Cyclopropanation of olefins

Carbenoid complexes with heterocyclic ligands as catalysts in enantioselective cyclopropanation of olefins 97S137. 

The cyclopropanation of 1-trimethylsilyloxycyclohexene in the present procedure is accomplished by reaction with diiodomethane and diethylzinc in ethyl ether." This modification of the usual Simmons-Smith reaction in which diiodomethane and activated zinc are used has the advantage of being homogeneous and is often more effective for the cyclopropanation of olefins such as enol ethers which polymerize readily. However, in the case of trimethylsilyl enol ethers, the heterogeneous procedures with either zinc-copper couple or zinc-silver couple are also successful. Attempts by the checkers to carry out Part B in benzene or toluene at reflux instead of ethyl ether afforded the trimethylsilyl ether of 2-methylenecyclohexanol, evidently owing to zinc iodide-catalyzed isomerization of the initially formed cyclopropyl ether. The preparation of l-trimethylsilyloxybicyclo[4.1.0]heptane by cyclopropanation with diethylzinc and chloroiodomethane in the presence of oxygen has been reported. "... 

Chiral C2-symmetric semicorrins (structure 4), developed by Pfaltz [11], were proven to be highly efficient ligands for the copper-catalyzed enantio-selective cyclopropanation of olefins. Variations of the substituents at the stereogenic centers led to optimized structures and very high enantioselectiv-ities [12]. 

Rhodium complexes with chelating bis(oxazoline) ligands have been described to a lesser extent for the cyclopropanation of olefins. For example, Bergman, Tilley et al. [32] have prepared a family of bis(oxazoline) complexes of coordinatively unsaturated monomeric rhodium(II) (see 20 in Scheme 13). Interestingly, the use of complex 20 in the cyclopropanation reaction of styrene afforded mainly the cis cyclopropane cis/trans = 63137), with 74% ee and not the thermodynamically favored trans isomer. No mechanistic suggestions are proposed by the authors to explain this unusual selectivity. 

In conclusion, many chiral pyridine-based ligands have been prepared from the chiral pool and have been successfully tested as ligands for the copper- or rhodium-catalyzed cyclopropanation of olefins. Alfhough efficient systems have been described, sometimes leading interestingly to the major cis isomer, the enantioselectivities usually remained lower than those obtained with the copper-bis(oxazoline) system. 

A. N. Tarnovsky, V. Sundstrom, E. Akesson, and T. Pascher, Photochemistry of diiodomethane in solution studied by femtosecond and nanosecond laser photolysis. Formation and dark reactions of the CH2I-I isomer photoproduct and its role in cyclopropanation of olefins. J. Phys. Chem. A 108(2), 237-249 (2004). 

Low intensity ultrasound has also been applied to the Simmons-Smith cyclopropanation of olefins with zinc-diiodomethane (237). This reaction normally will not occur without activation of mossy Zn with I2 or Li, and was difficult to scale-up due to delayed initiation. Yields upon sonication are nearly quantitative, activation of the Zn is unnecessary, and no delayed exotherms are observed. In reactions with another class of organic dihalides, ultrasonic irradiation of Zn with a,a -dibromo-o-xylene has proved a facile way to generate an o-xylylene-like species [Eq. (49)],... 

With the rhodium and copper catalysts, even the combination of equimolar amounts of olefin and diazoester will allow high yields of cyclopropanes if the addition rate is controlled meticulously (see Table 6 for examples). This circumstance is particularly useful for cyclopropanation of olefins which are in short supply. In combination with Rhg(CO)16, the easy recovery of the unchanged catalyst (by diluting the mixture with hexane and separating the precipitated catalyst from the liquid65 may render such a procedure particularly attractive from an economical point of view. 

A similar, although less marked difference characterizes the cyclopropanation of olefins 41 and 42. In the presence of either copper or copper complexes whose chelating ligands contain an azomethine moiety derived from an a-amino acid, no stereoselectivity was observed with diene 41, whereas the cyclopropanes derived from 42 occur with cisjtrans ratios of 57 43 to 69 31, depending on the catalyst93). 

As has already been mentioned for cyclopropanation of olefins, the diazoester should be added slowly to the mixture of alkyne and Rh2(OAc)4, in order to minimize formation of carbene dimers. The reaction works well with mono- and... 

The Lewis acid-Lewis base interaction outlined in Scheme 43 also explains the formation of alkylrhodium complexes 414 from iodorhodium(III) meso-tetraphenyl-porphyrin 409 and various diazo compounds (Scheme 42)398), It seems reasonable to assume that intermediates 418 or 419 (corresponding to 415 and 417 in Scheme 43) are trapped by an added nucleophile in the reaction with ethyl diazoacetate, and that similar intermediates, by proton loss, give rise to vinylrhodium complexes from ethyl 2-diazopropionate or dimethyl diazosuccinate. As the rhodium porphyrin 409 is also an efficient catalyst for cyclopropanation of olefins with ethyl diazoacetate 87,1°°), stj bene formation from aryl diazomethanes 358 and carbene insertion into aliphatic C—H bonds 287, intermediates 418 or 419 are likely to be part of the mechanistic scheme of these reactions, too. 

Intermolecular cyclopropanation of olefins poses two stereochemical problems enantioface selection and diastereoselection (trans-cis selection). In general, for stereochemical reasons, the formation of /ra ,v-cyclopropane is kinetically more favored than that of cis-cyclopropane, and the asymmetric cyclopropanation so far developed is mostly /ram-selective, except for a few examples. Copper, rhodium, ruthenium, and cobalt complexes have mainly been used as the catalysts for asymmetric intermolecular cyclopropanation. 

