Carbonyl cuprate additions

Cyclic amino-carbenes, in molybdenum carbonyls, 5, 457 Cyclic bis(phosphine) dichlorides, with iron carbonyls, 6, 48 Cyclic carbenes, as gold atom ligands, 2, 289 Cyclic carbometallation, zirconium complexes, 10, 276 Cyclic carbozirconation characteristics, 10, 276 intermolecular reactions, 10, 278 intramolecular reactions, 10, 278 Cyclic dinuclear ylides, and gold , 2, 276 Cyclic 1,2-diols, intramolecular coupling to, 11, 51 Cyclic enones, diastereoselective cuprate additions, 9, 515 Cyclic esters, ring-opening polymerization, via lanthanide catalysis, 4, 145 Cyclic ethers... 

Although lower-order cuprate reagents will often engage in displacement reactions with alkyl halides, such reactions are usually slow. They are generally much less facile than 1,4-addition reactions to a,P-unsaturated enones or enoates. The latter processes are particularly facile when trimethylsilyl chloride is employed as an additive. It was Corey and Boaz10 who first recognised the accelerating effect of trimethylsilyl chloride on cuprate addition reactions to a,p-unsaturated carbonyls. Buszek therefore capitalised on Corey s earlier observations in his reaction of 10 with lithium dimethylcuprate to obtain 15. 

In contrast to nucleophilic addition reactions to activated dienes, the mechanism of 1,6-cuprate additions to acceptor-substituted enynes is quite well understood, the main tools being kinetic and NMR spectroscopic investigations. C-NMR spectroscopic studies have revealed that these transformations proceed via jr-complexes with an interaction between the jr-system of the C=C double bond and the nucleophiUc copper atom (a soft-soft interaction in terms of the HSAB principle), as well as a second interaction between the hard lithium ion of the cuprate and the hard carbonyl oxygen atom (Scheme 4) q of C-labeled substrates has confirmed that the cuprate does... 

With the initial phase of the synthetic study completed, the task of introducing the methyl group at C-9 via cuprate addition was undertaken. Working under the assumption that the tricyclic enone was in a conformation similar to the one shown below, it was expected that in this conformation the formation of the lithium ion, carbonyl oxygen... 

Concurrent with this correlation, an alternative correlation of the cuprate products was in progress. It was decided to oxidize the silyloxy center up to the carbonyl prior to performing the cuprate addition. In this regard, tricycle 22h. was reacted with HF in CH3CN to provide alcohol 25. The alcohol was oxidized with PCC leading to the formation of diketone 36. 

This conformation of the enone has the carbonyl oxygen 16 below the plane of the enone so that it is suitably disposed to account for the observed stereochemistry of the cuprate addition. Although the calculations seem to indicate the alternative boat conformation with the 10 dihedral angle would be more stable, it is unlikely that they are sophisticated enough to take into account the possibility of a number of more subtle interactions which could be possible in this unique ring system. It would appear that the opportunity for homoconjugation would be more favorable for the conformation with the 90 dihedral angle. 

Cuprate addition to the heteroatom-substituted acetylenes 28, followed by carbenoid substitution and treatment with an aldehyde, convert the triple bond into a carbonyl substituted quaternary carbon atom (see 29). 

Although ethereal solutions of methyl lithium may be prepared by the reaction of lithium wire with either methyl iodide or methyl bromide in ether solution, the molar equivalent of lithium iodide or lithium bromide formed in these reactions remains in solution and forms, in part, a complex with the methyllithium. Certain of the ethereal solutions of methyl 1ithium currently marketed by several suppliers including Alfa Products, Morton/Thiokol, Inc., Aldrich Chemical Company, and Lithium Corporation of America, Inc., have been prepared from methyl bromide and contain a full molar equivalent of lithium bromide. In several applications such as the use of methyllithium to prepare lithium dimethyl cuprate or the use of methyllithium in 1,2-dimethyoxyethane to prepare lithium enolates from enol acetates or triraethyl silyl enol ethers, the presence of this lithium salt interferes with the titration and use of methyllithium. There is also evidence which indicates that the stereochemistry observed during addition of methyllithium to carbonyl compounds may be influenced significantly by the presence of a lithium salt in the reaction solution. For these reasons it is often desirable to have ethereal solutions... 

A reiterative application of a two-carbon elongation reaction of a chiral carbonyl compound (Homer-Emmonds reaction), reduction (DIBAL) of the obtained trans unsaturated ester, asymmetric epoxidation (SAE or MCPBA) of the resulting allylic alcohol, and then C-2 regioselective addition of a cuprate (Me2CuLi) to the corresponding chiral epoxy alcohol has been utilized for the construction of the polypropionate-derived chain ]R-CH(Me)CH(OH)CH(Me)-R ], present as a partial structure in important natural products such as polyether, ansamycin, or macro-lide antibiotics [52]. A seminal application of this procedure is offered by Kishi s synthesis of the C19-C26 polyketide-type aliphatic segment of rifamycin S, starting from aldehyde 105 (Scheme 8.29) [53]. 

The mechanism of conjugate addition reactions probably involves an initial complex between the cuprate and enone.51 The key intermediate for formation of the new carbon-carbon bond is an adduct formed between the enone and the organocopper reagent. The adduct is formulated as a Cu(III) species, which then undergoes reductive elimination. The lithium ion also plays a key role, presumably by Lewis acid coordination at the carbonyl oxygen.52 Solvent molecules also affect the reactivity of the complex.53 The mechanism can be outlined as occurring in three steps. 

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