Cyclopropyl Grignard reagents, rearrangement

Chiral 2,2-disubstituted cyclobutanones have been obtained by asymmetric rearrangement of chiral sulfinyl- 177,178 and sulfanylcyclopropanes.179 Using readily available cyclopropyl 4-tolyl (/ )-sulfoxide (l),180 the requisite sulfinylcyclopropanes 3 and 3 were obtained by a sequence of lithiation, reaction with carboxylic acid esters and stereoselective addition of Grignard reagents to the ketones 2 thus formed.178 The corresponding sulfanylcyclopropanes 4 and 4 resulted from a sequence of protection, reduction and deprotection.179... 

Due to the higher oxidation level cyclopropylcarbinyl-homoallyl rearrangement (see also Section IV.C) of oxycyclopropanes gives, y-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. This feature has been discovered by Julia and coworkers, who reacted certain esters with Grignard reagents or LiAlH4. The corresponding cyclopropyl carbinol opens under acidic conditions to j5,y-unsaturated aldehydes (equation This conversion also works for... 

Vinylcyclopropanols have been prepared by the addition of alkenyl Grignard reagents to a variety of cyclopropanone equivalents. Upon treatment with acid, the vinylcyclopropanols rearrange to o-substituted cyclobutanones. Alternatively, a variety of o-heteroatom-substituted cyclopropyl lithium reagents have been developed. These react with aldehydes and ketones to afford cyclopropylcarbinols which also rearrange to cyclobutanones under acid catalysis.Lastly, vinylcyclopropanols and cyclopropylcarbinols have been prepared by the cyclopropanation of enol silyl ethers and allylic alcohols. 

A recent novel synthesis of desacetamidoisocolchicine (211) employs the cyclopropyl-ketone (205) as a functionalized tropolone equivalent. Acid treatment of the acetal (207), formed by condensation of (205) with the Grignard reagent (206), led to rearrangement, via dienone (208) and spiran (209), to the tricyclic system (210). Oxidation of (210) then gave the isocolchicine (211). 

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