Carboxylic esters unsaturated, conjugated additions

After successful installation of the first two stereocenters, our attention was focused on elaboration of the terminal alkene in 64 (Scheme 6.9). Treatment with disiamylborane followed by oxidative workup afforded primary alcohol 65 in good yield (70-85 %). A side product containing a mixture of two diastereomers (66) was also observed and resulted from conjugate addition of the alkoxide formed during basic workup onto the unsaturated ester. Maintaining the temperature at 0 °C by a slow, dropwise quench during the oxidative workup was necessary to minimize the amount of the undesired cyclization product (66). Subsequent oxidation of the primary alcohol 65 using Dess-Martin periodinane [28] and a Pinnick oxidation afforded carboxylic acid 67 [29]. 

Tetraalkylammonium bromide was found to be a good catalyst for the conjugate addition of thiols to a,p-unsaturated nitriles, carboxylic esters, ketones, aldehydes, and nitro alkenes. The reactions proceeded rapidly and gave high yields of products (typically, 90%) (160). 

The Michael acceptor can be an a, -unsaturated carboxylic ester. This possibility is illustrated with the conjugate addition of phenylmagnesium bromide to ethyl arecaidinate, which leads to 4-phenylnipecotic acid (equation 33). 

Conjugate addition to a, -unsaturated esters.1 The unsaturated esters of this phenol undergo ready conjugate addition with a variety of organolithium reagents, with t-butyllithium providing the only exception. The adducts are oxidatively hydrolyzed to carboxylic acids by CAN (10, 162). 

In contrast to the ester enolates, the a.O-carboxylic dianions are intrinsically more reactive and their use in conjugate reactions is thus limited. Typically, a-substituted-a.O-carboxylic dianions add exclusively to a,(3-unsaturated esters155a and nitroalkenes,155b while additions to ot,(3-enones are sensitive to the substitution pattern of the enones.155c>d Notable is the conjugate addition of dihydrobenzoic acid dianions (207), from Birch reduction of benzoic acids, to oi,3-unsaturated esters (Scheme 77).155e... 

The (diastereoselective) conjugate addition of silylcuprate reagents to a variety of chiral derivatives of a,(3-unsaturated carboxylic acids can be used to prepare optically active p-silyl esters.258 259 Best results are obtained with substrates of type (25). The (related) p-silyl ketones, which also constitute valuable building blocks for (acyclic) stereoselective synthesis, are now accessible in high ee via palladium-catalyzed enantioselective 1,4-disiiylation of a,p-unsaturated ketones (Scheme 76).260... 

The conjugate addition of carbonyl anions catalysed by thiazolium salts (via umpol-ung) that is fully operative under neutral aqueous conditions has been accomplished. The combination of a-keto carboxylates (157) and thiazolium-derived zwitterions (e.g. 160) in a buffered protic environment (pH 7.2) generates reactive carbonyl anions that readily undergo conjugate additions to substituted o /3-unsaturated 2-acylimidazoles (158) to produce (159). The scope of the reaction has been examined and found to accommodate various a-keto carboxylates and /3-aryl-substituted unsaturated 2-acylimidazoles. The optimum precatalyst for this process is the commercially available thiazolium salt (160), a simple analogue of thiamine diphosphate. In this process, no benzoin products from carbonyl anion dimerization were observed. The resulting 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds (159) can be efficiently converted into esters and amides by way of activation of the A-methylimidazole ring via alkylation.181... 

RCu BFj is also useful for the conjugate addition to the a,P unsaturated ketones and esters, whose double bonds are sterically crowded. Such conjugated additions occur selectively by a 1,4 manner. Certain a,P-unsaturated carboxylic acids also undergo a 1,4-addition through this reagent (Eq. 88) Methyl sorbate reacts with BuCu BFj to give predominantly the 1,4-adduct (Eq. 89). Two mechanistic... 

Conjugate hydrocyanation of oc -unsaturated carboxylic esters, acid chlorides, and acyl cyanides, is effected by reaction with diethylaluminium cyanide [e.g. (128) — (129)]. The acid chloride and cyanide are the most reactive. A double conjugate addition of nitromethane with a 2-methylene-4-en-3-one (130) gave a... 

Treatment with the tertiary amine forms the anions of the carboxylic acids. That of B can do a conjugate addition to the unsaturated ester and form the lactone but the carhoxylate of A cannot react. 

