Elimination reactions 0-unsaturated carbonyl compounds

All three elimination reactions--E2, El, and ElcB—occur in biological pathways, but the ElcB mechanism is particularly common. The substrate is usually an alcohol, and the H atom removed is usually adjacent to a carbonyl group, just as in laboratory reactions. Thus, 3-hydroxy carbonyl compounds are frequently converted to unsaturated carbonyl compounds by elimination reactions. A typical example occurs during the biosynthesis of fats when a 3-hydroxybutyryl thioester is dehydrated to the corresponding unsaturated (crotonyl) thioester. The base in this reaction is a histidine amino acid in the enzyme, and loss of the OH group is assisted by simultaneous protonation. 

Hell-VoLhard-Zelinskii (HVZ) reaction, in which an acid is treated with Bc2 and PBr3. The a-halogenated products can then undergo base-induced E2 elimination to yield a,j6-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. 

The Peterson olefination reaction involves the addition of an a-silyl substituted anion to an aldehyde or a ketone followed by the elimination of silylcarbinol either under acidic (awP -elimination) or basic (syn-elimination) conditions to furnish olefins178. Thus, Peterson olefination, just like Wittig and related reactions, is a method for regioselective conversion of a carbonyl compound to an olefin. Dienes and polyenes can be generated when the Peterson reaction is conducted using either an ,/l-unsaturated carbonyl compound or unsaturated silyl derivatives as reaction partners (Table 20)179. 

Rhodium(i) complexes are excellent catalysts for the 1,4-addition of aryl- or 1-alkenylboron, -silicon, and -tin compounds to a,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. In contrast, there are few reports on the palladium(n) complex-catalyzed 1,4-addition to enones126,126a for the easy formation of C-bound enolate, which will result in /3-hydride elimination product of Heck reaction. Previously, Cacchi et al. described the palladium(n)-catalyzed Michael addition of ArHgCl or SnAr4 to enones in acidic water.127 Recently, Miyaura and co-workers reported the 1,4-addition of arylboronic acids and boroxines to a,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. A cationic palladium(n) complex [Pd(dppe)(PhCN)2](SbF6)2 was found to be an excellent catalyst for this reaction (dppe = l,2-bis(diphenyl-phosphine)ethane Scheme 42).128... 

The reaction is considered as a combination of a Michael reaction, the conjugate addition of an enolate anion on to an unsaturated carbonyl compound, plus an aldol reaction followed by elimination of water. 

Toyota, Ihara, and coworkers demonstrated that silyl enol ethers undergo Pd -promoted intramolecular nucleophilic attack on alkenes [18]. Allhough early examples required stoichiometric Pd [167], they have also shown that Pd(OAc)2 in DMSO is an effective catalyst in the presence of an aerobic atmosphere (Eq. 38) [168-170]. The reaction is proposed to proceed through an oxo-jt-allyl intermediate that can undergo competitive alkene insertion or P-hydride elimination (Scheme 11). The latter reaction is the basis for the synthetically useful conversion of silyl enol ethers to a,P-unsaturated carbonyl compounds (see below). Efforts to use BQ as an oxidant were not described. 

Next to the cyclopropane formation, elimination represents the simplest type of a carbon-carbon bond formation in the homoenolates. Transition metal homoenolates readily eliminate a metal hydride unit to give a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. Treatment of a mercurio ketone with palladium (II) chloride results in the formation of the enone presumably via a 3-palladio ketone (Eq. (24), Table 3) [8], The reaction can be carried out with catalytic amounts of palladium (II) by using CuCl2 as an oxidant. Isomerization of the initial exomethylene derivative to the more stable endo-olefin can efficiently be retarded by addition of triethylamine to the reaction mixture. 

The synthesis of a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and nitriles by Pd-catalyzed reaction [245] of allyl p-oxo esters and allyl a-cyano esters is an oxidative process. With the contra-polarizability of the metal ion, elimination of a hydride from the p-position is electronically favorable. 

Conversion of a Mannich base hydrochloride into an a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compound, is illustrated by the formation of phenyl vinyl ketone, which is obtained directly by steam distillation (Expt 6.147). Alternatively the Mannich base may be treated with methyl iodide to form the quaternary salt, which then gives the a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compound by a base-catalysed elimination reaction. 

The Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reaction is the formation of a-methylene-/ -hydroxycarbonyl compounds X by addition of aldehydes IX to a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds VIII, for example vinyl ketones, acrylonitriles or acrylic esters (Scheme 6.58) [143-148]. For the reaction to occur the presence of catalytically active nucleophiles ( Nu , Scheme 6.58) is required. It is now commonly accepted that the MBH reaction is initiated by addition of the catalytically active nucleophile to the enone/enoate VIII. The resulting enolate adds to the aldehyde IX, establishing the new stereogenic center at the aldehydic carbonyl carbon atom. Formation of the product X is completed by proton transfer from the a-position of the carbonyl moiety to the alcoholate oxygen atom with concomitant elimination of the nucleophile. Thus Nu is available for the next catalytic cycle. 

