Enolate compounds intermolecular reactions

Undesirable intermolecular reactions can be avoided during certain synthetic conversions. Thus it is often useful to carry out C-alkylation and C-acylation of compounds that form enolate anions, for example, esters with a-hydrogens. Such reactions are often complicated by self-condensation since the enolate anion can attack the carbonyl group of a second ester molecule. Attachment of the enolizable ester to a polymer support at low loading levels allows the alkylation and acylation reactions (Eq. 9-79) to be performed under... 

The ene and Prins reactions are not mechanistically distinct. Coverage will therefore be organized by the nature of the carbonyl compound, with intermolecular reactions presented first, followed by intramolecular reactions. The emphasis will be on material published since the field has been reviewed " and on examples demonstrating the stereo-, regio- and chemo-selectivity of these reactions. Coverage is restricted to the addition of carbonyl and thiocarbonyl compounds to simple alkenes. Addition of carbonyl compounds to vinylsilanes, allylsilanes and enol ethers is covered in the following chapters. Addition of imines and iminium compounds to alkenes is presented in Part 4 of this volume. Ene reactions with alkenes and alkynes as enophiles are covered in Volume 5, Chapter 1.1. Use of aldehydes and acetals as initiators for polyene cyclizations is covered in Volume 3, Chapter 1.6. 

The occurrence of the indole subunit is well established within the class of natural products and pharmaceutically active compounds. Recently, the Reissig group developed an impressive procedure for the assembly of highly functionalized in-dolizidine derivatives, highlighting again the versatility of domino reactions [8]. The approach is based on a samarium(II) iodide-mediated radical cydization terminated by a subsequent alkylation which can be carried out in an intermolecular - as well as in an intramolecular - fashion. Reaction of ketone 3-11 with samarium(ll) iodide induced a 6-exo-trig cydization, furnishing a samarium enolate intermediate... 

Today, multi-parallel synthesis lies at the forefront of organic and medicinal chemistry, and plays a major role in lead discovery and lead optimization programs in the pharmaceutical industry. The first solid-phase domino reactions were developed by Tietze and coworkers [6] using a domino Knoevenagel/hetero-Diels-Alder and a domino Knoevenagel/ene protocol. Reaction of solid-phase bound 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds such as 10-22 with aldehydes and enol ethers in the presence of piperidinium acetate led to the 1-oxa-1,3-butadiene 10-23, which underwent an intermolecular hetero-Diels-Alder reaction with the enol ethers to give the resin-bound products 10-24. Solvolysis with NaOMe afforded the desired dihydro-pyranes, 10-25 with over 90 % purity. Ene reactions have also been performed in a similar manner [7]. 

Although a cobalt-catalyzed intermolecular reductive aldol reaction (generation of cobalt enolates by hydrometal-lation of acrylic acid derivatives and subsequent reactions with carbonyl compounds) was first described in 1989, low diastereoselectivity has been problematic.3 6 However, the intramolecular version of this process was found to show high diastereoselectivity (Equation (37)).377,377a 378 A Co(i)-Co(m) catalytic cycle is suggested on the basis of deuterium-labeling studies and the chemistry of Co(ll) complexes (Scheme 81). Cobalt(m) hydride 182, which is... 

Judging from these findings, the mechanism of Lewis acid catalysis in water (for example, aldol reactions of aldehydes with silyl enol ethers) can be assumed to be as follows. When metal compounds are added to water, the metals dissodate and hydration occurs immediatdy. At this stage, the intramolecular and intermolecular exchange reactions of water molecules frequently occur. If an aldehyde exists in the system, there is a chance that it will coordinate to the metal cations instead of the water molecules and the aldehyde is then activated. A silyl enol ether attacks this adivated aldehyde to produce the aldol adduct. According to this mechanism, it is expected that many Lewis acid-catalyzed reactions should be successful in aqueous solutions. Although the precise activity as Lewis acids in aqueous media cannot be predicted quantitatively... 

