Cyclopropanation selected catalytic results

TABLE 10.1 Selected Catalytic Results for the Cyclopropanation Reaction Between Olefins and Diazo Compounds Catalyzed by Various Cu-Containing Catalysts... 

Apart from rhodium, ruthenium complexes are known to effect catalytic cyclopropanation reactions. In the presence of Grubbs ruthenium catalyst, acyclic en)mes would react with dimethyl di-azomalonate under an ethylene atmosphere to give vinyl cyclopropanes in good yields (eq 45) This transformation presumably occurs via a ring-closing en)me metathesis, followed by a selective cyclopropanation of the resulting diene. 

For a reaction as complex as catalytic enantioselective cyclopropanation with zinc carbenoids, there are many experimental variables that influence the rate, yield and selectivity of the process. From an empirical point of view, it is important to identify the optimal combination of variables that affords the best results. From a mechanistic point of view, a great deal of valuable information can be gleaned from the response of a complex reaction system to changes in, inter alia, stoichiometry, addition order, solvent, temperature etc. Each of these features provides some insight into how the reagents and substrates interact with the catalyst or even what is the true nature of the catalytic species. 

Cyclopropanations with diazomethane can proceed with surprisingly high diastereo-selectivities (Table 3.4) [643,662-664]. However, enantioselective cyclopropanations with diazomethane and enantiomerically pure, catalytically active transition metal complexes have so far furnished only low enantiomeric excesses [650,665] or racemic products [666]. These disappointing results are consistent with the results obtained in stoichiometric cyclopropanations with enantiomerically pure Cp(CO)(Ph3P)Fe=CH2 X , which also does not lead to high asymmetric induction (see Section 3.2.2.1). 

Cyclopropanation is an important synthetic method, and enantioselective catalytic reactions of olefins and diazoacetates provide access to valuable products with biological activity. In general, these reactions are conducted in anhydrous solvents and in several cases water was found to diminish the rate or selectivity (or both) of a given process. Therefore it came as a surprise, that the Cyclopropanation of styrene with (+)- or (-)-menthyl diazoacetates, catalyzed by a water-soluble Ru-complex with a chiral bis(hydroxymethyldihydrooxazolyl)pyridine (hm-pybox) ligand proceeded not only faster but with much Wgher enantioselectivity (up to 97 % e.e.) than the analogous reactions in neat THF or toluene(8-28 % e.e.) (Scheme 6.34) [72]. The fine yields and enantioselectivities may be the results of an accidental favourable match of the steric and electronic properties of hm-pybox and those of the menthyl-dizaoacetates, since the hydroxyethyl or isopropyl derivatives of the ligand proved to be inferior to the hydroxymethyl compound. Nevertheless, this is the first catalytic aqueous cyclopropanation which may open the way to other similar reactions in aqueous media. 

Bicyclobutanes are also obtained from the catalytic decomposition of diazo compound 17492 (equation 51). Copper(I) iodide was the catalyst of choice, whereas rhodium(II) acetate did not show any activity in this case. When the related diazo compound 175 was decomposed, the product pattern depended in an unusually selective manner on the catalyst92. Intramolecular cyclopropanation leading to 176 is obviously less favorable than for carbene 172 and must yield to the 1,2-hydride shift not observed with the former carbene. The configuration of the resulting butadiene 177 can be completely reversed by the choice of the catalyst. 

The combination of the chromatographic separation of enan-tiopure p-hydroxysulfoximine diastereomers and reductive elimination results in a method of ketone methylenation with optical resolution. The technique is illustrated in the synthesis of the ginseng sesquiterpene (—)-p-panasinsene and its enantiomer (eq 5). The addition of the enantiopure lithiosulfoximine to prochiral enones or the diastereoface selective addition to racemic enones results in the formation of two diastereomeric adducts. The hydroxy group in these adducts can be used to direct the Simmons-Smith cyclopropanation (eq 6 and eq 7). Catalytic osmylation of such adducts is directed by the anti effect of the hydroxy augmented by chelation by the methylimino group (eq 7). ... 

As far as the adsorption and skeletal isomerization of cyclopropane and the product propene are concerned, results mainly obtained by infrared spectroscopy, volumetric adsorption experiments and kinetic studies [1-4], revealed that (i) both cyclopropane and propene are adsorbed in front of the exchangeable cations of the zeolite (ii) adsorption of propene proved to be reversible accompanied by cation-dependent red shift of the C=C stretching frequency (iii) a "face-on" sorption complex between the cyclopropane and the cation is formed (iv) the rate of cyclopropane isomerization is affected by the cation type (v) a reactant shape selectivity is observed for the cyclopropane/NaA system (vi) a peculiar catalytic behaviour is found for LiA (vii) only Co ions located in the large cavity act as active sites in cyclopropane isomerization. On the other hand, only few theoretical investigations dealing with the quantitative description of adsorption process have been carried out. 

Catalyst with the Merrifield support (Rh-107) presented a yield of about 75% and a slight decrease in ee after 10 runs contrary to the TG one (Rh-106) which showed 10% of the yield and of about 20% ee decrease. Ligand loading had an influence only on the yield but not on the selectivity of the reaction. A similar study was performed with the cyclopropanation of styrene and EDA. Once again, the best catalytic system in terms of reproducibility of the results on the reuse corresponds to the Merrified one. For the first use they were quite equivalents. 

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