2- Decalone alkylation

The l(9)-enolate of 1-decalone exhibits a preference for alkylation to form a cis ring juncture. 

The 2(l)-enolate of frans-2-decalone is preferentially alkylated by an axial approach of the electrophile. 

The stereoselectivity is enhanced if there is an alkyl substituent at C(l). The factors operating in this case are similar to those described for 4-r-butylcyclohexanone. The tnms-decalone framework is conformationally rigid. Axial attack from the lower face leads directly to the chair conformation of the product. The 1-alkyl group enhances this stereoselectivity because a steric interaction with the solvated enolate oxygen distorts the enolate to favor the axial attack.57 The placement of an axial methyl group at C(10) in a 2(l)-decalone enolate introduces a 1,3-diaxial interaction with the approaching electrophile. The preferred alkylation product results from approach on the opposite side of the enolate. 

The prediction and interpretation of alkylation stereochemistry requires consideration of conformational effects in the enolate. The decalone enolate 3 was found to have a strong preference for alkylation to give the cis ring junction, with alkylation occurring cis to the f-butyl substituent.58... 

On the other hand, the formation of the perhydrophenanthrene system instead of the linear anthracene system is favored by the fact that cjs-decalones form almost exclusively the A -enolate (according to the conventional numbering of decalins) and consequently alkylation takes place selectively at C(10) instead of C(6) (according to the conventional numbering of steroidal systems). 

Alkylations of tran.v-2-decalone enolates 30 have been performed with high degrees of diastereose-lectivity. 1,3-Interactions are clearly very important steric-control elements in the angularly substituted compounds. The examples shown also demonstrate that reductive alkylations of a,/ -unsaturated ketones are a useful diastereoseleclive step in the syntheses of polycyclic compounds19 11 7S-80. 

Angular alkylations of fused-ring ketones are an important step in syntheses of terpenoids, steroids and related natural products. The steric course of these alkylations has therefore been the subject of several systematic investigations and has been reviewedl 3 71. Alkylation of the lithium enolate 38 (R = H) derived from octahydro-1 (2//)-naphthalenone (1 -decalone) primarily yields the civ-fused octahydro-8a-methyl-l(2F/)-naphthalenone (39, R = H)35,62,79. Due to steric reasons, the lithium enolate 38 (R = CH3), with an angular methyl group, provides the irans-fused product 39 (R = CH3). 

Enamines of aldehydes react with alkyl vinyl ketones.212 Substituted cyclohexanones may be obtained after hydrolysis. Application of this reaction to a,j8-unsaturated aldehydes leads to substituted glutardialdehydes.269 The ratio of the products from the addition of methyl vinyl ketone to the pyrrolidine enamine derived from jS-decalone depends on the configuration of the decalone.76... 

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... 

A comparison of the data for alkylation of the lO-methyl-2-decalone lithium enolate (44) with those for enolate (43a) clearly shows that if axial alkylation involves development of a 1,3-interaction with an... 

Angular alkylations of 1-decalone enolates provide important models for angular alkylations of 18-nor-D-homo steroids. The manner in which structural modifications influence cisUrans product ratios in alkylations of various enolates of 1-decalones containing blocking groups at C-2 has been thoroughly investigated and reviewed. ... 

The stereochemistry of alkylations of extended dienolates of enones such as (70) has been extensively investigated (Scheme 33).In general, the results are similar to those found for the related decalone enolates (43a) and (44), i.e. steric factors within the anion play a dominant role. Thus, axial attack is preferred with (70 R = H), but equatorial attack is strongly favored when an angular methyl group is present (70 R = Me). There is a modest preference for axial alkylation when an angular ethoxycarbonyl... 

Studies pertaining to diastereoselectivity in Lewis acid catalyzed alkylations of enol derivatives have been limited. Reetz has reported that r-butylation of l-trimethylsiloxy-4-f-butylcyclohex-l-ene gave an 8S 1S mixture of cis- and frafu-2,4-di-f-butylcyclohexanone, which could result from kinetic equatorial and axial alkylation, respectively. However, equilibration of the products, which would favor formation of the former isomer, was not ruled out. Titanium tetrachloride promoted phenylthiomethylation of the more-substituted TMS enol ether of 1-decalone gave a 4 1 mixture of cis- and rranj-fused 1-deca-lones. In this case, where equilibration of the product could not occur, the diastereoselectivity was similar to that of methylation of the corresponding lithium enolate (49). ... 

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