Enones steroidal—

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). 

A similar synthesis starts from commercially available 1,5-hexadiyne and 2-methyl-cyclopent-2-enone. The benzocyclobutene is obtained from a bis-acetylene in a cobalt-catalyzed reaction. It rearranges regio- and stereoselectively to a 3-deoxy steroid derivative. The overall yield from the cyclopentenone was 40% (R.L. Funk, 1977). 

Another preparative method for the enone 554 is the reaction of the enol acetate 553 with allyl methyl carbonate using a bimetallic catalyst of Pd and Tin methoxide[354,358]. The enone formation is competitive with the allylation reaction (see Section 2.4.1). MeCN as a solvent and a low Pd to ligand ratio favor enone formation. Two regioisomeric steroidal dienones, 558 and 559, are prepared regioselectively from the respective dienol acetates 556 and 557 formed from the steroidal a, /3-unsaturated ketone 555. Enone formation from both silyl enol ethers and enol acetates proceeds via 7r-allylpalladium enolates as common intermediates. 

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]. 

Lithium-ammonia reductions of most steroidal enones of interest create one or two new asymmetric centers. Such reductions are found to be highly stereoselective and this stereoselectivity constitutes the great utility of the reaction. For conjugated enones of the normal steroid series, the thermodynamically most stable products are formed predominantly and perhaps exclusively. Thus the following configurations are favored 5a, 8/ , 9a, and in certain cases 14a (see page 35). Starr has listed numerous examples illustrating these facts and Smith " and Barton have tabulated similar data. 

Protonation of the a-carbanion (50), which is formed both in the reduction of enones and ketol acetates, probably first affords the neutral enol and is followed by its ketonization. Zimmerman has discussed the stereochemistry of the ketonization of enols and has shown that in eertain cases steric factors may lead to kinetically controlled formation of the thermodynamically less stable ketone isomer. Steroidal unsaturated ketones and ketol acetates that could form epimeric products at the a-carbon atom appear to yield the thermodynamically stable isomers. In most of the cases reported, however, equilibration might have occurred during isolation of the products so that definitive conclusions are not possible. 

Aside from pregn-16-en-20-ones, no other conjugated steroidal enones that are known to undergo facile nucleophilic addition to the carbon-carbon... 

Hydrogenation of 19-nor-A -3-keto steroids also gives 5a- and 5 -product mixtures under the usual conditions but with ruthenium oxide at high pressures only the 5j8-isomer is formed.The presence of a 4-methyl group on a A -3-keto steroid increases the amount of a attack as compared to the parent enone. ... 

J. E. StaiT, Metal Ammonia Reductions of Steroidal Enones, Saturated Ketones, and Ketols in Steroid Reactions, C. Djerassi, ed., Holden-Day, Inc., San Francisco, 1963, Chapter 7. 

Photoaddition of acetylene, 349 Photoaddition of allene, 349 Photoaddition of dichloroethylene, 349 Photoaddition of ethylene, 348 Photoaddition of hexafluoroacetone, 345 Photoaddition of maleic anhydride, 348 Photochemical addition of ethylenes and acetylenes to steroidal enones and dienones, 343... 

The use of enamines as protective groups seems largely to be confined to steroid chemistry, where they serve (in their protonated form) to protect the A-B enone system from bromination and reduction. A large body of literature exists on the preparation and chemistry of enamines, which are easily hydrolyzed with water or aqueous acid. 

Conjugate addition of methyl magnesium iodide in the presence of cuprous chloride to the enone (91) leads to the la-methyl product mesterolone (92) Although this is the thermodynamically unfavored axially disposed product, no possibility for isomerization exists in this case, since the ketone is once removed from this center. In an interesting synthesis of an oxa steroid, the enone (91) is first oxidized with lead tetraacetate the carbon at the 2 position is lost, affording the acid aldehyde. Reduction of this intermediate, also shown in the lactol form, with sodium borohydride affords the steroid lactone oxandrolone... 

