Silicon enolate

If a Michael reaction uses an unsymmetrical ketone with two CH-groups of similar acidity, the enol or enolate is first prepared in pure form (p. llff.). To avoid equilibration one has to work at low temperatures. The reaction may then become slow, and it is advisable to further activate the carbon-carbon double bond. This may be achieved by the introduction of an extra electron-withdrawing silyl substituent at C-2 of an a -synthon. Treatment of the Michael adduct with base removes the silicon, and may lead as well to an aldol addition (G. Stork, 1973, 1974 B R.K. Boeckman, Jr., 1974). 

Enolate reactivity depends on the electrophile. Enolates generally form CC bonds with carbon electrophiles, and OSi bonds with silicon electrophiles. 

Silicon enolates derived from ketones, thioesters, and esters reacted smoothly with different types of aldehyde in the presence of 5mol.% Sc(OTf)3 to afford the aldol adducts in high yields. 

Sc(OTf)3 is effective in aldol reactions in aqueous media (water-THF, Scheme 15).49 Direct treatment of aqueous solutions of water-soluble formaldehyde and chloroacetaldehyde with silyl enol ethers affords the corresponding aldol adducts in good yields. Water-sensitive silicon enolates can be used in aqueous solutions in the presence of a catalytic amount of Sc(OTf)3. 

Mukaiyama aldol reactions of aldehydes with silyl enol ethers are amongst the most widely used Lewis-acid-mediated or -catalyzed reactions. However, trimethylsilyl triflate is not active enough to promote these reactions,66 and more active silicon-based Lewis acids have been developed. One example is the species generated by mixing trimethylsilyl triflate (or chloride) and B(OTf)3,319,320 for which the formulation R3Si + [B(OTf)4] is suggested by NMR experiments. Only a catalytic amount of this was needed to complete Mukaiyama aldol reactions of... 

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... 

Sodeoka and co-workers have reported enantioselective aldol and Mannich reactions (Equations (106) and (J07)) 464,464a 464e Involvement of palladium enolates was confirmed by 111 NMR and ESI-MS spectrometry. /3-Keto esters (pronucleophiles) directly add to imines with high selectivity without preformation of silicon enolates (Equation (108)). 

Carreira and Kruger reported facile transmetallation of silicon enolates to other soft metal enolates including Gu derivatives.499 They reasoned that the use of soft metal fluoride complexes enabled silyl metal transmetallation with catalytic use of a soft metal source. The concept is illustrated in Scheme 103. Normal Lewis acid-catalyzed reactions of silicon enolates with aldehydes proceed via activation of aldehydes by carbonyl oxygen coordination to Lewis acids, as shown in the upper equation of Scheme 103. A key step for catalytic turnover is the desilyation of 233 by the... 

Shibasaki et al. also developed catalytic reactions of copper, some of which can be applied to catalytic asymmetric reactions. Catalytic aldol reactions of silicon enolates to ketones proceed using catalytic amounts of CuF (2.5 mol%) and a stoichiometric amount of (EtO)3SiF (120 mol%) (Scheme 104).500 Enantioselective alkenylation catalyzed by a complex derived from CuF and a chiral diphosphine ligand 237 is shown in Scheme 105.501 Catalytic cyanomethyla-tion by using TMSCH2CN was also reported, as shown in Scheme 106.502... 

It has been proposed that the reaction is promoted by the formation of the active species 73, in which, the cationic center of the tin(II) triflate activates an aldehyde, and, at the same time, the electronegative fluoride is able to interact with a silicon atom of the silyl enol ether to make the enol ether more reactive. This dual process results in the formation of the entropically favored intermediate (Scheme 3-25).46... 

Murai and coworkers reported on operationally simple aldol reactions with lithium enolates generated from carbonylation of silylmethyl lithium species [57]. Upon 1,2-silicon shift, a-silyl acyllithium species can be stereo-selectively converted to (E) lithium enolates that undergo addition to aldehydes to give /3-hydroxy acylsilanes (Scheme 14). 

Scheme 14 1,2-Silicon shift toward lithium enolates...

Based on the same strategy, Denmark and coworkers developed a vinylogous aldol reaction using enolate activation with a catalyst derived from SiCl4 and dimeric phosphoramide 47 [24,25]. This strategy relies on the observation that not all Lewis acid - Lewis base interactions diminish the Lewis acidity [26-28]. Due to the formation of a pentacoordinated silicon cation (48), both the enolate and the substrate can be assembled in a closed transition state, giving rise to the observed high selectivities (Scheme 19) [29,30]. 