A semiempirical AMI study of the inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder reaction of 4-substituted 6-nitrobenzofurans with enol ethers and enamines favours a stepwise mechanism involving short-lived diradical intermediates. The inverse-electron-demand intermolecular Diels-Alder reactions of 3,6-bis(trifluoromethyl)-l,2,4,5-tetra-zine with acyclic and cyclic dienophiles followed by the elimination of N2 produce 4,5-dihydropyridazines, which cycloadd further to yield cage compounds. The preparation of jS-carbolines (90) via an intramolecular inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder... 

Aldol reactions have also been used as a means of macrocychzation in total synthesis and were quite successful in some cases. However, over a broader spectrum of substrates, the results are unpredictable at best and yields and stereochemical outcome vary greatly. The predominant reasons are difficulties in selective enolate formation in multi-carbonyl compounds, competing and equilibrating retro-aldolizations—especially with polyketides, which often possess several aldol moieties—and intermolecular instead of intramolecular reaction preference. Whereas most of these drawbacks may be overcome, substrate-independent stereocontrol plays a crucial role. At least one new stereocenter is formed during a macroaldolization, and because of the folding constraints involved, its configuration cannot be adequately predicted. Therefore, this can be useful in special cases but with the current possibilities is not the method of choice for a general diversity-oriented synthesis. 

In intermolecular PET processes, radical ions are formed either as close pairs or as free species from neutral molecules (Sch. 1) [2,6]. Most commonly, carbonyl compounds or related derivatives as for example enol ethers, cyclopropyl ketones, and siloxycyclopropanes are used for intramolecular cyclization reactions. With the exception of cycloadditions the ring-building key step is always an intramolecular bond formation. In PET... 

The ability of Sml2 to reduce alkyl halides has been exploited in a number of carbon carbon bond-forming reactions. Radicals generated from the reduction of alkyl halides can be trapped by alkenes in cyclisation reactions to form carbocyclic and heterocyclic rings (see Chapter 5, Section 5.3), and the alkyl-samarium intermediates can be used in intermolecular and intramolecular Barbier and Grignard reactions (see Chapter 5, Section 5.4). The reduction of ot-halocarbonyl compounds with Sml2 gives rise to Sm(III) enolates that can be exploited in Reformatsky reactions (Chapter 5, Section 5.5) and are discussed in Section 4.5. 

Intermolecular de Mayo reactions are efficient for cyclic 1,3-diketones such as dimedone (5,5-dimethyl-l,3-cyclohexanedione)96,103,104 and acyclic systems such as acetylacetone93-95. Unsymmetrical acyclic /l-diketones, such as 1-phenyl-1,3-butanedione98 can enolize in two directions, however, reaction normally occurs preferentially from a single enol form. Examples of alkene photocycloaddition to trapped ends of /(-dicarbonyl compounds (e.g., 2,2-dimethyl-3(2/f)-furanone and 2,2.6-trimethyl-4/f-l,3-dioxin-4-one) are given in Table 1 (entries 26, 27) and Table 2 (entry 35) 10°. If the enol is stabilized by derivatization (e.g., acetylated dimedone 3-acetoxy-5,5-dimethyl-2-cyclohexenone), the primary cyclobutane photoproducts can be isolated96. 

I, 5-dicarbonyl compounds and their interesting and varied chemistry, e.g., the formation of cyclohexenones from aldol condensation of the products. As an extension of the de Mayo reaction (the photocycloaddition of enolated /i-diketones to double bonds) enol esters, enol ethers, vinylogous esters and amides, and dioxinone have been employed as the enone components. Some intermolecular examples have already been discussed in Section 1.6.1.4.2.1.6. (cf. Table 4, entries 2 and 3) and some intramolecular systems are collected in Table 5, entries 10,... 

In a related study, intramolecular oxidative coupling of enolate derivatives has been investigated by Schmittel and co-workers [167]. The intermolecular version of this reaction provides a useful route to 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds but typically suffers from low levels of stereoselectivity. Furthermore, in mixed systems, the desired heterocoupling products are often accompanied by appreciable amounts of homocoupling products. It was hoped that the use of a single metal for both enolate precursors with concomitant intramolecularization of the bond-forming event might overcome some of these problems. 

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