1.4- Dicarbonyl compounds from enolate anions

The enolate anion 1 may in principle be generated from any enolizable carbonyl compound 4 by treatment with base the reaction works especially well with /3-dicarbonyl compounds. The enolate 1 adds to the a ,/3-unsaturated compound 2 to give an intermediate new enolate 5, which yields the 1,5-dicarbonyl compound 3 upon hydrolytic workup ... 

The preferential -configuration of the enol esters, derived from p-dicarbonyl compounds under phase-transfer conditions, contrasts with the formation of the Z-enol esters when the reaction is carried out by classical procedures using alkali metal alkoxides. In the latter case, the U form of the intermediate enolate anion is stabilized by chelation with the alkali metal cation, thereby promoting the exclusive formation of the Z-enol ester (9) (Scheme 3.5), whereas the formation of the ion-pair with the quaternary ammonium cation allows the carbanion to adopt the thermodynamically more stable sickle or W forms, (7) and (8), which lead to the E-enol esters (10) [54],... 

Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, clearly appears to be of carbohydrate nature. Its most obvious functional group is the lactone ring system, and, although termed ascorbic acid, it is certainly not a carboxylic acid. Nevertheless, it shows acidic properties, since it is an enol, in fact an enediol. It is easy to predict which enol hydroxyl group is going to ionize more readily. It must be the one P to the carbonyl, ionization of which produces a conjugate base that is nicely resonance stabilized (see Section 4.3.5). Indeed, note that these resonance forms correspond to those of an enolate anion derived from a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound (see Section 10.1). Ionization of the a-hydroxyl provides less favourable resonance, and the remaining hydroxyls are typical non-acidic alcohols (see Section 4.3.3). Thus, the of vitamin C is 4.0, and is comparable to that of a carboxylic acid. 

The enolates from p-dicarbonyl compounds are so easily formed that they can be used in a very simple carbon-carbon bond forming reaction outside our general scheme. Consider what would happen if you made the enolate anion from the compound below and reacted it with methyl iodide. 

It has been shown that selective a-vinylation of enolate anions derived from 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds can be achieved by reaction with 4-/-butyl-1 -cyclohexenyl-(aryl)iodonium and 1-cyclopentenyl(aryl)iodonium tehafluoroborates without competing a-arylation, provided that the alkenyliodonium salt used bears a / -mcthoxyphcnyl, rather than phenyl, group.24... 

Enolate anions derived from various 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds can be viny-lated with cyclohexenyl- and cyclopentenyl- iodonium salts (Scheme 27) [50]. The vinylation of enolate anions 58 in these reactions is frequently accompanied by the formation of the phenylated dicarbonyl compounds however, the selectivity of these vinylations can be improved by using alkenyl(p-methoxyphenyl)-iodonium salts instead of 57. 

Treatment of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with DBP in a methoxide/methanol system affords 2-alkyl-4-[(phenylsulfonyl)methyl]furans, where reaction proceeds by Initial addition-elimination on the vinyl sulfone moiety. In contrast, silyl enol ethers in the presence of silver tetrafluoroborate resulted in products derived from Sn2 displacement at the allylic site.11 Anions derived from 1,3-dicarbonyls substituted at the C-2 position are found to induce a complete reversal in the mode of ring closure.12 The major products obtained are 3-[(phenylsulfonyl)methyl]-substituted cyclopentenones. The internal displacement reaction leading to the furan ring apparently encounters an unfavorable Ai -interaction in the transition state when a substituent group is present at the 2-position ol the dicarbonyl compound. This steric Interaction is not present in the transition state leading to the cyclopentenone ring. 

Treatment of enolate anions derived from 3-dicarbonyl compounds with either ethynyl(phenyl)iodo-nium tetrafluoroborate (16) or with ethynyl-lead tetraacetate provides a neat and direct synthesis of a-ethynyl-l,3-dicaibonyl compounds. The former reaction probably proceeds via 1,2-hydrogen migration of an alkylidenecarbene intermediate (see Scheme 34). 

