Enolates base catalysed bromination

A detailed examination of OSO4 reactions with A -steroids has been reported." The A-ring conformation of the reactant or derived complex is important in determining the stereoselectivity of these reactions, and the major role of the proximate substituents is to anchor the appropriate conformation favouring a- or /3-attack. Studies on the stereochemistry of electrophilic attack on cholest-5-en-3-one continue." As with bromine chloride," appreciable /3-attack occurs and the 5/3,6j8-epoxide was isolated along with the previously reported 5a,6a-epoxide and the Baeyer-Villiger product, the A-homo-enol lactone (58). Base-catalysed... 

This is different and more complicated because it usually won t stop at the introduction of one halogen atom. If we go back to the bromination of acetone, the first step will now be a base-catalysed eno-lization to give the enolate ion instead of the enol. The enolate ion can attack a bromine molecule in a very similar way to the attack of the enol on bromine. The enolate will, of course, be even more reactive than the enol was (the enolate carries a negative charge). 

Reactions involving Enols or Enolic Derivatives.—A review of the structure and reactivity of alkali-metal enolates includes some steroidal reactions. A study of the mechanism of isomerization of androst-5-en-17/3-ol-3-one to testosterone indicated that the acid-catalysed process proceeds through rate-determining enolization whereas the base-catalysed reaction proceeds through rate-determining protonation of an enolate ion. Bromination of the 4,4,6-trimethyl-A -3-oxo-compounds (111)—(113) gave the 2a-bromo-derivatives, each of which showed anomalous o.r.d. curves. Bromination at C-2 was favoured for the... 

Methylene difluorocyclopropanes are relatively rare and their rearrangement chemistry has been reviewed recently [14]. In addition, electron deficient alkenes such as sesquiterpenoid methylene lactones may be competent substrates. Two crystal structures of compounds prepared in this way were reported recently [15,16]. Other relatively recent methods use dibromodifluoromethane, a relatively inexpensive and liquid precursor. Dolbier and co-workers described a simple zinc-mediated protocol [17], while Balcerzak and Jonczyk described a useful reproducible phase transfer catalysed procedure (Eq. 6) using bromo-form and dibromodifluoromethane [18]. The only problem here appears to be in separating cyclopropane products from alkene starting material (the authors recommend titration with bromine which is not particularly amenable for small scale use). Schlosser and co-workers have also described a mild ylide-based approach using dibromodifluoromethane [19] which reacts particularly well with highly nucleophilic alkenes such as enol ethers [20], and remarkably, with alkynes [21] to afford labile difluorocyclopropenes (Eq. 7). 

---