1.4- Dicarbonyl compounds, Stetter reaction

More than forty years ago, Stetter reported for the first time a different reactivity of the Breslow intermediate that involved a nucleophilic attack to an electron-deficient alkene, a Michael acceptor, giving access to 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds.This reaction can happen under conditions where the benzoin condensation is reversible and allows the use of a,p-unsaturated esters, ketones, nitriles, sulfones or phosphonates. " Regarding the mechanism, studies have yet to be conducted, and the current proposal is based on the one disclosed by Breslow for the benzoin reaction (Scheme 2.20). ... 

Two other examples of microwave-assisted Paal-Knorr reactions were reported in 2004, describing the synthesis of a larger set of pyrroles with different substituents around the ring. The methods differ mainly in the syntheses employed to produce the 1,4 dicarbonyl compounds required for the cyclization. A variation of the Stetter reaction between an acyl silane and dif-... 

The first asymmetric intramolecular Stetter reactions were reported by Enders and co-workers utilising triazolium salt pre-catalyst 125. Treatment of substrate 123 generated 1,4-dicarbonyl compound 124 in good yield and enantioselectivity [56]. These salicylaldehyde-derived substrates 123 have since become the standard test substrates for the development of new catalysts for the asymmetric intramolecular Stetter reaction. Bach and co-workers have achieved moderate enantioselectivities using axially-chiral thiazolium pre-catalyst 126 [41], whilst Miller and co-workers have developed peptidic thiazolium pre-catalyst 127 [57]. In 2005, Rovis and coworkers showed that the NHCs derived from triazolium salts 128-130 were excellent catalysts for the asymmetric intramolecular Stetter reaction of a wide range of substrates, giving typically excellent yields and enantioselectivities [58]. The iV-pentafluorophenyl catalyst 129 currently represents the state of the art in asymmetric Stetter reactions (Scheme 12.24) [59]. 

Nucleophilic additions were studied using the same TSIL with pyrrolidine and thiophenol as models. As with the Diels-Alder reaction above, the reaction gave the required adducts which were then transesterified to give the final products. Heck coupling catalyzed by a transition metal and the Stetter reaction, Scheme 30, to prepare 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds were also studied by the same group using similar TSILs. 

The triazolium catalysts discussed above do not efficiently promote the Stetter reaction, i.e. the formation of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds from aldehydes and a,/ -... 

The 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds resulting from Stetter reactions have been used by Muller and colleagues [52] and by Bharadwaj and Scheidt [53] in efficient one-pot Stetter-Paal-Knorr protocols for the synthesis of highly substituted pyrroles. In an analogous fashion, Frantz et al. converted their a-ketoamides into the corresponding imidazoles by treatment with a primary amine [54]. 

Despite the unrivaled easy access to 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds, only a few examples of the application of Stetter reactions in the synthesis of natural products have been reported to date [55]. Tius et al. have employed a diastereoselective in-termolecular Stetter reaction and a ring-closing metathesis reaction as the key steps in their elegant synthesis of roseophilin (58 Scheme 9.16) [56]. The 1,4-... 

Besides the Michael addition of heteroatomic nucleophiles initiating cyclocondensations, acceptor substituted unsaturated systems can also be reacted with carbon nucleophiles stemming from aldehydes in the sense of an umpolung, generally referred to as the Stetter reaction [244-246]. This process is organocatalytic and furnishes in turn 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds, intermediates that are well suited for Paal-Knorr cyclocondensations giving rise to furans or pyrroles. Among numerous heterocycles furans and pyrroles have always been the most prominent ones since they constitute important classes of natural products [247-249], of synthetic... 