It is commonly accepted5,6,19 that unstable betaines IV (X = C) are intermediates of the cyclopropanation of olefins with the polar C=C bond by phosphorus ylides. However, only one compound of this type, viz., Me3P( + )-CH2-CMe2-C5H4( ) (1), synthesized in the reaction of dimethyl-fulvene with methylenetrimethylphosphorane, was isolated and characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy.20... 

Lo and Fu112 have reported a new type of planar-chiral ligand 203 for the enantioselective cyclopropanation of olefins. As shown in Scheme 5-62, asymmetric cyclopropanation in the presence of chiral ligand 203 proceeds smoothly, giving the cyclopropanation product with high diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity. 

K. A. Woerpel, Ph.D. Thesis, Bis(oxazoline)-Copper Complexes as Catalysts for Enantioselective Cyclopropanation of Olefins, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1992. 

Rhodium(I) and ruthenium(II) complexes containing NHCs with hemilabile ether moieties were successfully applied as catalysts for the cyclopropanation of olefins with diazoalkanes [Eq. (53)]. ... 

The Simmons-Smith-type cyclopropanation of olefins is one of the most well-known reactions of carbenes and carbenoids. However, cyclopropanation of simple olefins with magnesium carbenoids is usually very difficult and only cyclopropanation of allylic alcohols was reported. Thus, treatment of allylic alcohols (23) in CH2CI2 at —70°C with i -PrMgCl and diiodomethane for 48 to 60 h afforded cyclopropanes in up to 82% yield as a mixture of syn- and and-isomers. In this reaction, 5yn-isomers were mainly or exclusively obtained (synianti = 5 1-400 1) (equation 10). 

Ethylidenation. Flclquist et al. have extended the cyclopropanation of olefins with an iron methylene complex (9, 143) to ethylidenation of olefins with the iron cthylidcnc complex 1. Since the sulfide precursor (2) is more stable, the reagent is generated in the presence of the olefin. The reagent gives methyl-substituted cyclo-... 

SCHEME 90. Schiff base-Cu-catalyzed asymmetric cyclopropanation of olefins. 

Asymmetric cyclopropanation of olefins can also be achieved by the Simmons-Smith reaction (231). Reaction of ( )-cinnamyl alcohol and the diiodomethane-diethylzinc mixed reagent in the presence of a small amount of a chiral sulfonamide gives the cyclopropylcarbinol in up to 75% ee (Scheme 97) (232a). ( )-Cinnamyl alcohol can be cyclopro-... 

SCHEME 92. Transition metal-catalyzed cyclopropanation of olefins with diazoalkanes. 

Cyclopropanation of olefins using bromomalonic ester and l,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]-undec-7-ene (DUB) in the presence of a catalytic amount of copper(II) bromide gives 1,1-bis(alkoxycarbonyl)cyclopropane derivatives135. An example is shown in equation 90. 

This reaction affords the cyclopropanation of olefins. Mechanism... 

Cyclopropanation of olefins (Simmons-Smith reaction) smoothly proceeds using diethylzinc in combination with diiodomethane. The reaction is much faster with allylic alcohols or its ether derivatives than that with simple olefins. 

In recent years, most of the attention has focused on the stereocontrolled synthesis of cyclopropanes. The isolation of several structurally intriguing natural product has revived the interest of the scientific community for the development of new methods. Several efficient and practical chiral auxiliaries have been developed for the enantioselective cyclopropanation of olefins. The most efficient chiral auxiliaries have been specifically designed for the cyclopropanation of acyclic allylic alcohols (Table 13.3, entry 1, 2, Protocol 8),24 alkenones,25 cycloalkenones26 (Table 13.3, entry 3,4, Protocol 9), vinyl ethers27 (Table 13.3, entry 5, Protocol 10), and vinylboronate esters28 (Table 13.3,... 

In the course of our investigation of the cyclopropanation of olefins, we observed the formation of a by-product, ethyl-2,3-dichloropropanoate (26, Scheme 8.4), when the reaction was conducted in CH2C12, resulting from the net insertion of the carbene... 

V K. Singh, A. DattaGupta, G. Sekar, Catalytic Enantioselective Cyclopropanation of Olefins Using Carbenoid Chemistry, Synthesis 1997, 137—149. 

Electrochemical cyclopropanation of alkenes occurs using dibromomethanes at a sacrificial zinc electrode in a CH2C12/DMF mixture with a one compartment cell (equation 65). Yields using more than twenty isolated and conjugated olefins were generally good (30 to 70%)98. Benzal halides give only poor yields in the same reaction, but 2,2-dibromo-propane leads to the equivalent gem-dimethylcyclopropanes in fair yields. The method represents a useful alternative to other methods of cyclopropanation of olefins such as the Simmons-Smith reaction. 

Here, I focus on application of ruthenium complexes as catalysts for the cyclopropanation of olefins with diazoesters to describe their catalytic activity, stereoselectivity, and enantioselectivity together with structural analysis of intermediary carbene complexes, especially with nitrogen-based ligands including porphyrin derivatives [4,5]. 

Catalytic activity of a ruthenium complex for the cyclopropanation of olefins with diazoacetate was first found in 1980 by Hubert and Noels [6] however, the activity of Ru2(OAc)4C1 was lower than that of palladium, copper, and rhodium complexes (Scheme 1). 

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