Enones activation

Acetoxy-l,7-octadiene (40) is converted into l,7-octadien-3-one (124) by hydrolysis and oxidation. The most useful application of this enone 124 is bisannulation to form two fused six-membered ketonesfl 13], The Michael addition of 2-methyl-1,3-cyclopentanedione (125) to 124 and asymmetric aldol condensation using (5)-phenylalanine afford the optically active diketone 126. The terminal alkene is oxidi2ed with PdCl2-CuCl2-02 to give the methyl ketone 127 in 77% yield. Finally, reduction of the double bond and aldol condensation produce the important intermediate 128 of steroid synthesis in optically pure form[114]. 

This protective group was used to direct the selective cyclopropanation of a variety of enones. Hydrolysis (HCl, MeOH, H2O, it, 94% yield) affords optically active cyclopropyl ketones. 

Enolizalion of conjugated or /3,y-unsatiirated enones and dienones in O-deiiterated solvents facilitates the introduction of deuterium labels into positions as far as three and five carbon atoms away from a given ketone function. Exchange of the activated hydrogens in androst-4-en-3-one (12) provides a good illustration of the potential of this method. Saturation of the double bond (section V) in the deuterated enone (13) followed by back exchange of the a-deuteriums (section II-B) proves to be an excellent method for the preparation of 6,6-d2-5a-androstan-3-one (15). ... 

There are many examples in the literature reporting the successful exchange of activated hydrogens in various enones (see compounds 19-25). Complications are encountered with 3/3-hydroxy-5oc-spirost-8(9)-en-ll-one since the exchange of the 14a-hydrogen is accompanied by inversion at this tertiary center (22). Another unusual case occurs during the attempted deutera-... 

The biological activity of calicheamicin 4 (simplified structure) is based on the ability to damage DNA. At the reaction site, initially the distance between the triple bonds is diminished by an addition reaction of a sulfur nucleophile to the enone carbon-carbon double bond, whereupon the Bergman cyclization takes place leading to the benzenoid diradical 5, which is capable of cleaving double-stranded DNA." ... 

A retrosynthetic analysis of fragment 152 can be completed through cleavage of the C16-C17 bond in enone 155, the projected precursor of epoxide 152. This retrosynthetic maneuver furnishes intermediates 156 and 157 as potential building blocks. In the forward sense, acylation of a vinyl metal species derived from 156 with Weinreb amide 157 could accomplish the construction of enone 155. Iodide 153, on the other hand, can be traced retrosynthetically to the commercially available, optically active building block methyl (S)-(+)-3-hydroxy-2-methyIpropionate (154). 

Combination of nickel bromide (or nickel acetylacetonate) and A. A -dibutylnorephcdrinc catalyzed the enantioselective conjugate addition of dialkylzincs to a./Tunsaturated ketones to afford optically active //-substituted ketones in up to ca. 50% ee53. Use of the nickel(II) bipyridyl-chiral ligand complex in acetonitrile/toluenc as an in situ prepared catalyst system afforded the //-substituted ketones 2, from aryl-substituted enones 1, in up to 90% ee54. 

Therefore, in order to obtain a 1,4-addition of an allyl residue to an enone, two activation modes can be used reactions take place either under electrophilic conditions with Lewis acid promotion, or in the presence of fluoride ions. This is important as the stereochemical outcome often depends on the activation mode selected. 

Furthermore, intramolecular cyclization of acyclic chiral imines, in which the imine and the enone groups are separated by alkyl chains, yield optically active cyclohexane and cyclopentane derivatives. /ra .v-l,2-Disubstitutcd carbocyclic compounds are exclusively or predominantly formed with diastereomeric ratios in the range 80 20 100 0, strongly dependent on the conditions used to induce cyclization, i.e. heat, pressure or Lewis acid (MgBr2) catalysis227. 

Optically active y-alkoxycyclopentenones have become popular in the diastereoselective synthesis of hms-3,4-disubstituted cyclopentanones. The Michael addition to these cyclic enones catalyzed by sodium ethoxide in ethanol277 or by potassium tm-butoxide278 279 proceeds under kinetic control trans with respect to the y-substituent. 

Data are also available with a-acetylenic aliphatic sulphones, which involve only two steps i.e., saturation of the triple bond without subsequent cleavage of the Caliphalic—S bond, since it is not reactive. However, the introduction of an aromatic ring to the S02 group does not lead, contrary to what is observed with enones, to a potential shift toward less reducing potential values. Thus, the aromatic moiety introduced apparently does not bring any additional conjugation effect but even seems to decrease the activation of the unsaturated bond, as shown by data in Tables 6 and 7 where most of the potentials refer to the same saturated calomel electrode under similar experimental conditions. 

One published stereoselective synthesis uses the base-catalysed cycllsation oi optically active enone (2) with a prolonged reaction time to get cis-(3) which is converted into (1) by degradation of the oxime. 

Ferrocen-l,l -diylbismetallacycles are conceptually attractive for the development of bimetal-catalyzed processes for one particular reason the distance between the reactive centers in a coordinated electrophile and a coordinated nucleophile is self-adjustable for specific tasks, because the activation energy for Cp ligand rotation is very low. In 2008, Peters and Jautze reported the application of the bis-palladacycle complex 56a to the enantioselective conjugate addition of a-cyanoacetates to enones (Fig. 31) [74—76] based on the idea that a soft bimetallic complex capable of simultaneously activating both Michael donor and acceptor would not only lead to superior catalytic activity, but also to an enhanced level of stereocontrol due to a highly organized transition state [77]. An a-cyanoacetate should be activated by enolization promoted by coordination of the nitrile moiety to one Pd(II)-center, while the enone should be activated as an electrophile by coordination of the olefinic double bond to the carbophilic Lewis acid [78],... 

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