Catalytic multicomponent synthesis of highly substituted pyrroles has been described. A one-pot reaction uses DBU with the commercially available thiazolium salt 513 to produce the necessary nucleophilic zwitterionic catalyst in situ, which promotes a conjugate addition of acylsilanes (sila-Stetter) and unsaturated ketones to generate 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds in situ. Subsequent addition of various amines promotes a Paal-Knorr reaction, affording the desired polysubstituted pyrrole compounds in a one-pot process in moderate to high yields (Scheme 129) <2004OL2465>. Microwave heating dramatically reduced the reaction time (from 16 h to 30 min), but offered no improvement in yields. 

Anon. 1,4-Dicarbonyl compounds using the Stetter reaction. Nachrichten aus Chemie, Technik und Laboratorium 1981,29, 172-173. 

The Stetter reaction is an extremely useful Umpolung procedure for the synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds [41,42,43]. Since its discovery in 1973, it has found widespread application in the preparation of key organic intermediates and in natural product synthesis. However, despite the importance and useful-... 

The first attempts to develop a heterazolium-catalyzed asymmetric variant of the Stetter reaction were carried out by our group [44,45,46], employing the chiral thiazolium salt 9 to catalyze the addition of butanal to chalcone. The resultant 1,4-dicarbonyl compound 10 was obtained in 29% yield with enantiomeric excesses up to 30% (Scheme 6). 

Imidazolium-type room temperature ionic liquids (RTTLs) have been used for the Stetter reaction, affording the desired 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds (e.g. 167) in good yields together with the benzoin (e.g. 168). Thiazolium salts and EtsN are efficient catalysts for this reaction performed in ionic liquid. The possibility to recycle and reuse the solvent has been demonstrated, although it was not possible to recycle the thiazolium catalyst (Anjaiah et al. 2004). 

The efficiency of the Sila-Stetter reaction for the synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds prompted us to extend this methodology to a single-flask protocol for the Paal-Knorr synthesis of furans and pyrroles [82, 83]. Finally, we also took advantage of acylsilanes to develop the 1,2-addition of carbanion equivalents to activated imines for the synthesis of a-amino ketones [84]. 

Another approach to 1,4-dicarbonyl products is also quite versatile and powerful. It involves the conjugate addition of a carbonyl anion equivalent derived from an aldehyde to an a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compound, using either cyanide or thiazolium ion catalysis (Stetter reaction). In the scheme shown (Scheme 14), it is also possible to have R3 = H, by using vinyl ketones or their Mannich base equivalents (225). 

Scheme 14. Synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds by the Stetter reaction...

A highly efficient olefin hydroacylation known as the Stetter reaction resulted from the discovery that an activated olefin could intercept the putative acylanion intermediate of the classical benzoin reaction. Metal cyanides and heterocyclic carbenes are commonly employed catalysts for the Stetter reaction. Chiral heterocyclic carbenes as well as chiral metallophosphites have been developed as catalysts to provide 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds with high levels of enantiomeric purity. ... 

In a series of publications beginning in 1973, Hermann Stetter and coworkers reported that activated olefins could intercept the putative acylanion intermediate of the benzoin reaction. Typical catalysts for the benzoin reaction, sodium cyanide and thiazolylidine carbenes, were found to perform well in this new reaction. Stetter also established that the success of the reaction is due to the reversible nature of the benzoin condensation relative to the irreversible formation of 1,4-dicarbonyl products. As a consequence, benzoins or aldehydes can be used interchangeably as reactants. The reaction has proven to be a highly efficient method for the synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds and 4-oxonitriles. A resurgence of interest in acyl anion chemistry has resulted in many new discoveries, including alternative acyl donors, as well as catalysts capable of highly enantioselective intra- and intermolecular Stetter reactions. ... 

Simple and efficient, the Stetter hydroacylation reaction quickly became a popular route for the production of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds as precursors for the synthesis of pyrrole, furan, and pyridazine heterocycles. The Parke-Davis route to atorvastatin (Lipitor ) illustrates the use of a Stetter/Paal-Knorr sequence to access a high value pharmaceutical intermediate (16) from 4-fluorobenzaldehyde 12 and benzylidine amide 13. ... 

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