Aldol reactions of silyl enolates are promoted by a catalytic amount of transition metals through transmetallation generating transition metal enolates. In 1995, Shibasaki and Sodeoka reported an enantioselective aldol reaction of enol silyl ethers to aldehydes using a Pd-BINAP complex in wet DMF. Later, this finding was extended to a catalytic enantioselective Mannich-type reaction to a-imino esters by Sodeoka s group [Eq. (13.21)]. Detailed mechanistic studies revealed that the binuclear p-hydroxo complex 34 is the active catalyst, and the reaction proceeds through a palladium enolate. The transmetallation step would be facilitated by the hydroxo ligand transfer onto the silicon atom of enol silyl ethers ... 

Song and co-workers have taken a variety of aldehydes 344 and treated them with A -adamantyl carbene 1 and trimethylsilyl ketene acetal 345 to produce Mukaiyama aldol products 346 in good yield (Eq. 34) [170], The carbene presumably acts as a Lewis base to activate the silicon - oxygen bond in order to promote reactivity of the enol silane. The catalyst loading can be reduced to as low as 0.05 mol% without a change in yield. 

Silicon-based Lewis acids have been known for some time, and the related chemistry in catalysis has recently been reviewed [24]. Most examples in the literature are mainly based on achiral species and will be discussed only briefly in this section. In general, a broad variety of reactions can be catalyzed with compounds like MejSiOTf, MejSiNTf or MOjSiClO. One advantage over some metal Lewis acids is that they are compatible with many carbon nucleophiles like silyl enol ethers, allyl organometallic reagents and cuprates. 

Catalytic amounts of 35 (1 mol%) also promoted the reaction of aromatic aldehydes with silyl ethers [94], vinylogous silicon enolates [95] and even with isocyanates in the presence of stoichiometric amount of SiCl [98]. The products were isolated in high yield and enantioselectivity. 

When a solution of lithium enolate 68, prepared by the addition of A(Af-dimethyl-2-trimethylsilylacetamide 67 to a THF solution of LDA, is treated with an equivalent amount of propylene oxide 69, a single product 71 is obtained in 75% yield (equation 25) . This result is rationahzed by assuming an initial addition of 68 at the less substimted side of the epoxide, foUowed by the first observed 1,4-migration of silicon from carbon to oxygen (70 to 71). 

Both ketals66 and enol ethers67 can be used in place of aldehydes with the selection of appropriate catalysts. Trimethylsilyl iodide causes addition to occur.68 The trimethylsilyl iodide can be used in catalytic quantity because it is regenerated by recombination of iodide ion with silicon in the desilation step. 

Formaldehyde is one of the most important Cl electrophiles in organic synthesis. Whereas hydroxymethylation of enolate components with formaldehyde provides an efficient method to introduce a Cl functional group at the a-position of carbonyl groups, few successful examples of catalytic asymmetric hydroxymethylation have been reported (for other examples of asymmetric hydroxymethylation, see [30-33] for examples of catalytic asymmetric hydroxymethylation without using silicon enolates, see [32, 34, 35]). 

Hahn, G. D. and Possmann, P. (1977). Colloidal silicon dioxide as a fining agent for wine. Am.. Enol. Vitic. 28,108-112. 

Table 1 summarizes the results of the reactions of ynoates (2a-c) with a silicon enolate (silyl ketene acetal) and a lithium enolate of methyl propionate (Eq. 1). Except for the reaction of 2c, Fe-Mont catalyzed exclusive 1,2-addition of silyl ketene acetal to 2a and 2b to give an adduct of 3 in high yields. However, even trimethyl silyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMSOTf), a generally applied homogeneous strong acid, failed to effect the addition reaction. 

Table 2 shows the results of the addition of silicon and lithium enolates of methyl acetate to 2b and 2c (Eq. 3). Under the Fe-Mont catalysis, the t-butyldimethylsi 1yl ketene acetal of 6 is far less reactive than the trimethyl si 1 yl ketene acetal of 1, requiring higher reaction temperature moreover, it caused exclusive 1,2-addition to 2b in a good yield, but was inactive to 2c. Satisfactory yields of the expected products could not be... 

The regioselectivity of alkylations of silyl dienol ethers has been studied87,88. These reactions favor y-alkylation products. In contrast, alkylations of the corresponding lithium enolates mainly occur in the a-position. Substituents on the silyl diene unit, as well as the substituents at the silicon, strongly influence the regioselectivity of the reaction87 91,... 

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