Electron-withdrawing group formation

Mono- and dialkyl derivatives can also be prepared using alkyl sulfates. Aryl chlorides are usually inert, unless activated by an electron-withdrawing group. Conversion to alkoxides allows formation of ethers. 

The reactions of electrophilic alkenes (alkenes attached to electron-withdrawing groups) with enamines produce one or more of the following products simple alkylation (2), 1,2 cycloaddition (3), and 1,4 cycloaddition (4). Competition with C alkylation by N alkylation is inconsequential and therefore will be largely ignored (5,7). A stepwise ionic mechanism leading to these products necessarily involves the formation of a zwitterion intermediate (1) as the first step, which is then followed either by one of the... 

The first condensation is conducted selectively on a variety of 3-ketoesters and a-formylesters. The first step works well on most simple anilines even when sterically congested and is mostly affected by basicity. Formation of intermediate 3 is problematic when strong electron-withdrawing groups (EWG) are attached to the aniline (e.g., nitro). The cyclization step is promoted thermally in inert solvents as well as using acidic solvents at elevated temperature. When there exists an opportunity to form isomers on cyclization (e.g., m-substituted anilines) a mixture of the 5- and 7-substituted quinolines usually results. 

The acyl residue controls the formation and stability of the carbonium ion. If the carbonium ion is destabilized (by electron withdrawing groups), then cyclization to the phenanthridine nucleus will be sluggish. The slower the rate of cyclization, the greater the chance of side reactions with the cyclization reagent. Therefore, the yield of the phenanthridine will depend on the relative rates of cyclization and side reactions, which is controlled by the stability of the carbonium ion. 

An alkene activated by an electron-withdrawing group—often an acrylic ester 2 is used—can react with an aldehyde or ketone 1 in the presence of catalytic amounts of a tertiary amine, to yield an a-hydroxyalkylated product. This reaction, known as the Baylis-Hillman reaction, leads to the formation of useful multifunctional products, e.g. o -methylene-/3-hydroxy carbonyl compounds 3 with a chiral carbon center and various options for consecutive reactions. 

Mechanistically the rearrangement is formulated to proceed via an intermediate radical-pair or ion-pair. In either case the initial step is the formation of a nitrogen-ylide 2 by deprotonation of the ammonium species with a strong base. The abstraction of a proton from the a-carbon is facilitated by an electron-withdrawing group Z—e.g. an ester, keto or phenyl group ... 

Iminium ions bearing an electron-withdrawing group bonded to the sp carbon of the iminium function are very reactive dienophiles. Thus, iminium ions 26 generated from phenylglyoxal (Scheme 6.15, R = Ph) or pyruvic aldehyde (R = Me) with methylamine hydrochloride, react with cyclopenta-diene in water at room temperature with good diastereoselectivity [25] (Scheme 6.15). If glyoxylic acid is used, the formation of iminium salt requires the free amine rather than the amine hydrochloride. 

---