Enolate anions, amide-ester

Besides ordinary esters (containing an a hydrogen), the reaction can also be carried out with lactones and, as in 16-38, with the y position of a,p-unsaturated esters (vinylogy). There are also cases, where the enolate anion of an amide was condensed with an aldehyde. ... 

SRNl substitution include ketone enolates,183 ester enolates,184 amide enolates,185 2,4-pentanedione dianion,186 pentadienyl and indenyl carbanions,187 phenolates,188 diethyl phosphite anion,189 phosphides,190 and thiolates.191 The reactions are frequently initiated by light, which promotes the initiating electron transfer. As for other radical chain processes, the reaction is sensitive to substances that can intercept the propagation intermediates. 

Note that we can write a similar resonance picture for esters, and we shall actually need to invoke this when we discuss enolate anions (see Section 10.7). However, electron donation from oxygen is not as effective as from the less electronegative nitrogen. We shall also see that this resonance effect in amides has other consequences, such as increased acidity of the amide hydrogens (see Section 10.7) and stereochemical aspects of peptides and proteins (see Section 13.3). In addition, the amide derivatives have... 

Whereas the pATa for the a-protons of aldehydes and ketones is in the region 17-19, for esters such as ethyl acetate it is about 25. This difference must relate to the presence of the second oxygen in the ester, since resonance stabilization in the enolate anion should be the same. To explain this difference, overlap of the non-carbonyl oxygen lone pair is invoked. Because this introduces charge separation, it is a form of resonance stabilization that can occur only in the neutral ester, not in the enolate anion. It thus stabilizes the neutral ester, reduces carbonyl character, and there is less tendency to lose a proton from the a-carbon to produce the enolate. Note that this is not a new concept we used the same reasoning to explain why amides were not basic like amines (see Section 4.5.4). 

Whereas the allyl anion, with a plane of symmetry through the central atom, has a node at that atom in j/ j, amides, esters, enamines, enol ethers and enolate ions do not have a node precisely on the central atom. Taking planar A V-dimethylviny-lamine and the enolate of acetaldehyde as examples, simple Hiickel calculations give the n orbitals in Fig. 2.15, which includes the allyl anion for comparison. 

Efficient enantioselective alkylations are known.In another method enantio-selective alkylation can be achieved by using a chiral base to form the enolate. Alternatively, a chiral auxiliary can be attached. Many auxiliaries are based on the use of chiral amides ° or esters.Subsequent formation of the enolate anion allows alkylation to proceed with high enantioselectivity. A subsequent step is... 

As with ketone enolate anions (see 16-34), the use of amide bases under kinetic control conditions (strong base with a weak conjugate acid, aprotic solvents, low temperatures), allows the mixed Claisen condensation to proceed. Self-condensation of the lithium enolate with the parent ester is a problem when LDA is used as a base, ° but this is minimized with LICA (lithium isopropylcyclohexyl amide).Note that solvent-free Claisen condensation reactions have been reported. ° ... 

Alkylation or acylation of ketones, sulfides, and amines. This reagent generally reacts with alcohols or carboxylic acids to form 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl ethers or esters in satisfactory yields, except in the case of alcohols prone to dehydration. The reaction of these ethers provides a simple synthesis of unsymmetrical sulfides (equation I). A similar reaction can be used for preparation of secondary amines or amides (equation II). Enolate anions (generated from silyl enol ethers with KF) can be alkylated or acylated with a or b (equation III). Use of Grignard reagents in this type of coupling results in mediocre yields. 

