Enol ethers conformation

In each instance, the silyl enol ether approaches anti to the methyl substituent on the chelate. This results in a 3,4-syn relationship between the hydroxy and alkoxy groups for a-alkoxy aldehydes and a 3,5-anti relationship for (3-alkoxy aldehydes with the main chain in the extended conformation. 

Stereochemistry can be interpreted in terms of conformation effects in the 1,4-biradical intermediates.199 Vinyl enol ethers and enamides add to aromatic ketones to give 3-substituted oxetanes, usually with the cis isomer preferred.200... 

Mattay et al. examined the regioselective and stereoselective cyclization of unsaturated silyl enol ethers by photoinduced electron transfer using DCA and DCN as sensitizers. Thereby the regiochemistry (6-endo versus 5-exo) of the cyclization could be controlled because in the absence of a nucleophile, like an alcohol, the cyclization of the siloxy radical cation is dominant, whereas the presence of a nucleophile favors the reaction pathway via the corresponding a-keto radical. The resulting stereoselective cis ring juncture is due to a favored reactive chair like conformer with the substituents pseudoaxial arranged (Scheme 27) [36,37]. 

The chemical shifts of a-protons in some conformationally rigid enol ethers, e.g., 1, have been studied. It was found that they depend not only on their relative position with respect to the alkoxy group, but also on the torsional angle between the C —H and the C—C bonds it is claimed that electric-field effects of the alkoxy groups are responsible267. H Chemical shifts have also been used for the stereochemical assignment of eyclohexylidenecyanoacetates 2. 

The combinations of chlorotrimethylsilane-hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) or chlorotrimethylsi-lane-4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) are also powerful accelerants for copper(I)-catalyzed Grignard conjugate additions,33 and stoichiometric organocopper and homocuprate additions (Scheme 21 ).36 However, these reactions must be performed in tetrahydrofuran instead of ether.37 These procedures are noted for their high yields with stoichiometric quantities of Grignard reagents, excellent chemoselectivity and efficiency with a,3-unsaturated amides and esters and enals.58 Typically, additions to enals proceed via the S-trans conformers to afford stereo-defined silyl enol ethers for example, enals (122) and (124) give the ( )-silyl enol ether (123) and (Z)-silyl enol ether (125), respectively. 

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations, coupled with activation energies and entropies from experimental data, have been employed to determine the nature of the intermediates in the reaction of singlet oxygen with alkenes, enol ethers, and enamines.214 Allylic alkenes probably react via a perepoxide-like conformation, whereas the more likely pathway for enamines involves a zwitterionic cycloaddition mechanism. The reactions of enol ethers are more complex, since the relative stabilities of the possible intermediates (biradical, perepoxide, and zwitterionic) here depend sensitively on the substituents and solvent polarity. 

Alkylations of enolates, enamines, and silyl enol ethers of cyclohexanone usually show substantial preference for axial attack. The enamine of 4-f-butylcyclohexanone, which has a fixed conformation because of the i-butyl group, gives 90% axial alkylation and only 10% equatorial alkylation with n-Prl. 

Recently, studies were carried out to explain the exo/endo selectivity the Patemo-Buchi reaction [30]. These studies were carried out mostly achiral or racemic substrates. Excited monocyclic aromatic aldehydes 33 re in their 3n,/rr state with cyclic enol ether derivatives like 2,3-dihydrofuran (Scheme 8) [31]. In these cases, the sterically disfavored endo isomer 35a obtained as major product. This result was explained by the fate of the trip biradical intermediate G. In order to favor cyclization to the oxetanes 35a,b, radical p-orbitals have to approach in a perpendicular fashion to increase spin-orbit coupling needed for the triplet to singlet intersystem crossing [32]. sterically most favored arrangement of this intermediate is depicted as G. encumbering Ar substituent is orientated upside and anti to the trihydrofur moiety. Cyclization from this conformation yields the major isomer 35a. 

Alkylation of fl-aryleyclopentanones. Addition of 10 mole% of CuCN to the lithium enolate prepared from /3-arylcyclopentanones and LDA increases the amount of the less stable product of alkylation. Polyalkylation is also suppressed. Similar results are obtained when methyl- or phenylcopper is added to the enolate prepared by alkyUithium cleavage of trimethylsilyl enol ethers. The mechanism by which Cu(I) influences these alkylations is not as yet understood. The regiospecificity of enolate formation in the example Illustrated in equation (I) has been attributed to a directing efiect of the proximate phenyl group. This effect is also observed in the deprotonation of -arylcyclohexanones. Quantitative, but not qualitative, differences exist between five- and six-membered rings, probably because of conformational differences. ... 

Two diastereomeric oc-seleno aldehydes (xS)-3 and (aR)-3 are produced in 9 1 ratio when silyl enol ether 2, which can exist in two low energy conformations 2A and 2B, is allowed to react with phenylselenenyl chloride18. 

Treatment of the silyl enol ethers of IV-acyloxazolidinones with selected electrophiles that do not require Lewis acid activation similarly results in high induction of the same enolate face (eq 13). The facial bias of this conformationally mobile system improves with the steric bulk of the sUyl group. 

Enantioselective protonation of prochiral silyl enol ethers is a very simple and attractive means of preparing optically active carbonyl compounds [135]. It is, however, difficult to achieve high enantioselectivity by use of simple chiral Brpnsted acids because of conformational flexibility in the neighborhood of the proton. It is expected that coordination of a Lewis acid to a Brpnsted acid would restrict the direction of the proton and increase its acidity. In 1994, the author and Yamamoto et al. found that the Lewis acid assisted chiral r0nsted acid (LBA) is a highly effective chiral proton donor for enantioselective protonation [136]. 

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