Carbonylative regioselective insertion

The [Rh(CO)2Cl]2-induced ring fission of substituted cyclopropanes 8a-b affords the rhodium complexes 9a-b via carbonylation [8]. The regioselectivity of carbonyl group insertion depends on the substituent. Reduction with NaBH4 leads to the corresponding alcohol. (Scheme 4)... 

The mechanism likely involves the initial formation of the ruthenacycle with regioselective insertion of alkyne into the Ru(II)-C bond with addition of the Ru (II) site to the aryl carbon atom, and insertion of the carbonyl group into the Ru(II)-C bond. The resulting intermediate gives indenols on protonation or benzofulvenes on dehydration with an excess of silver salt (Scheme 24) [195]. 

To develop new methods for organic synthesis, Woerpel and coworkers exploited the inherent reactivity of di -fc/ f-butylsilacyclopropanes to create new carbon-carbon bonds in a stereoselective fashion (Scheme 7.7).62 They discovered that transition metal salts catalyze the insertion of carbonyl compounds into the strained carbon-silicon bond to form oxasilacyclopentanes. The regioselectivity of insertion could be controlled by the identity of the catalyst. Copper promoted the insertion of croto-naldehyde into the more substituted C-Si bond of 52 to afford oxasilacyclopentane 53,63 whereas zinc catalyzed the insertion of butyraldehyde into the less substituted bond of 52 to provide the complementary product, 54.64 Oxasilacyclopentanes (e.g., 55) could be transformed into useful synthetic intermediates through oxidation of the C-Si bond,65 66 which provided diol 56 with three contiguous stereocenters. 

ZnBr2 also is an effective catalyst for the carbonyl insertion (Equation (75)).290 The Zn-catalyzed reaction is applicable to various aldehydes and ketones including aliphatic compounds. In sharp contrast to the Cu-catalyzed reaction, the carbonyl insertion occurs on the less substituted side with high regioselectivity. ZnBr2 most likely serves as electrophilic activation of carbonyl compounds. 

It has been reported that cyclohexanone monooxygenase displays a broad substrate specificity for cyclic ketones38. Moreover, the lactonization of 2-methylcyclohexanone (3), catalyzed by this enzyme, exhibits a regioselectivity comparable with that found for the chemical Baeyer Villiger oxidation oxygen insertion only takes place between the carbonyl group and the substituted carbon center393. 

A Ni°-based system related to those already described in connection with syntheses of both cyclobut-enediones and several five-membered heterocycles (Sections 9.4.2.1, 9.4.3.3 and 9.4.3.5) is also capable of catalyzing pyridone synthesis from isocyanates and alkynes. However, the structures found for the isolable metallacyclic intennediates in this system imply a completely different insertion sequence isocyanate first, followed by the two alkynes (Scheme 35). As a consequence, the regiochemistry found in the products of reaction of unsymmetrical alkynes is the reverse of that typical of Co larger substituents end up at positions 4 and 6. Thus, starting wiA the carbonyl carbon of the isocyanate, each carbon-caib-on bond forming event is strongly regioselective for the less-hindered alkyne caibon (equation 46). The... 

A general method has been elaborated for the synthesis of oxetanes from oxiranes by means of carbene insertion, with an a-selenoalkyllithium reagent that has also been utilized for the regioselective preparation of the oxirane itself from a carbonyl compound (Eq. 185). ... 

---