An unusual reaction was been observed in the reaction of old yellow enzyme with a,(3-unsat-urated ketones. A dismutation took place under aerobic or anaerobic conditions, with the formation from cyclohex-l-keto-2-ene of the corresponding phenol and cyclohexanone, and an analogous reaction from representative cyclodec-3-keto-4-enes—putatively by hydride-ion transfer (Vaz et al. 1995). Reduction of the double bond in a,p-unsaturated ketones has been observed, and the enone reductases from Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been purified and characterized. They are able to carry out reduction of the C=C bonds in aliphatic aldehydes and ketones, and ring double bonds in cyclohexenones (Wanner and Tressel 1998). Reductions of steroid l,4-diene-3-ones can be mediated by the related old yellow enzyme and pentaerythritol tetranitrate reductase, for example, androsta-A -3,17-dione to androsta-A -3,17-dione (Vaz etal. 1995) and prednisone to pregna-A -17a, 20-diol-3,ll,20-trione (Barna et al. 2001) respectively. 

Head-to-head coupling to produce pinacols is the exclusive pathway when the 0-carbon is badly sterically hindered, as in steroidal enones and dienones135 137, or the dienone 141 138>. 

Finally in 2005, Hutt and Mander reported their strategy for the synthesis of nominine (Scheme 1.3) [29], The approach relies upon construction of the steroidal ABC carbocyclic ring structure followed by stepwise preparation of the fused aza-ring system. In the key sequence of the synthetic study, enone 50 was oxidized to dienone 51 with DDQ followed by Lewis acid-catalyzed intramolecular conjugate addition of the methylcarbamate to the newly formed dienone to deliver pyrrolidine 52. 

A23-22-Oxo steroids 424 have been synthesized via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of steroidal nitrile oxides to low-molecular dipolarophiles. Cycloaddition of 2-propynyl bromide to 20-carbonitrile oxide, followed by hydrogenation of the isoxazole derivative, gives 22-enamino-24-keto steroid. The latter has then been converted into the target enones in several steps (465). 

A total synthesis of functionalized 8,14-seco steroids with five- and six-membered D rings has been developed (467). The synthesis is based on the transformation of (S)-carvone into a steroidal AB ring moiety with a side chain at C(9), which allows the creation of a nitrile oxide at this position. The nitrile oxides are coupled with cyclic enones or enol derivatives of 1,3-diketones, and reductive cleavage of the obtained cycloadducts give the desired products. The formation of a twelve-membered ring compound has been reported in the cycloaddition of one of the nitrile oxides with cyclopentenone and as the result of an intramolecular ene reaction, followed by retro-aldol reaction. 

The stereochemical outcome of the reaction of steroidal enone 39 changed when adsorbed on alumina [43], Photocycloaddition in methanol occurred from the a side (83 17). In contrast, the fi product was favored when the reaction was carried out on alumina. The observed fi selectivity can be accounted for by the preferential adsorption of the sterically less hindered a side of the enone to the gel surface. 

An interaction between a C(4)-C(5) double bond and the axial halogen atoms in the 6-position of steroidal enones 201 was reported (344) that leads to significant downfield shifts of the C(4) signals. This is reminiscent of what happens in the a-haloketone case (330). 

The molecule methyl-5(10)-octalin-l,6-dione (1) was chosen as model compound for the steroidal enones investigated earlier. Oriented single crystals of (1) were studied at low temperature (4 K). First the crystal structure of (1)... 

The addition of organocuprates to chiral decalin enone systems has been explored in the context of steroid synthesis. For the addition of lithium dimethylcuprate to enones 28, 31, and 34, the major diastereomer obtained can easily be predicted by employment of a qualitative conformational analysis (Scheme 6.6) [11-13]. Thus,... 

Scheme 6.20. Diastereoselective cuprate addition to steroidal enone 95 (MOM = methoxymethyl).

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