For acylations with reactive esters, such as formate or oxalate (see Section 3.6.4.5), sodium alkoxides are still the bases of choice, but sodium hydride, dimsyl sodium, sodium or potassium amide or sodium metal have all been used for the in situ generation of the enolate anion. A typical example is shown in Scheme 47. Acylation by esters results in the production of 1 equiv. of the alkoxide ion, along with the p-dicarbonyl compound proton transfer then results in the production of the conjugate base of the dicarbonyl compound. This process normally leads to the more stable anion in the acylation of an unsymme-trical ketone. The acyl group thus becomes attached to the less-substituted a-position of the ketone. The less stable 0-acylated products are normally not observed in such reversible base-catalyzed reactions. Methyl alkyl ketones are normally acylated on the methyl group where both a-carbons are substituted to the same extent, acylation occurs at the less-hindered site. Acylation is observed only rarely at a methine carbon as the more stable p-diketone enolate cannot be formed. 

When primary or secondary amides are treated with a base, there is a complicating reaction that was not possible with esters, ketones, or aldehydes. The N—H moiety is acidic enough to react with the bases used for deprotonation. Treatment of 56 with base gave the A-lithio derivative, but the a-lithio derivative (57) can be generated by addition of two equivalents of base. Enolate anion formation is straightforward with tertiary amides, such as dimethylisobutyramide (56, R = Me) and the resultant enolate anion (58) reacted with butanal to give amido-alcohol 59 in 68% yield O (see sec. 9.4.B). 

Many a,P-unsaturated carbonyl compounds (aldehydes and ketones as well as esters and amides [this chapter]) undergo aldol reactions on the a-carbon of the unsaturated partner with the carbonyl of a second partner. This interesting reaction (the Baylis-Hillman reaction) depends upon the temporary addition of a hindered base (l,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane, DAB(70, is commonly used) to the P-carbon of the a,P-unsaturated system rather than the deprotonation of the a-carbon. The enolate anion, a to the carbonyl of what was the a,P-unsaturated system, then adds to the other reactant and subsequent elimination provides the condensation product and the base is eliminated. The process is shown in Scheme 9.52 for the reaction between ethanal (acetaldehyde) and the a,P-unsaturated ester ethyl propenoate (ethyl acrylate). 

Both processes provide an experimentally simple means for the introduction of a C2 or C3 fragment. However, they still require reaction temperatures of 140-200 °C and suffer from the restricted availability of orthoesters and amide acetals, respectively. A more general solution is offered by the methodology developed by Ireland et al. [9]. Deprotonation of an allyl ester 8 and immediate 0-silylation of the enolate 9 furnishes a silyl ketene acetal 10, which is less prone to undergo unwanted side reactions, as compared to the enolate anion itself,but which still rearranges easily to the silyl ester 11 at temperatures often below 60 °C (Scheme 3). 

Many types of carbonyl compounds, including aldehydes, ketones, esters, thioesters, acids, and amides, can be converted into enolate ions by reaction with LDA. Table 22.1 lists the approximate pKa values of different types of carbonyl compounds and shows how these values compare to other acidic substances we ve seen. Note that nitriles, too, are acidic and can be converted into enolate-like anions. 

Among the compounds capable of forming enolates, the alkylation of ketones has been most widely studied and applied synthetically. Similar reactions of esters, amides, and nitriles have also been developed. Alkylation of aldehyde enolates is not very common. One reason is that aldehydes are rapidly converted to aldol addition products by base. (See Chapter 2 for a discussion of this reaction.) Only when the enolate can be rapidly and quantitatively formed is aldol formation avoided. Success has been reported using potassium amide in liquid ammonia67 and potassium hydride in tetrahydrofuran.68 Alkylation via enamines or enamine anions provides a more general method for alkylation of aldehydes. These reactions are discussed in Section 1.3. 

Imidate esters can also be generated by reaction of imidoyl chlorides and allylic alcohols. The lithium anions of these imidates, prepared using lithium diethylamide, rearrange at around 0°C. When a chiral amine is used, this reaction can give rise to enantioselective formation of 7, 8-unsaturated amides. Good results were obtained with a chiral binaphthylamine.265 The methoxy substituent is believed to play a role as a Li+ ligand in the reactive enolate. 

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