Electrophiles stereoselective Michael additions

The enolate of the 1,4-adduct, obtained after the stereoselective Michael addition step, as discussed in the previous sections, may be quenched in situ with various electrophiles. The fact that additional stereogenic centers may be formed via such tandem Michael addition/quench-ing procedures, giving products with high diastereoselectivity in many cases, extends the scope of these methods substantially. Furthermore these procedures occasionally offer the possibility of reversing the syn/anti diastereoselection. In the next sections pertinent examples of diastereoselective inter- and intramolecular quenching reactions will be discussed. 

Instead of a triflate, the electrophile on the glycosyl acceptor can be an a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl group. This is the case reported in Fig. 25, in which a stereoselective Michael addition of the 1-thiosugar 56 to the a,(3-conjugated system of levoglucosenone 57, generated after deprotection a couple of L-fucopyranosyl-4-thiodisaccharides 61 and 62 presenting inhibitory activity on a-L-fucosidase.54... 

As in the case of addition reactions of carbon nucleophiles to activated dienes (Section HA), organocopper compounds are the reagents of choice for regio- and stereoselective Michael additions to acceptor-substituted enynes. Substrates bearing an acceptor-substituted triple bond besides one or more conjugated double bonds react with organocuprates under 1,4-addition exclusively (equation 51)138-140 1,6-addition reactions which would provide allenes after electrophilic capture were not observed (cf. Section IV). 

In an important new application of crown ethers Cram and Sogah have recently reported that potassium bases complexed to chiral crown ethers catalyze the stereoselective Michael addition of a /3- ketoester to methyl vinyl ketone in high optical yields (81CC625). With chiral crown (46), carbanion (47) gave alkylated products with an optical yield of about 99% enantiomeric excess. These impressive results were rationalized by complex structure (48) in which the crown-complexed K+ and the carbanion form an ion pair. One face of the associated carbanion is shielded from electrophilic attack by the flanking binaphthyl groups and the approach of methyl vinyl ketone occurs in a stereoselective manner. 

The detailed mechanistic explanation pictures the initial weak interaction among the bifunctional thiourea catalyst 158, the malonic ester 157 as nucleophile, and the nitroalkane 140 as electrophile that should promote the first chemo- and stereoselective Michael addition. The resulting adduct A would be poised to participate directly in the second catalytic cycle by acting as donor in a regioselective ititro-Michael reaction with the a,p-unsaturated aldehyde 95, here activated as iminium ion by the secondary amine catalyst (5)-76. The new inteimediate B, with its aldehyde and malonate moiety suitably spatial disposed, would undergo a base-promoted aldol cychzation to efficiently generate the planned cyclohexanol 159 in moderate yield (up to 87%) and marvelous enantioselectivity (up to >99% ee). 

Addition of halogens and pseudohalogens to the cyclopropylthiocarbene chromium complexes 122 affords the 1,4-dihalo-1-phenylthio-l-alkenes 123 stereoselectively [65]. Electrophilic halogen is likely to activate the carbene complexes, followed by the homo-Michael addition of halide anion. (Scheme 44)... 

Similar schemes can be developed easily for analogous reactions of acceptor-substituted polyenes. For example, a triene with an acceptor group in 1-position can form six regioi-someric products of Michael addition and electrophilic capture, and each of these exists as E/Z stereoisomers, diastereomers and/or enantiomers. Thus, reactions of this type are only useful if both the regio- and stereoselectivity can be controlled fortunately, only one isomeric Michael adduct is formed in many cases. This is true in particular for polyunsaturated Michael acceptors which bear at least one triple bond besides one or more double bonds. An additional feature of the latter substrate type is that nucleophilic additions can... 

A stereoselective synthesis of substituted pyrrolidines has been achieved by a sequential domino Michael addition and intramolecular carbozincation. The intermediate zinc-copper reagent obtained after cyclization can be trapped with an electrophile such as allyl bromide (Scheme 18).180 Addition of zincated hydrazones 52 on alkenyl boronates, followed by a trapping with an electrophile, provides adduct of type 53 with good yield and high diastereoselectivity (Scheme 19).181 By this addition/trapping sequence, several contiguous stereogenic centers are created in one step. 

