Dioxolanes, from carbonyl ylides

The carbonyl ylide generated from metal carbene can also add to C=0 or C=N bonds. The [2 + 3]-cycloaddition of carbonyl ylide with G=0 bond has been used by Hodgson and co-workers in their study toward the synthesis of zaragozic acid as shown in Scheme n 27a,27d Recently, a three-component reaction approach to syn-a-hydroxy-f3-amino ester based on the trapping of the carbonyl ylide by imine has been reported.The reaction of carbonyl ylide with aldehyde or ketone generally gives l,3-dioxolanes. Hu and co-workers have reported a remarkable chemoselective Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed reaction of phenyl diazoacetate with a mixture of electron-rich and electron-deficient aryl aldehydes. The Rh(ii) carbene intermediate reacts selectively with electron-rich aldehyde 95 to give a carbonyl ylide, which was chemospecifically trapped by the electron-deficient aldehyde 96 to afford 1,3-dioxolane in a one-pot reaction (Equation (12)). 

Transition-metal mediated carbene transfer from 205 to benzaldehyde generates carbonyl ylides 211 which are transformed into oxiranes 216 by 1,3-cyclization, into tetrahydrofurans 212, 213 or dihydrofurans 214 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with electron-deficient alkenes or alkynes, and 1,3-dioxolanes 215 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with excess carbonyl compound120 (equation 67). Related carbonyl ylide reactions have been performed with crotonaldehyde, acetone and cyclohexanone (equation 68). However, the ylide generated from cyclohexanone could not be trapped with dimethyl fumarate. Rather, the enol ether 217, probably formed by 1,4-proton shift in the ylide intermediate, was isolated in low yield120. In this respect, the carbene transfer reaction with 205 is not different from that with ethyl diazoacetate121, whereas a close analogy to diazomalonates is observed for the other carbonyl ylide reactions. 

Synthesis of Heterocycles. Novel synthesis of 1,3-dioxolanes was suggested, which starts with the formation of an intermediate carbonyl ylide from dimethyl diazomalonate and a carbonyl compound (aldehyde or quinone) in the presence of catalytic amounts of Rh. Once formed, the ylide undergoes dipolar [3 + 2] cycloaddition with another equivalent of carbonyl compound to furnish a five-membered heterocycle (eqs 25 and 26). Employment of aldimines in this reaction allowed for preparation of 1,3-imidazolidines (eq 27) and 1,3-oxazolidines (eq 28). ... 

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