Enone , conjugate carbonyl

For conjugated carbonyl compounds, such as a,) -enones, the orbital diagram would be similar, except for the recognition that the HOMO of the ground state is ij/2 of the enone system, rather than the oxygen lone-pair orbital. The excited states can sometimes be usefully represented as dipolar or diradical intermediates ... 

Reduction of conjugated carbonyl compounds using stoichiometric amounts of the ammonium salt shows little advantage over the sodium salt in acidic methanol [11] with both reagents producing allylic alcohols (58-88% for acyclic compounds and 15-64% for cyclic compounds) by selective 1,2-reduction of the conjugated systems. Aldehydes, ketones and conjugated enones are also reduced by tetra-n-butylammonium cyanoborohydride in HMPA [11, 12], whereas haloalkanes and alkanesulphonic esters are cleaved reductively under similar conditions [13]. 

In this section, reactions of zinc dienolates with carbonyl compounds, imines and conjugated enones will be considered all of these reactions have been proved to be reversible, and, hence, conditions favouring either kinetic or thermodynamic control will drive the reaction towards the formation of different regioisomers. Generally, equilibrating conditions lead to attack at the position of 190, as a thermodynamically more stable conjugated carbonyl or carboxylic compound is formed on the other hand, kinetic control leads to attack at the electron richer a-position. 

Conjugate carbonyl compounds contain centers of different hardness (hard Co and soft C=C), consequently hard hydrides favour conversion of enones to allylic alcohols [25]. Such a concept could be operative also in our case since C=C bond is preferably reduced on going from Mgo to SrO. 

Use of proline as a catalyst has become an important methodology in the catalytic asymmetric addition of stabilized carbanions to conjugated carbonyl compounds. Hannessian employed L-proline (S)-l in the addition of nitroalkanes to enones (Scheme 1) [5]. In the presence of 3-7 mol % of (S)-l and an excess of trans-2,5-dimethylpiperazine in chloroform, comparable or higher enantiose-lectivities were attained compared to the Yamaguchi s method using L-proline... 

Aldehydes are susceptible to oxidation to the corresponding carboxylic acid, but ketones are generally not oxidized under pharmaceutically relevant conditions. When ketones are conjugated with one or more double bonds, as in the case of an a,(3-unsaturated ketone (also called an enone ), the carbonyl is less electrophilic but is still susceptible to nucleophilic attack at either the carbonyl carbon (1,2-addition) or at the (3-carbon (1,4-addition, or Michael addition ) (Fig. 22). 

Michael additions to conjugated carbonyls can be catalyzed by gold species. Among them, arene additions are the most studied area but other nucleophiles can attack the gold-coordinated enones as well. In fact, the intermolecular aza-Michael additions of carbamates to enones was reported in 2002 with both Au(I) and Au(III) salts, and in 2007 an intramolecular aUcoxide and amide conjugate addition has been developed and applied to the synthesis of (+)-andrachcinidine (equation 132). In the latter case, the enones are formed as intermediates in a previous gold-catalyzed step that is the hydration of an alkyne and methanol loss. Then the cyclization takes place to give piperidines. 

Reaction with Cyclic Enones. Conjugate addition of azide ion to cyclic enones in water using sodium azide in the presence of Lewis base resulted in the formation of 8-azido carbonyl compounds (eq 55). The Schmidt reaction of benzopyranones with sodium azide led to pyrano[3,2-b]azepines in reasonable yields (eq 56). 

DFT calculations have been used to obtain mechanistic insights into the reaction of sulfur ylides PhHC (S+Me2) with dienals and enones by identifying all key transition states and intermediates along the reaction pathway for the 1,2-, 1,4-, and 1,6-nucleophilic attacks at PhCH=CHCH=CHCH=0 and for the 1,2- and 1,4-attacks at MeCH=CHCOMe. The final outcome of the reaction with both substrates has been found to be decided by the interplay between kinetic and thermodynamic factors. Thus, addition of a semi-stabilized ylide to conjugated carbonyl compounds prefers the 1,4-pathway under thermodynamic conditions, in consonance with the experimental reports. However, the formation of epoxides via a 1,2-addition pathway is equally competitive and could be favoured under kinetic conditions. The 2,3-trans cyclo-propanecarbaldehyde is the major product of the 1,4-addition pathway. The enone also prefers the 1,4-addition. ... 

Furthermore, acyclic enones containing an additional non—conjugated carbonyl group were selectively reduced at the double bond under 40 psi with 10% Pd/C in ethyl acetate (Eq. b. Scheme 4)." -" ... 

An interesting case are the a,/i-unsaturated ketones, which form carbanions, in which the negative charge is delocalized in a 5-centre-6-electron system. Alkylation, however, only occurs at the central, most nucleophilic position. This regioselectivity has been utilized by Woodward (R.B. Woodward, 1957 B.F. Mundy, 1972) in the synthesis of 4-dialkylated steroids. This reaction has been carried out at high temperature in a protic solvent. Therefore it yields the product, which is formed from the most stable anion (thermodynamic control). In conjugated enones a proton adjacent to the carbonyl group, however, is removed much faster than a y-proton. If the same alkylation, therefore, is carried out in an aprotic solvent, which does not catalyze tautomerizations, and if the temperature is kept low, the steroid is mono- or dimethylated at C-2 in comparable yield (L. Nedelec, 1974). 

TMM cycloadditions to cyclic and conjugated ketones have also been reported (Scheme 2.22) [31]. The steric nature of the substrate does play a critical role in determining product formation. Thus the cyclic ketone (73) produced 55% yield of the tetrahydrofuran, but no cycloadduct could be obtained from the cyclic ketone (74). The enone (75) gave only carbonyl cycloaddition, whereas enone (76) yielded only olefin adduct. Interestingly, both modes of cycloaddition were observed with the enone (77). The ynone (78) also cycloadds exclusively at the carbonyl function [34]. 

The reaction conditions needed for aldol dehydration are often only a bit more vigorous (slightly higher temperature, for instance) than the conditions needed for the aldol formation itself. As a result, conjugated enones are usually obtained directly from aldol reactions without isolating the intermediate jS-hydroxy carbonyl compounds. 

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