Complementary to the acylation of enolate anions is the acid-catalyzed acylation of the corresponding enols, where the regiochemistry of acylation can vary from that observed in base-catalyzed reactions. Although the reaction has been studied extensively in simple systems, it has not been widely used in the synthesis of complex molecules. The catalysts most frequently employed are boron trifluoride, aluminum chloride and some proton acids, and acid anhydrides are the most frequently used acylating agents. Reaction is thought to involve electrophilic attack on the enol of the ketone by a Lewis acid complex of the anhydride (Scheme 58). In the presence of a proton acid, the enol ester is probably the reactive nucleophile. In either case, the first formed 1,3-dicarbonyl compound is converted into its borofluoride complex, which may be decomposed to give the 3-d>ketone, sometimes isolated as its copper complex. 

The key to all of these reactions is the enhanced acidity of the hydrogen on the carbon between the two carbonyls. As noted in Table 9.1, 1,3-dicarbonyl derivatives have a pKa in the range of 8-12 for that proton. The enolate anion formed from a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound is somewhat less reactive because the enolate is more stable due to resonance delocalization. For this reason, higher reaction temperatures are usually (but not always) required. A typical experiment will use the reflux temperature of the alcohol solvent being used. Another alternative is to use a complexing agent such as HMPT or HMPA (see above), or DABCO (azabi-cyclo[2.2.2]octane). 

Enolate anions should be distinguished from enols, which are always present in equilibrium with the carbonyl compound (1.3). Most monoketones and esters contain only small amounts of enol (<1%) at equilibrium, but with 1,2- and 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds much higher amounts of enol (>50%) may be present. In the presence of a protic acid, ketones may be converted largely into the enol form. 

Few examples of non-catalytic alkenylations of carbon nucleophiles have been published. For example, enolate anions derived from various 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds can be vinylated with cyclohexenyl or cyclopentenyl iodonium salts 715 to afford products 716 (Scheme 3.286) [964]. 

Jones and colleagues have prepared 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds by conjugate additions of enolate and related anions to a,P-unsaturated sulfoxides [80,81]. For example, the lithium enolate of acetone dimethylhydrazone (83), in the presence of dimethyl sulfide-copper(I) bromide complex, underwent conjugate addition to 2-phenylsulfinyloct-l-ene (82). Quenching the reaction mixture with dimethyl disulfide gave the doubly protected 1,4-diketone derivative (84), which, on sequential hydrolysis with copper(II) acetate and trifluoroacetic acid gave the dodecane-2,5-dione (85) as the product in 54% yield from (82) (Scheme 5.27). Other examples of the addition of enolate-type species to a,p-unsaturated sulfoxides have also been reported [82.83]. 

Nucleophilic additions to the carbon-carbon double bond of ketene dithioacetal monoxides have been reported [84-86]. These substrates are efficient Michael acceptors in the reaction with enamines, sodium enolates derived from P-dicarbonyl compounds, and lithium enolates from simple ester systems. Hydrolysis of the initiEil products then led to substituted 1,4-dicarbonyl systems [84]. Alternatively, the initial product carbanion could be quenched with electrophiles [85]. For example, the anion derived from dimethyl malonate (86) was added to the ketene dithioacetal monoxide (87). Regioselective electrophilic addition led to the product (88) in 97% overall yield (Scheme 5.28). The application of this methodology to the synthesis of rethrolones [87] and prostaglandin precursors [88] has been demonstrated. Recently, Walkup and Boatman noted the resistance of endocyclic ketene dithioacetals to nucleophilic attack [89]. 

In the late nineteenth century, Michael found that the enolate anion (46) derived from diethyl malonate reacts with ethyl acrylate at the P-carbon (as shown in the illustration) to give an enolate anion, 47, as the product. Remember from Chapter 22 (Section 22.7.4) that the a-proton of a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound such as diethyl malonate is rather acidic (pK of about 11), and even a relatively weak base will deprotonate to form the enolate anion. Michael addition of 46 with ethyl acrylate will give enolate anion 47, and aqueous acid workup leads to the isolated product, 48. Attack at the -carbon is possible because that carbon is less hindered than the acyl carbon, so reaction at the C=C unit is somewhat faster than attack at the acyl carbon. Michael addition occurs with relatively stable carbanion nucleophiles, such as malonate derivative 46 and some other common nucleophiles. Other conjugated carbonyl derivatives react similarly. 

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