Donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoid

An alternative strategy for selective intermolecular G-H insertions has been the use of rhodium carbenoid systems that are more stable than the conventional carbenoids derived from ethyl diazoacetate. Garbenoids derived from aryldiazoacetates and vinyldiazoacetates, so-called donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids, have been found to display a very different reactivity profile compared to the traditional carbenoids.44 A clear example of this effect is the rhodium pivalate-catalyzed G-H insertion into cyclohexane.77 The reaction with ethyl diazoacetate gave the product only in 10% yield, while the parallel reaction with ethyl phenyldiazoacetate gave the product in 94% yield (Equation (10)). In the first case, carbene dimerization was the dominant reaction, while this was not observed with the donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids. 

Several classes of silyl ethers have been shown to be excellent substrates for the C-H insertion chemistry of donor/ acceptor-substituted carbenoids.81 Effective C-H insertions predominantly occur at methylene sites. Primary sites are not sufficiently activated electronically while tertiary sites are sterically too crowded. Rl -DOSP -catalyzed functionalization of the allyl silyl ether 3 resulted in a highly diastereoselective transformation, leading to the formation of the /3-hydroxyester 4 in 94% yield and 82% ee (Equation (17)).81 This example illustrates the regioselectivity of this chemistry, because 3 contains two allylic sites but only the methylene site adjacent to the siloxy group was functionalized. Even better substrates are the commercially available tetraalkoxysilanes such as 5, because with these substrates, the high diastereoselectivity was retained while the enantioselectivity was increased (Equation (18)).81... 

The C-H insertion a to nitrogen can be extended to acyclic systems. The reaction with jY-benzyl-iV-methylamine is an excellent example of the interplay between steric and electronic effects. The benzylic position would be electronically the most activated, but due to the steric crowding, the C-H insertion occurred exclusively at the iV-methyl site (Equation (27)).86 This is a general method for generating a-aryl-/5-amino acid derivatives. The N,N-dimethylamino group undergoes a very favorable C-H insertion by the donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids. Indeed, the reaction is so favorable that double C-H insertion was readily achieved to form the elaborated -symmetric amine 10 (Equation (28)).87... 

Tab. 14.1 Highly diastereoselective cyclopropanations by donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids.

The most spectacular application of the donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids has been intermolecular C-H activation by means of carbenoid-induced C-H insertion [17]. Prior to the development of the donor/acceptor carbenoids, the intermolecular C-H insertion was not considered synthetically useful [5]. Since these carbenoid intermediates were not sufficiently selective and they were very prone to carbene dimerization, intramolecular reactions were required in order to control the chemistry effectively [17]. The enhanced chemoselectivity of the donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids has enabled intermolecular C-H insertion to become a very practical enantioselective method for C-H activation. Since the initial report in 1997 [121], the field of intermolecular enantioselective C-H insertion has undergone explosive growth [14, 15]. Excellent levels of asymmetric induction are obtained when these carbenoids are derived... 

In summary, the chemistry of the donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids represents a new avenue of research for metal-catalyzed decomposition of diazo compounds. The resulting carbenoids are more chemoselective than the conventional carbenoids, which allows reactions to be achieved that were previously inaccessible. The discovery of pan-tolactone as an effective chiral auxiliary, and rhodium prolinates as exceptional chiral catalysts for this class of rhodium-carbenoid intermediate, broadens the synthetic utility of this chemistry. The successful development of the asymmetric intermolecular C-H activation process underscores the potential of this class of carbenoids for organic synthesis. 

Donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids are usually much more chemoselective than the more established carbenoids functionalized solely with acceptor groups [lc]. The development of these donor/acceptor-substituted carbenoids has enabled enantioselective intermolecular C-H insertions to become a very practical process. These carbenoids have a strong preference for functionalizing C-H bonds where positive charge build-up at C in the transition state is favored but these electronic effects are counter-balanced by steric factors. Benzylic and allylic sites and C-H bonds adjacent to oxygen and nitrogen functionality are favored but these sites can also be sterically protected if desired. By appropriate consideration of the regiocontrolling elements, effective intermolecular C-H insertions at methyl, methylene, and methine sites have been achieved. 

Davies and co-workers found that C-H donor/acceptor substituted carbenoids were capable of undergoing highly regioselective insertions. Thus, this strategy has been shown to be an aldol reaction equivalent, " Claisen condensation equivalent, Mannich reaction equivalent, and other important carbon-carbon bonding forming reaction equivalents. ... 

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