Electron-deficient alkenes (e.g., NCHC=C(COOMe)2) can be aziridinated with 0-(aryl-sulfonyl)hydroxylamines <9lCOS(7)469>. The reaction is believed to involve a Michael addition followed by cyclization with expulsion of a sulfonate anion. Less electrophilic alkenes react in lower yield but with high stereoselectivity (Equation (2)). The chiral catalyst prepared from an optically active bisoxazoline and Cu(I)triflate is effective in promoting the enantioselective aziridination of alkenes <93JA5328>. The addition of nitrosyl chloride to alkenes, which are especially susceptible to... 

Stereoselectivity in Michael additions of organo-copper(I) compounds Trapping the enolate intermediate by silylation Michael Addition followed by Reaction with Electrophiles Tandem Michael/aldol reactions A Double Nucleophile An Interlude without Copper... 

The focus of this chapter is on the stereoselectivity of the conjugate addition of the Lewis acid and enamine Michael additions. Only donors that are formally enol equivalents are considered. Selectivity that results from preferential addition to one of the faces of an endocyclic enamine or enol ether as a result of the influence of a stereocenter in the ring is not emphasized. In general, the factors that control the stereochemistry in these instances are analogous to those active in the reactions of other electrophiles with such compounds. 

Stereospecific Michael addition reactions also may be catalyzed by hydrolytic enzymes (Scheme 2.205). When ot-trifluoromethyl propenoic acid was subjected to the action of various proteases, lipases and esterases in the presence of a nucleophile (NuH), such as water, amines, and thiols, chiral propanoic acids were obtained in moderate optical purity [1513]. The reaction mechanism probably involves the formation of an acyl enzyme intermediate (Sect. 2.1.1, Scheme 2.1). Being an activated derivative, the latter is more electrophilic than the free carboxylate and undergoes an asymmetric Michael addition by the nucleophile, directed by the chiral environment of the enzyme. In contrast to these observations made with crude hydrolase preparations, the rational design of a Michaelase from a lipase-scaffold gave disappointingly low stereoselectivities [1514-1517]. 

The observed excellent stereoselectivities (dr=91 9 to >95 5, 94 to >99% ee) could be ascribed to the steric hindrance created by the employed catalyst in each step of the catalytic cycle reported below (Scheme 2.56). Once the chiral amine (S)-70 activates the acrolein 131 as electrophile by generating the vinylogous iminium ion A, the indole 171 performs an intermolecular Friedel-Crafts-type reaction. The resulting enamine B acts as nucleophile in the Michael addition of the nitroalkene 140 leading to the iminium ion D, which upon hydrolysis liberates the catalyst and yields the intermediate aldehyde 173. The latter compound enters in the second cycle by reacting with the iminium ion A, previously formed by the free catalyst. The subsequent intramolecular enamine-mediated aldol reaction of E completes the ring closure generating the intermediate F, which after dehydration and hydrolysis is transformed in the desired indole 172. 

If the carbanion has even a short lifetime, 6 and 7 will assume the most favorable conformation before the attack of W. This is of course the same for both, and when W attacks, the same product will result from each. This will be one of two possible diastereomers, so the reaction will be stereoselective but since the cis and trans isomers do not give rise to different isomers, it will not be stereospecific. Unfortunately, this prediction has not been tested on open-chain alkenes. Except for Michael-type substrates, the stereochemistry of nucleophilic addition to double bonds has been studied only in cyclic systems, where only the cis isomer exists. In these cases, the reaction has been shown to be stereoselective with syn addition reported in some cases and anti addition in others." When the reaction is performed on a Michael-type substrate, C=C—Z, the hydrogen does not arrive at the carbon directly but only through a tautomeric equilibrium. The product naturally assumes the most thermodynamically stable configuration, without relation to the direction of original attack of Y. In one such case (the addition of EtOD and of Me3CSD to tra -MeCH=CHCOOEt) predominant anti addition was found there is evidence that the stereoselectivity here results from the final protonation of the enolate, and not from the initial attack. For obvious reasons, additions to triple bonds cannot be stereospecific. As with electrophilic additions, nucleophilic additions to triple bonds are usually stereoselective and anti, though syn addition and nonstereoselective addition have also been reported. 

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