In some examples, the stereochemistry of radical reactions was controlled by chiral carbohydrate auxiliaries. As a radical counterpart to the ionic conjugate additions discussed above, Garner et al. [169] prepared carbohydrate linked radicals that were reacted with a,P-unsaturated esters. The radical precursor, the carboxylic acid 256, generated by the addition of ( Sj-methyl lactate to tri-O-benzyl-D-glucal and subsequent ester hydrolysis, was decarboxylated by Barton s procedure (Scheme 10.84) [170]. Trapping of the chiral radical 258 with methyl acrylate furnished the saturated ester 259 in 61% yield and with high diastereoselectivity (11 1). The auxiliary caused a preferential addition to the si-facQ of radical 258, probably due to entropic effects. The ester 259 was transformed in acceptable yield to the y-butyrolactone 261 by reductive removal of the thiopyridyl group followed by acid hydrolysis. 

Carboxylic Acids and their Derivatives.—2,3-Seco-A -unsaturated dicarboxylic acids (443), obtained by ozonolysis of 2-hydroxymethylene-4-en-3-ones, have been considered rather resistant to cyclisation to form the A-nor-3-en-2-one system (444). Two convenient methods for achieving such a reaction are now described. Dieckmann condensation of the dimethyl ester (445) was successful with sodium hydride, in toluene containing a little methanol. The 5-methoxy-carbanion (446), resulting from conjugate addition of methoxide ion, is suggested as a possible activated intermediate. Alternatively, the diacid (in the B-nor-series)... 

The ease of reaction depends both on the CH acidity of the addend and on the polarizability of the ethylenic double bond of the acceptor. Thus, in general, only such compounds function as addend in which a methylene or methine group is activated by two neighboring carbonyl or nitrile groups, as, for example, in malonic esters, malonodinitrile, cyanoacetic esters, 1,3-dioxo compounds and 3-oxo carboxylic esters, and their monoalkyl substitution products. The ethylenic double bond of the acceptor is polarized by conjugation with a polar multiple bond, so that the olefinic component is usually an unsaturated ketone, an, / -unsaturated ester, or an, / -unsaturated nitrile. The addition is catalysed by bases such as potassium hydroxide solution, sodium ethoxide, and amines. 

Nucleophiles react with a, 8-unsaturated carboxylic acid derivatives with reactive carbonyl groups, such as acyl chlorides, to form nucleophilic acyl substitution products. Conjugate addition products are formed from the reaction of nucleophiles with less reactive carbonyl groups, such as ester and amides. 

Lithiophosphide reagents have also found application in the synthesis of a range of chiral phosphines based on carbohydrate systems, e.g., (43), the key step being nucleophilic ring-opening of epoxide derivatives with lithium diphenyl-phosphide. A lithiophosphide-tosylate route has been used in the synthesis of the carbohydrate-based diphosphine (44). Conjugate addition of lithium diphenyl-phosphide to a,P-unsaturated carboxylic esters is the key step in the synthesis of... 

Some properties of diethyl allylphosphonate have been investigated, in particular the behaviour of its anion (500) towards < /t-unsaturated ketones and carboxylic esters. Although in. some cases the conjugate addition of the anion has been observed, e.g. in the formation of (501) and (502), in most ca.ses the reaction leads to carbocyclic products. y-Nucleophilicity, with addition-elimination, has been observed in reactions with e.g. ( )-4-methoxybut-3-en-2-one, when the final product is (503), following expulsion of the methoxy group. A third mode of reaction consists of multiple addition ... 

Polhni, G.P, Barco, A. and De Giuli, G. (1972) Tetramethylguanidine-catalysed addition of nitromethane to a, P-unsaturated carboxylic acid esters. Synthesis, 44-45 Alvarez, F.S. and Wren, D. (1973) Synthesis of ( )-deoxyprostaglandin Ei, and Fip and its 15P-epimers by conjugate addition of nitromethane to 2-(6 -carbomethoxyhexyl)-2-cyclopenten-l-one. Tetrahedron Letters, 569-572 Hewson, A.T. and MacPherson, D.T. (1983) Conjugate addition to the ethylene ketal of 2-carbomethoxy-2-cyclopentenone a synthesis of sarkomycin. Tetrahedron Letters, 24, 647-648 Naito, T., Honda, Y, Bhavakul, V. et al. (1997) Radical cyclization in heterocycle synthesis. II. Total synthesis of ( )-anantine and ( )-isoanantine. Chemical Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 45, 1932-1939. 

So far we have shown you conjugate additions mainly of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes and unsaturated a,P-ketones. You won t be at all surprised to learn, however, that unsaturated acids, esters, amides, and nitriles—in fact all carboxylic acid derivatives—can also take part in conjugate addition reactions. Two examples, an amide and an ester, are shown on the right below. But notice how the selectivity of these reactions depends on the structure of the unsaturated compound compare the way butyllithium adds to this a,P-unsaturated aldehyde and a,P-unsaturated amide. Both additions are irreversible, and BuLi attacks the reactive carbonyl group of the aldehyde, but prefers conjugate addition to the less reactive amide. Similarly, ammonia reacts with this acyl chloride to give an amide product that derives from direct... 

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