It is possible that a trace of alcohol contaminating the orthoester would make the acetal-ization of a,/)-unsaturated carbonyl compounds via the mechanism of the preceding paragraph conceivable. But most probably the alternative acetalization mechanism of Figure 9.14 comes into play. The orthoester A would then first be cleaved so that MeOH would be eliminated in an equilibrium reaction This would provide the carboxonium ion E, which would... 

Unlike many other type of radical addition reactions, the product is most often an alkyl-cobalt(III) species capable of further manipulation. These product Co—C bonds have been converted in good yields to carbon-oxygen (alcohol, acetate), carbon-nitrogen (oxime, amine), carbon-halogen, carbon-sulfur (sulfide, sulfinic acid) and carbon-selenium bonds (equations 179 and 180)354. Exceptions to this rule are the intermolecular additions to electron-deficient olefins, in which the putative organocobalt(III) species eliminates to form an a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compound or styrene353 or is reduced (under electrochemical conditions) to the alkane (equation 181)355. 

Crossed aldol condensations between aliphatic aldehydes on the one hand and benzaldehyde or cinnamic aldehyde or their derivatives on the other also are possible. The reaction components can even be mixed together. The aldol adducts are formed without chemoselectivity, as a mixture of isomers, but their formations are reversible. The Elcb elimination to an a,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compound is fast only if the newly created C=C double bond is conjugated to an aromatic system or to another C=C double bond already present in the substrate. This effect is due to product-development control. All the starting materials thus react in this way via the most reactive aldol adduct. 

A rhodium(l)-catalyzed system in THF is also effective in the Mizoroki-Heck-type reaction of arylsilanediols with acrylates (Scheme 4).53 Interestingly, the use of aqueous THF switches the reaction to 1,4-addition forming /3-arylated esters. The proposed catalytic cycles for these reactions involve 1,4-addition of an arylrhodium species to an acrylate. The change of the reaction pathway is probably because, in aqueous THF, the resultant Rh enolate 6 undergoes protonolysis rather than /3-elimination. Similar Rh-catalyzed 1,4-additions to a,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds have been achieved with arylsilicones,54 arylchlorosilanes,55 and aryltrialkoxysilanes.56,57 The use of a cationic Rh-binap complex leads to highly enantioselective 1,4-additions of alkenyl- and arylsilanes.58 583... 

This adduct is in equilibrium with the stable enolate from the keto-ester and elimination now gives an unsaturated carbonyl compound. Such chemistry is associated with the aidol reactions we discussed in Chapter 27. The new enone has two carbonyl groups at one end of the double bond and is therefore a very good Michael acceptor (Chapter 29). A second molecule of enolate does a conju-... 

Selenium-mediated allylic oxidations producing allylic alcohols have been discussed above however, in some cases oxidation proceeds further to give the a, -unsaturated carbonyl compounds directly, or mixtures of alcoholic and ketonic products. That the regioselectivity observed in these allylic oxidation reactions closely resembles that found in classical selenium dioxide oxidations is in accord with initial formation of the intermediate allylic alcohol before in situ oxidation to the carbonyl compound. This process was studied by Rapoport and was explained mechanistically as an elimination of the intermediate allylic selenite ester via a cyclic transition state, analogous to Ssi (rather than 5n20 solvolysis (Scheme 21). Of the two possible transition states (78) and (79), the cyclic alternative (78) was preferred tecause oxidation exclusively yields trans aldehydes. 

Throughout this review, elimination reactions have been restricted to die loss of an appropriate leaving group from the a-carbon atom, but both -thio and -selenenyl groups can be eliminated with ease from C—OC compounds following oxidation. As a rule, such derivatives are prepared by conjugate addition to a, -unsaturated carbonyl compounds, and therefore formation and elimination constitutes a formal protection of these compounds. 

Phenols add intramolecularly to Michael acceptors. " Under acidic conditions, a one-pot sequence starts with initial electrophilic acetylation of the activated aromatic ring and is followed by cyclization." With an appropriate leaving group in the /f-position (OMe. or other amines such as in the unsaturated carbonyl compound (e.g., 4) is formed. Other approaches to pyroncs include the self-condensation of protected //-hydroxy acrylates,intramolecular aldol reactions followed by condensation,thermal cycli-zations of unsaturated ()-chloro esters,and an iodo-cyclization-elimination sequence w th Michael acceptors.Oxymercuration of an unsaturated alcohol is an alternative cyclization approach to tetrahydropyrans. 

Phenylthioalkylation of silyl enol ethers. Silyl enol ethers of ketones, aldehydes, esters, and lactones can be alkylated regiospecifically by a -chloroalkyl phenyl sulfides in fhe presence of a Lewis acid. Zinc bromide and titanium(IV) chloride are the most effective catalysts. The former is more satisfactory for enol ethers derived from esters and lactongs. ZnBr2 and TiCL are about equally satisfactory for enol ethers of ketones. The combination of TiCL and Ti(0-f-Pr)4 is more satisfactory for enol ethers of aldehydes. Since the products can be desulfurized by Raney nickel, this reaction also provides a method for alkylation of carbonyl compounds. Of more interest, sulfoxide elimination provides a useful route to a,B-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. 

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