2,5-cyclohexadienone ethers 1,4-addition

Scheme 7.19. Selective cis or trans double conjugate addition of Et2Zn to cyclohexadienone ether 70.

I 7 Copper-catalyzed Enantioselective Conjugate Addition Reactions of Organozinc Reagents Tab. 7.4. Conjugate additions to 2,5-cyclohexadienone monoacetals and ethers. 

Intramolecular oxidative cyclizations in the appropriately substituted phenols and phenol ethers provide a powerful tool for the construction of various practically important polycyclic systems. Especially interesting and synthetically useful is the oxidation of the p-substituted phenols 12 with [bis(acyloxy)iodo]-arenes in the presence of an appropriate external or internal nucleophile (Nu) leading to the respective spiro dienones 15 according to Scheme 6. It is assumed that this reaction proceeds via concerted addition-elimination in the intermediate product 13, or via phenoxenium ions 14 [18 - 21]. The recently reported lack of chirality induction in the phenolic oxidation in the presence of dibenzoyltar-taric acid supports the hypothesis that of mechanism proceeding via phenoxenium ions 14 [18]. The o-substituted phenols can be oxidized similarly with the formation of the respective 2,4-cyclohexadienone derivatives. 

Birch reduction of aromatic ethers is well known to afford alicyclic compounds such as cyclohexadienes and cyclohexenones, from which a number of natural products have been synthesized. Oxidation of phenols also affords alicyclic cyclohexadienones and masked quinones in addition to C—C and/or C—O coupled products. All of them are regarded as promising synthetic intermediates for a variety of bioactive compounds including natural products. However, in contrast to Birch reduction, systematic reviews on phenolic oxidation have not hitherto appeared from the viewpoint of synthetic organic chemistry, particularly natural products synthesis. In the case of phenolic oxidation, difficulties involving radical polymerization should be overcome. This chapter demonstrates that phenolic oxidation is satisfactorily used as a key step for the synthesis of bioactive compounds and their building blocks. 

The first Cu-catalyzed asymmetric borylative cyclization reaction between cyclohexadienone-containing 1,6-enynes and B2pin2 was established to afford an optically pure d5-hydrobenzo[l ]furan framework bearing alkenylboronate and enone substructures through a tandem process of selective P-borylation of the propargylic ether and subsequent enantioselective conjugate addition to cyclohexadienone (13JA11700). 

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