Chiral vinyllithium compounds

Tius and co-workers elegantly applied a variant of the Nazarov reaction to the preparation of cyclopentenone prostaglandins (Scheme 19.39) [46]. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the chirality of non-racemic allenes is transferred to an sp3-hybridized carbon atom. Preparation of allenic morpholinoamide 214 and resolution of the enantiomers by chiral HPLC provided (-)- and (+)-214. Compound (-)-214 was exposed to the vinyllithium species 215 to afford a presumed intermediate which was not observed but spontaneously cyclized to give (+)- and (—)-216 as a 5 1 mixture. Compound (+)-216 was obtained with an 84% transfer of chiral information and (-)-216 was obtained in 64% ee. The lower enantiomeric excess of (—)-216 indicates that some Z to E isomerization took place. This was validated by the conversion of 216 to 217, where the absolute configuration was established. The stereochemical outcome of this reaction has been explained by conrotatory cyclization of 218 in which the distal group on the allene rotates away from the alkene to give 216. 

The synthesis of 3 was initiated by reaction of wBuLi with the protected cyclopentenone 2 generating the corresponding vinyllithium reagent by halogen-metal exchange. Subsequent condensation with (S)-(-)-menthyl para-toluenesulfinate (13) provides the enantiodefined sulfoxide substituent in 3.5 Since thermal equilibration of chiral sulfoxides at room temperature is slow, the large sulfur atom is a preferred reaction site in synthetic intermediates to introduce chirality into carbon compounds. 

Vinyllithium acetals 133, compounds of type IX, were prepared from the corresponding chlorinated precursor 132 by a DTBB-catalyzed lithiation at low temperature. They reacted with electrophiles to give compounds 134. In the case of using chiral starting materials (132, R = Me), the reaction with prostereogenic carbonyl compounds took place with almost null stereoselectivity (Scheme 2.18) [111]. 

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