Dicarbonyl compounds Knoevenagel reaction

Subsequent to Hantzsch s communication for the construction of pyridine derivatives, a number of other groups have reported their efforts towards the synthesis of the pyridine heterocyclic framework. Initially, the protocol was modified by Beyer and later by Knoevenagel to allow preparation of unsymmetrical 1,4-dihydropyridines by condensation of an alkylidene or arylidene P-dicarbonyl compound with a P-amino-a,P-unsaturated carbonyl compound. Following these initial reports, additional modifications were communicated and since these other methods fall under the condensation approach, they will be presented as variations, although each of them has attained the status of named reaction . 

As the name implies, the first step of this domino process consists of a Knoevenagel condensation of an aldehyde or a ketone 2-742 with a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound 2-743 in the presence of catalytic amounts of a weak base such as ethylene diammonium diacetate (EDDA) or piperidinium acetate (Scheme 2.163). In the reaction, a 1,3-oxabutadiene 2-744 is formed as intermediate, which undergoes an inter- or an intramolecular hetero-Diels-Alder reaction either with an enol ether or an alkene to give a dihydropyran 2-745. 

Scheme 2.169. Chiral 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and chiral Lewis acids for the dominr Knoevenagel/hetero-Diels-Alder reaction.

So far, only those domino Knoevenagel/hetero-Diels-Alder reactions have been discussed where the cycloaddition takes place at an intramolecular mode however, the reaction can also be performed as a three-component transformation by applying an intermolecular Diels-Alder reaction. In this process again as the first step a Knoevenagel reaction of an aldehyde or a ketone with a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound occurs. However, the second step is now an intermolecular hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of the formed 1 -oxa-1,3 -butadiene with a dienophile in the reaction mixture. The scope of this type of reaction, and especially the possibility of obtaining highly diversified molecules, is even higher than in the case of the two-component transformation. The stereoselectivity of the cycloaddition step is found to be less pronounced, however. 

In a similar way, carbocycles having a quaternary center could be obtained from acyclic unsaturated 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds [206]. Other combinations are the domino hydroformylation/Wittig olefmation/hydrogenation described by Breit and coworkers [207]. The same group also developed the useful domino hydroformyla-tion/Knoevenagel/hydrogenation/decarboxylation process (Scheme 6/2.14) [208] a typical example is the reaction of 6/2-66 in the presence of a monoester of malonic acid to give 6/2-67 in 41 % yield in a syn anti-ratio of 96 4. Compounds 6/2-68 and 6/2-69 can be assumed as intermediates. 

Today, multi-parallel synthesis lies at the forefront of organic and medicinal chemistry, and plays a major role in lead discovery and lead optimization programs in the pharmaceutical industry. The first solid-phase domino reactions were developed by Tietze and coworkers [6] using a domino Knoevenagel/hetero-Diels-Alder and a domino Knoevenagel/ene protocol. Reaction of solid-phase bound 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds such as 10-22 with aldehydes and enol ethers in the presence of piperidinium acetate led to the 1-oxa-1,3-butadiene 10-23, which underwent an intermolecular hetero-Diels-Alder reaction with the enol ethers to give the resin-bound products 10-24. Solvolysis with NaOMe afforded the desired dihydro-pyranes, 10-25 with over 90 % purity. Ene reactions have also been performed in a similar manner [7]. 

What is described as a domino Knoevenagel-hetero-Diels-Alder reaction , involving the reaction of the glucose-derived aldehyde 93 with a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound in presence of either proline or ethylenediammonium acetate, leads to the doubly annulated 5 6 6-fused compound 94 (Scheme 30) <2004S1150>. If the dicarbonyl compound is Meldmm s acid, however, the sequence is completed by spontaneous elimination of acetone and carbon dioxide from the Diels-Alder adduct, to give compound 95 <2005ASC1353>. 

As the first multi-component domino reaction on solid phase the above mentioned domino-Knoevenagel-hetero-Diels-Alder reaction was performed using a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound bound to a modified Merrifield resin.171... 

The Knoevenagel reaction consists in the condensation of aldehydes or ketones with active methylene compounds usually performed in the presence of a weakly basic amine (Scheme 29) [116], It is well-known that aldehydes are much more reactive than ketones, and active methylene substrates employed are essentially those bearing two electron-withdrawing groups. Among them, 1,3-dicarbonyl derivatives are particularly common substrates, and substances such as malonates, acetoacetates, acyclic and cyclic 1,3-diketones, Meldrum s acid, barbituric acids, quinines, or 4-hydroxycoumarins are frequently involved. If Z and Z groups are different, the Knoevenagel adduct can be obtained as a mixture of isomers, but the reaction is thermodynamically controlled and the major product is usually the more stable one. 

