Effects in the Alkylation of Enolates

The rate of alkylation of enolate ions is strongly dependent on the solvent in which the reaction is carried out.43 The relative rates of reaction of the sodium enolate of diethyl M-butylmalonatc with -butyl bromide are shown in Table 1.2. 

DMSO and /V, A- dime th y I fo nn a in i d c (DMF) are particularly effective in enhancing the reactivity of enolate ions, as Table 1.2 shows. Both of these compounds belong to the polar aprotic class of solvents. Other members of this class that are used as solvents in reactions between carbanions and alkyl halides include N-mcthyI pyrro I i donc (NMP) and hexamethylphosphoric triamide (HMPA). Polar aprotic solvents, as their name implies, are materials which have high dielectric constants but which lack hydroxyl groups or other 

Polar protic solvents also possess a pronounced ability to separate ion pairs but are less favorable as solvents for enolate alkylation reactions because they coordinate to both the metal cation and the enolate ion. Solvation of the enolate anion occurs through hydrogen bonding. The solvated enolate is relatively less reactive because the hydrogen-bonded enolate must be disrupted during alkylation. Enolates generated in polar protic solvents such as water, alcohols, or ammonia are therefore less reactive than the same enolate in a polar aprotic solvent such as DMSO. 

THF and DME are slightly polar solvents which are moderately good cation solvators. Coordination to the metal cation involves the oxygen lone pairs. These solvents, because of their lower dielectric constants, are less effective at separating ion pairs and higher aggregates than are the polar aprotic solvents. The crystal structures of the lithium and potassium enolates of methyl /-butyl ketone have been determined by X-ray crystal- 

The reactivity of enolates is also affected by the metal counterion. Among the most commonly used ions, the order of reactivity is Mg2+ Li+ Na+ K+. The factors that are responsible for this order are closely related to those described for solvents. The smaller, harder Mg2+ and Li+ cations are more tightly associated with the enolate than are the Na+ and K+ ions. The tighter coordination decreases the reactivity of the enolate and gives rise to more highly associated species. 

CHAPTER 1 ALKYLATION OF NUCLEOPHILIC CARBON. ENOLATES AND ENAMINES 

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Houk and co-workers examined the role of torsional effects in the stereoselectivity of enolate alkylation in five-membered rings, and their interpretation can explain the preference for C(5) alkylation syn to the 2-methyl group in trans-2,3-dimethylcyclopentanone.59... 

Titanium-mediated intramolecular Friedel-Crafts acylation and alkylation are important methods for construction of fused-ring systems (Scheme 29).107 As well as aromatics, olefin units also react in the same way.108 Alkylation of electron-rich olefins such as enol ethers or silyl enol ethers proceeds effectively in the presence of TiCl4.109... 

The efficient enantioselective alkylation of the P/y-unsaturated ester 39 was achieved1351 by use of the N-anthracenylmethyl catalyst 12 (R=benzyl, X=Br) together with CsOH-H20 under phase transfer conditions analogous to those in the alkylation of the O Donnell imine 23, as shown in Scheme 13. The enantioselectivity of the alkylation correlates with Hammett o constants, and the N,N-dimethylamino substituents in 39 showed the most effective enantioselectivity. The tight ion pair in which the enolate... 

Polymer-supported reagent. HMPT supported on a polystyrene-type resin is a catalyst for SN2 reactions5-7 and for reduction of ketones by NaBIi4.7 It also has a marked effect on the alkylation of ethyl acetoacetate with diethyl sulfate. In the presence of solid HMPT the enolales undergo 60 70% O-alkylation. In the absence of HMPT, the lithium enolate does not react and the sodium and potassium enolates undergo C-alkylation (90-100%). There is some difference in the effect of solid and liquid I1MPT The solid HMPT increases the reactivity of the K. enolate more than the liquid form, whereas the reverse is true with the Li enolate.8... 

With these anthracene-linked dimeric cinchona-PTCs, the Najera group investigated the counterion effect in asymmetric alkylation of 1 by exchanging the classical chloride or bromide anion with tetrafluoroborate (BF4 ) or hexafluorophosphate (PF6-) anions (Scheme 4.10) [17]. They anticipated that both tetrafluoroborate and hexafluorophosphate could form less-tight ionic pairs than chloride or bromide, thus allowing a more easy and rapid complexation of the chiral ammonium cation with the enolate of 1, and therefore driving to a higher enantioselectivity. However, when... 

Recent studies have suggested that coordination with a lithium cation may be responsible for the stereochemical outcome in Meyers-type enolate alkylations . In fact, the hypothesis that the diastereofacial selectivity observed in these reactions might result from specific interactions with a solvated lithium cation was already proposed in 1990 . Nevertheless, the potential influence exerted by solvation and lithium cation coordination was not supported by a series of experimental results reported by Romo and Meyers , who stated that it would appear that neither the aggregation state of the enolate nor the coordination sphere about lithium plays a major role in the observed selectivity. This contention is further supported by recent theoretical studies of Ando , who carried out a detailed analysis of the potential influence of solvated lithium cation on the stereoselective alkylation of enolates of y-butyrolactones. The results showed conclusively that complexation with lithium cation had a negligible effect on the relative stability of the transition states leading to exo and endo addition. The stereochemical outcome in the alkylation of y -butyrolactones is determined by the different torsional strain in the endo and exo TSs. 

