Carbonyl compounds reaction with boron reagents

The addition of allylic boron reagents to carbonyl compounds first leads to homoallylic alcohol derivatives 36 or 37 that contain a covalent B-O bond (Eqs. 46 and 47). These adducts must be cleaved at the end of the reaction to isolate the free alcohol product from the reaction mixture. To cleave the covalent B-0 bond in these intermediates, a hydrolytic or oxidative work-up is required. For additions of allylic boranes, an oxidative work-up of the borinic ester intermediate 36 (R = alkyl) with basic hydrogen peroxide is preferred. For additions of allylic boronate derivatives, a simpler hydrolysis (acidic or basic) or triethanolamine exchange is generally performed as a means to cleave the borate intermediate 37 (Y = O-alkyl). The facility with which the borate ester is hydrolyzed depends primarily on the size of the substituents, but this operation is usually straightforward. For sensitive carbonyl substrates, the choice of allylic derivative, borane or boronate, may thus be dictated by the particular work-up conditions required. 

Several methods for the anti-selective, asymmetric aldol reaction recorded in the literature include (i) the use of boron, titanium, or tin(ll) enolate carrying chiral ligands, (ii) Lewis acid-catalyzed aldol reactions of a metal enolate of chiral carbonyl compounds, and (iii) the use of the metal enolate derived from a chiral carbonyl compound. Although many of these methods provide anti-aldols with high enantioselectivities, these methods are not as convenient or widely applicable as the method reported here, because of problems associated with the availability of reagents, the generality of reactions, or the required reaction conditions. 

To explain the stereochemical outcome of the reaction of allylic boron reagents with carbonyl compounds, Houk and Li carried out calculations on the transition structures of the model reaction of formaldehyde and allylboronic acid6 (Scheme 3.V). The bimolecular complex formed initially between allylboronic acid and formaldehyde would rearrange via a six-membered transition state to form an intermediate. Calculations show that chair transition state A is 8.2kcal/ mol more stable than twist-boat transition structure B, clearly confirming that the six-membered chairlike transition-state model is a legitimate scheme to predict the stereochemical outcome of the boron allylation reaction. 

Carbonyl Allylation and Propargylation. Boron complex (8), derived from the bis(tosylamide) compound (3), transmeta-lates allylstannanes to form allylboranes (eq 12). The allylboranes can be combined without isolation with aldehydes at —78°C to afford homoallylic alcohols with high enantioselectivity (eq 13). On the basis of a single reported example, reagent control might be expected to overcome substrate control in additions to aldehydes containing an adjacent asymmetric center. The sulfonamide can be recovered by precipitation with diethyl ether during aqueous workup. Ease of preparation and recovery of the chiral controller makes this method one of the more useful available for allylation reactions. 

---