Enolate anions, addition reactions

In the presence of a strong base, the ot carbon of a carboxylic ester can condense with the carbonyl carbon of an aldehyde or ketone to give a P-hydroxy ester, which may or may not be dehydrated to the a,P-unsaturated ester. This reaction is sometimes called the Claisen reaction,an unfortunate usage since that name is more firmly connected to 10-118. In a modem example of how the reaction is used, addition of tert-butyl acetate to LDA in hexane at -78°C gives the lithium salt of ferf-butyl acetate, " (12-21) an enolate anion. Subsequent reaction a ketone provides a simple rapid alternative to the Reformatsky reaction (16-31) as a means of preparing P-hydroxy erf-butyl esters. It is also possible for the a carbon of an aldehyde or ketone to add to the carbonyl carbon of a carboxylic ester, but this is a different reaction (10-119) involving nucleophilic substitution and not addition to a C=0 bond. It can, however, be a side reaction if the aldehyde or ketone has an a hydrogen. 

Now this is exactly the same situation we encountered when we compared the reactivity of aldehydes and ketones with that of carboxylic acid derivatives (see Section 7.8). The net result here is acylation of the nucleophile, and in the case of acylation of enolate anions, the reaction is termed a Claisen reaction. It is important not to consider aldol and Claisen reactions separately, but to appreciate that the initial addition is the same, and differences in products merely result from the absence or presence... 

Under ordinary conditions, aryl or alkenyl halides do not react with enolate anions, although reaction can occur with aryl halides bearing strongly electronegative substituents in the ortho and para positions. 2,4-Dinitrochlorobenzene, for example, with ethyl cyanoacetate gives ethyl (2,4-dinitrophenyl)cyanoacetate (90%) by an addition-elimination pathway. Unactivated aryl halides may react with enolates under more vigorous conditions, particularly sodium amide in liquid ammonia. Under these conditions, the reaction of bromobenzene with diethyl-malonate, for example, takes place by an elimination-addition sequence in which benzyne is an intermediate (1.8). 

One of the general features of the reactivity of enolate anions is the sensitivity of both the reaction rate and the ratio of C- versus O-alkylation to the degree of aggregation of the enolate. For example, addition of HMPA fiequently increases the rate of enolate alkylation... 

The 1,4-addition of an enolate anion 1 to an o ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compound 2, to yield a 1,5-dicarbonyl compound 3, is a powerful method for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds, and is called the Michael reaction or Michael addition The 1,4-addition to an o ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl substrate is also called a conjugate addition. Various other 1,4-additions are known, and sometimes referred to as Michael-like additions. 

Closely related to the 1,4-additions of enolates are the reactions of 1- and 2-azaallyl anions. 

When 2,2-dimethylpropanal is used to prepare the azomethine moiety, the corresponding azaallyl anion may be obtained when l,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene/lithium bromide is used as base. The subsequent addition to various enones or methyl ( )-2-butenoate proceeds with anti selectivity, presumably via a chelated enolate. However, no reaction occurs when triethylamine is used as the base, whereas lithium diisopropylamide as the base leads to the formation of a cycloadduct, e.g., dimethyl 5-isopropyl-3-methyl-2,4-pyrrolidinedicarboxylate using methyl ( )-2-butenoate as the enone84 89,384. 

The stereochemical outcome of the addition of lithium enolates of aldehydes and ketones to nitroalkenes is dependent upon the geometry of the nitroalkene and the enolate anion. The synjanti selectivity in the reaction of the lithium enolates of propanal, eyelopentanone and cyclohexanone with ( )- and (Z)-l-nitropropene has been reported1. 

Main group organometallic polymerization catalysts, particularly of groups 1 and 2, generally operate via anionic mechanisms, but the similarities with truly coordinative initiators justify their inclusion here. Both anionic and coordinative polymerization mechanisms are believed to involve enolate active sites, (Scheme 6), with the propagation step akin to a 1,4-Michael addition reaction. 

Parts A and B of the procedure correspond to preparation of lithium tetramethylpiperidide, and its use in the in situ preparation and addition of dibromomethyllithium to the ester 1 producing tetrahedral intermediate 2. In Part C a mixture of lithium hexamethyldisilazide and lithium ethoxide is prepared for addition in Part D to the solution of 2. The silazide base serves to deprotonate the mono and dibromo ketones that are formed on initial warming of the reaction to -20°C, thus protecting them as the enolate anions 4 and 3. Addition of the sec-butyllithium in Part... 

An efficient preparation of hexahydro-isoxazolo[2,3- ]pyridin-2-ones relies on the anionic addition of nucleophiles at the electrophilic carbon of the nitrone followed by cyclization of the resulting Ar-oxide. As shown by results collected in Scheme 31, various nucleophiles can be engaged in the reaction and include enolates 95 <20020L3119> or 98 <2000BML1811>, silyl acetals 101 <2003TL2817>, or ynolates 103 <20020L3119> (Scheme 31). 

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