Recently silicon-based protection has matured into a new Ix oad area of protecting group chemistry (see Section 3.1.3.2) and amines can also be conveniently blocked with appropriate silicon reagents. In organometallic syntheses, e.g. in the alkylation of amino acid enolates, the so-called stabase adducts (30) serve to temporarily protect the a-amino group (Scheme 21). In the absence of hard nucleophiles, in particular of 0-nucleophiles, the Si—N bonds are stable, but deprotection is readily effected in the presence of water and acids. 

The resulting derivatives were applied with success in the standard asymmetric allylic alkylation (up to 97 % ee) [134, 136] or in transformations involving either specific allylic substrates (2-cycloalkenyl derivatives, up to >99% ee) [135, 137], unsymmetrical substrates (monosubstituted allyl acetate, up to 83% ee) [140], or especial nucleophiles (nitroalkanes [141], iminoesters [138 a], or diketones [139, 140, 142]). Such ligands were also effective in the formation of quaternary chiral carbon through allylic substitution (eq. (6)) [138, 143], deracemiza-tion of vinyl epoxides (up to 99% ee) [144], or alkylation of ketone enolates [138 b], and deracemization of allylic derivatives [145]. 

Apparently, deprotonation performed at -78 °C is leading to the 0-, IV-dianion A (Scheme 4). Equilibration of the latter to the thermodynamically more stable Z-enolate B (Scheme 4) upon subsequent warming to room temperature seems to be reasonable, due to the C-alkylated products obtained at 0 °C or even at room temperature. In this temperature range A-alkylation, observed at -78 °C, is effectively suppressed. [lOd] For lithium enolates derived from the glycinamides 5 an influence of lithium halides on rate enhancement and diastereoselectivity is found. [10] Thus, in the absence of LiCl a significant decrease in diastereoselectivity is observed in the alkylation of 5 with ethyl iodide (82 % de without LiCl in comparison to 97 % de upon addition of LiCl (6 equiv)). Lithium bromide (6 equiv) was found to accelerate the rate of enolate alkylation, too, but diastereoselectivity was found to be lower (91-93 % de). 

Allylic acetates become electrophilic on forming complexes with palladium (0) and will therefore alkylate stabilised enolates. Kitagawa et al.7 20 used this to good effect in the synthesis of (7.187) from (7.186) en route to humulene (7.139). Similarly, Corey and Hamanka7 21 used nickel carbonyl to intramolecularly couple the two allylic bromide functions of (7.188). The -double bond in the substrate (7.188) was... 

The asymmetric Michael addition of nonstabilised ketone enolates has proved difficult, with most success achieved using 1,3-dicarbonyls as donors. However, Shibasaki and coworkers have achieved high ees in the addition of a-hydroxyketones with both aromatic Michael acceptors such as (11.32) and also cyclic enones and alkyl vinyl ketones, using bifiinctional zinc catalysts prepared from linked BINOL (11.33). These catalysts are also effective in the asymmetric aldol reaction (see Section 7.1) and incorporate two zinc atoms, one of which activates the acceptor carbonyl group and the other forms a zinc enolate with the donor. In addition, catalysts of this type have been used to good effect in the addition of P-ketoesters to cyclic enones. 

The leaving group in the alkylating reagent has a major effect on whether C- or O-alkylation occurs. In the case of the lithium enolate of acetophenone, for example, C-alkylation is predominant with methyl iodide, but C- and O-alkylation occur to approximately equal extents with dimethyl sulfate. The C- versus O-alkylation ratio has also been studied for the potassium salt of ethyl acetoacetate as a function of both solvent and leaving group. ... 

The effect of HMPA on the reactivity of cyclopentanone enolate has been examined.44 This enolate is primarily a dimer, even in the presence of excess HMPA, but the reactivity increases by a factor of 7500 for a tenfold excess of HMPA at -50° C. The kinetics of the reaction with CH3I are consistent with the dimer being the active nucleophile. It should be kept in mind that the reactivity of regio- and stereoisomeric enolates may be different and the alkylation product ratio may not reflect the enolate composition. This issue was studied with 2-heptanone.45 Although kinetic deprotonation in THF favors the 1-enolate, a nearly equal mixture of C(l) and C(3) alkylation was observed. The inclusion of HMPA improved the C(l) selectivity to 11 1 and also markedly accelerated the rate of the reaction. These results are presumably due to increased reactivity and less competition from enolate isomerization in the presence of HMPA. 

The introduction of an alkyl substituent at the a-carbon in the enolate enhances stereoselectivity somewhat. This is attributed to a steric effect in the enolate minimize steric interaction with the solvated oxygen, the alkyl group is d t °... 

The prediction and interpretation of alkylation stereochemistry requires consideration of conformational effects in the enolate. The decalone enolate 3 was found to have a strong preference for alkylation to give the cis ring junction, with alkylation occurring cis to the f-butyl substituent.58... 

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