (28), performed according to Negishi, to the terminal alkyne 27 with 75% yield [35]. The latter then gave (E)-vinyl iodide 39 in dia-stereomerically pure form and 74% yield by Zr-catalyzed carboalumination with trimethylaluminum and trapping of the intermediate vinylaluminum species with iodine [36]. The alkyl iodide rac-29 necessary to ensure the coupling with 39 was obtained by selective monofunctionalization of 3-methyl-pentane-1,5-diol (26) in a few steps [37]. 

The stereospecific construction of the trisubstituted double bond of the side chain at C-1 of carbazomadurins A (253) and B (254) was achieved using Negishi s zirconium-catalyzed carboalumination of alkynes 758 and 763, respectively. Reaction of 5-methyl-l-hexyne (758) with trimethylalane in the presence of zirconocene dichloride, followed by the addition of iodine, afforded the vinyl iodide 759 with the desired E-configuration of the double bond. Halogen-metal exchange with ferf-butyllithium, and reaction of the intermediate vinyllithium compound with tributyltin chloride, provided the vinylstannane 751a (603) (Scheme 5.79). 

CARBAMIC ACID, (2-METHYL-2-BUTENYL)-, METHYL ESTER, 65, 159 Carbamic add, methyl ester, 65,159 Carboalumination of alkynes. 66, 64 Carbocupration of alkynes, 66, 65... 

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