According to the classical Hantzsch synthesis of pyridine derivatives, an a,(5-unsaturated carbonyl compound is first formed by Knoevenagel condensation of an aldehyde with a P-dicarbonyl compound. The next step is a Michael reaction with another equivalent of the P-dicarbonyl compound (or its enamine) to form a 1,5-diketone, which finally undergoes a cyclocondensation with ammonia to give a 1,4-dihydropyridine with specific symmetry in its substitution pattern. 

One of the most reactive 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds used in the domino-Knoevenagel-hetero-Diels-Alder reaction is N,N-dimethyl barbituric acid 2. It has been shown that the fairly stable products can easily been transformed into other compounds via a reduction of the urea moiety with DIBAL-H [20]. Thus, reaction of 30 with DIBAL-H at 78 °C led to 46, which can be hydrolyzed to give 47 (Scheme 5.9). In a similar way, 48 was transformed into 50 via 49 and 12 to 52 via 51. The obtained compounds containing a lactone and an amide moiety can again be further transformed using DIBAL-H followed by an elimination. In this way, dihydropyran 54 is obtained from 50 via 53 as one example. 

Solid-phase three-component domino-Knoevenagel-hetero-Diels-Alder reaction can also be performed using a resin-linked 1,3-dicarbonyl compound such as 100 with aldehydes and an enol ether to give dihydropyrans 102 via the intermediately formed 1-oxa-l,3-butadiene 101 (Scheme 5.18) [30], The resin can be deaved off after the reaction by solvolysis, for instance using sodium methanolate to give the corresponding methyl ester 103 as a mixture of diastereomers. The overall yield varies from 12 to 37% and the selectivity from 1 1 to 1 5 in favor of the tis-product depending on the applied aldehyde. The crude dihydropyrans thus obtained are reasonably pure (> 90% HPLC). 

Attempts to react enol(ate)s of esters with aliphatic aldehydes are doomed as the aldehyde will simply condense with itself. If the ester is replaced by a malonate 60, there is so much enol(ate) from the (5-dicarbonyl compound that the reaction is good. This style of aldol reaction is often called a Knoevenagel reaction10 and needs only a buffered mixture of amine and carboxylic acid. The enol reacts with the aldehyde 61 in the usual way and enolisation of the product 62 usually means that dehydration occurs under the conditions of the reaction. 

In a one-pot three-component reaction, aromatic aldehydes, malononitrile and 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds react to form 2-amino-5-carboxy-4-aryl-47/-pyran-3-carbonitriles 87. The reaction proceeds by an initial Knoevenagel condensation of malononitrile with the aromatic aldehyde to afford the 2-benzylidenemalononitrile intermediate 88. Michael addition of the activated methylene group forms the 1,5-dicarbonyl equivalent 89, which upon ring closure affords 477-pyrans (Scheme 29) <2004SL871, 1999H(51)1101 >. 

A high asymmetric induction in intramolecular hetero Diels-Alder reactions was found using chiral 1-oxa-1,3-butadienes with a stereogenic center in the tether [54]. Such compounds can easily be obtained by a Knoevenagel condensation of a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound such as iV,N-dimethylbarbituric acid with a chiral aldehyde bearing a dienophile moiety [169 a] (Scheme 2-3). With the stereogenic center in a-position relative to the oxadiene or dienophile moiety an excellent induced diastereoselectivity is obtained for the nearly exclusively formed trans-cycloadduct (simple diastereoselectivity = 97.9 2.1 and 98.3 1.7,... 

The Knoevenagel reaction, the condensation of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with aldehydes to give unsaturated compounds, is catalyzed by 2° amines. A perfectly reasonable mechanism involving deprotonation of the 1,3-dicarbonyl compound by base, aldol reaction with the ketone, and Elcb elimination of H2O can be drawn. However, the Knoevenagel reaction does not proceed nearly so well using 3° amines, suggesting that the amine does not simply act as a base. 

The dicyclohexylammonium salt of diethyl l-(hydroxycarbonyl)methylphosphonate and formaldehyde in the presence of EtjN undergoes a Knoevenagel reaction to give the dicyclohexylammonium salt of l-(hydroxycarbonyl)vinylphosphonate (70%) This compound is able to react readily with a variety of secondary amines,-- 1,3-dicarbonyl and monocarbonyl nucleophiles, to give the corresponding Michael adducts. 

This sequence illustrates the use of enolates from 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds in Michael reactions they are useful too in alkylations, aldol condensations (Knoevenagel conditions), and reactions with epoxides, as in the synthesis3 of 20. Nowadays they tend to be used if they are readily available, or if the disconnections suggest their use, as in the building of 11 into 18. Examples include the diketone 11 and the six-membered equivalent both used in steroid synthesis, acetoacetates 16 and 19 and the keto-lactones 20, malonic acid 21 and its esters, "Meldrum s acid 22, a very enolisable malonate derivative,4 and the keto-ester 25 formed via its stable enolate 24, by the cyclisation of the diester 23, an intermediate in nylon manufacture. The compounds 11,16, 19, 20 R=H, 21, 22, and 25 are all available commercially. 

---