Cyclohexanone axial alkylation

The anion of cyclohexanone /V,/V-dimclhyl hydrazone shows a strong preference for axial alkylation.122 2-Methylcyclohexanone N,N-dimethylhydrazonc is alkylated by methyl iodide to give d.v-2,6-dimclhylcyclohcxanone. The 2-methyl group in the hydrazone occupies a pseudoaxial orientation. Alkylation apparently occurs anti to the lithium cation, which is on the face opposite the 2-methyl substituent. 

Alkylations of enolates, enamines, and silyl enol ethers of cyclohexanone usually show substantial preference for axial attack. The enamine of 4-f-butylcyclohexanone, which has a fixed conformation because of the i-butyl group, gives 90% axial alkylation and only 10% equatorial alkylation with n-Prl. 

Consideration of the two half-chair conformations of 76 shows that a transition state resulting from axial attack on 76a would be destabilized relative to one resulting from attack on 76b. Both half-chair conformations of 75 (not shown) can undergo axial alkylation, thus leading to a mixture of R- and -substituted cyclohexanones, and the... 

Structurally rigid substrate surrogates were added to the cubic section model before more flexible molecules as the following order signifies pentacyclic, tetracyclic, tricyclic, bicyclic ketones, trans/cis-decalones, methyl cyclohexanones and alkyl cyclohexanones. The hydroxyls of cyclohexanols were oriented axially with respect to cyclohexyl rings consistent with the Jones protocol and with the obsen/ation that... 

Interactive mechanism for axial alkylation of cyclohexanone enamine... 

The stereoselective reactions in Scheme 2.10 include one example that is completely stereoselective (entry 3), one that is highly stereoselective (entry 6), and others in which the stereoselectivity is modest to low (entries 1,2,4, 5, and 7). The addition of formic acid to norbomene (entry 3) produces only the exo ester. Reduction of 4-r-butylcyclohexanone (entry 6) is typical of the reduction of unhindered cyclohexanones in that the major diastereomer produced has an equatorial hydroxyl group. Certain other reducing agents, particularly sterically bulky ones, exhibit the opposite stereoselectivity and favor the formation of the diastereomer having an axial hydroxyl groi. The alkylation of 4-t-butylpiperidine with benzyl chloride (entry 7) provides only a slight excess of one diastereomer over the other. 

The presence of 1,3-diaxial interaction between the C-2 alkyl group and the C-4 axial hydrogen atom is reflected in the rate of enamine formation of 2-substituted cyclohexanone. It has been shown by Hunig and Salzwedel (20) that even under forcing conditions, the yield of pyrrolidine and morpholine enamines of 2-methylcyclohexanone does not exceed 58%, whereas the C-2 unsubstituted ketones underwent enamine formation under rather milder conditions in better than 80 % yield. 

The reactions of pyrrolidinocyelohexenes with acid have also been Considered from a stereochemical point of view. Deuteration of the 2-methylcyclohexanone enamine gave di-2-deuterio-6-methylcyclohexanone under conditions where ds-4-/-butyI-6-methyIpyrrolidinocycIohexene was not deuterated (2J4). This experiment supported the postulate of Williamson (2JS), which called for the axial attack of an electrophile and axial orientation of the 6 substituent on an aminocyclohexene in the transition state of such enamine reactions. These geometric requirements explain the more difficult alkylation of a cyclohexanone enamine on carbon 2, when it is substituted at the 6 position, as compared with the unsubstituted case. 

Bei der elektrochemischen Reduktion von Cycloalkanonen steht i. a. der stereochemi-sche Aspekt (cis/trans axial/aquatorial) im Vordergrund, so z. B. bei der Reduktion der Methyl- und anderer Alkyl-cyclohexanone, substituierter 2-Oxo-bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane und bei Oxo-dekalinen. Mit zumeist Alkoholen als Solvens fallen die entsprechenden cy-clischen sekundaren Alkohole zu 47-60% d.Th. an7-11. 

Fraser and coworkers152 examined the lithiation and alkylation of aliphatic ketimines of cyclohexanone 90 and found that the reaction proceeded to give >99% syn and axial isomer 91. Although some anti-axial (92) and aw/z -equatorial (93) alkylation products were also isolated, this was attributed to isomerization of the sjw-axial product. Similar results were obtained on alkylation of aliphatic aldimines which have been shown to give syn and anti products in a 96 4 ratio153. The electronic factor responsible for the preferential stabilization of the syn, or destabilization of the anti, lithiated aldimine was estimated to have a magnitude of at least 18 kJ mol-1. 

As pointed out by Stork and coworkers in their definitive 1963 paper3, the reaction with electrophilic alkenes is especially successful since reaction at nitrogen is reversible. Reaction at the /2-carbon is (usually) rendered irreversible by, in the case of cyclohexanone enamines, internal proton transfer of the axial C-/2 proton to the anionic centre of the initially formed zwitterionic intermediate (34), under conditions of stereoelectronic control (Scheme 22). When this intramolecular proton transfer cannot occur in aprotic solvents, or when the product produced in protic solvents is a stronger carbon acid than adduct 35 (i.e. when Z = COR, N02), then carbon alkylation is also reversible and surprising changes in the regioselectivity of reaction may be observed (vide infra see also Section VI.D and Chapter 26). Cyclobutanes (36) and, in the case of a,/ -unsaturated... 

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