Ester carbonyl, olefination

Many other organometaUic compounds also react with carbonyl groups. Lithium alkyls and aryls add to the ester carbonyl group to give either an alcohol or an olefin. Lithium dimethyl cuprate has been used to prepare ketones from esters (41). Tebbe s reagent, Cp2TiCH2AlCl(CH2)2, where Cp = clyclopentadienyl, and other metal carbene complexes can convert the C=0 of esters to C=CR2 (42,43). 

Recently, Nicolaou and coworkers have devised a novel, one-pot strategy for the direct transformation of acyclic olefinic esters to cyclic enol ethers [34]. Unlike the molybdenum alkylidene 1 (see Sect. 3.2), initial reaction between the Tebbe reagent 93 and an olefinic ester results in rapid carbonyl olefination to afford a diene intermediate. Subsequent heating initiates RCM to afford the desired cyclic product (Scheme 17). 

Tandem carbonyl olefmation—olefm metathesis utilizing the Tebbe reagent or dimethyl-titanocene is employed for the direct conversion of olefmic esters to six- and seven-mem-bered cyclic enol ethers. Titanocene-methylidene initially reacts with the ester carbonyl of 11 to form the vinyl ether 12. The ensuing productive olefm metathesis between titano-cene methylidene and the cis-1,2 -disubstituted double bond in the same molecule produces the alkylidene-titanocene 13. Ring-closing olefin metathesis (RCM) of the latter affords the cyclic vinyl ether 14 (Scheme 14.8) [18]. This sequence of reactions is useful for the construction of the complex cyclic polyether frameworks of maitotoxin [19]. 

The synthesis of succinic acid derivatives, /3-alkoxy esters, and a,j3-unsaturated esters from olefins by palladium catalyzed carbonylation reactions in alcohol have been reported (24, 25, 26, 27), but full experimental details of the syntheses are incomplete and in most cases the yields of yS-alkoxy ester and diester products are low. A similar reaction employing stoichiometric amounts of palladium (II) has also been reported (28). In order to explore the scope of this reaction for the syntheses of yS-alkoxy esters and succinic acid derivatives, representative cyclic and acyclic olefins were carbonylated under these same conditions (Table I). The reactions were carried out in methanol at room temperature using catalytic amounts of palladium (II) chloride and stoichiometric amounts of copper (II) chloride under 2 atm of carbon monoxide. The methoxypalladation reaction of 1-pentene affords a good conversion (55% ) of olefin to methyl 3-methoxyhexanoate, the product of Markov-nikov addition. In the carbonylation of other 1-olefins, f3-methoxy methyl esters were obtained in high yields however, substitution of a methyl group on the double bond reduced the yield of ester markedly. For example, the carbonylation of 2-methyl-l-butene afforded < 10% yield of methyl 3-methyl-3-methoxypentanoate. This suggests that unsubstituted 1-olefins may be preferentially carbonylated in the presence of substituted 1-olefins or internal olefins. The reactivities of the olefins fall in the order RCH =CHo ]> ci -RCH=CHR > trans-RCH =CHR >... 

Reaction of the ylide, generated from the phosphonium salt 578 (from the alcohol 577 and phosphine hydrobromide 504), with the polyene aldehyde 542 gives aleuria-xanthin acetate 579218). The methyl ester of the naturally occurring bixin 586 is formed by a combination of some carbonyl olefinations 279). The acetoxyaldehyde 580 is olefinated with methoxycarbonylmethylene-triphenylphosphorane 67 to the ( )-unsaturated ester 581. The latter is converted into the phosphonium salt 582 upon treatment with triphenylphosphine hydrobromide 504. The corresponding ylide of 582 is reacted with the dialdehyde 539 to the polyene aldehyde ester 583. The latter is reduced and converted into phosphonium salt 584. The corresponding ylide is now reacted in a third carbonyl olefination with 585 to give the methyl ester 586 279> (Scheme 98). 

Petrova, J., Coutrot, P, Dreux, M.. and Savignac. P. The a-chlorination and carbonyl olefination. Arylchloromethanephosphonic acid esters. Preparation, alkylation, and Wittig-Homer reactions. Synthesis, 658, 1975. 

Tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (35) is a powerful Lewis acid with a hard boron center. It interacts strongly with hard Lewis basic centers and abstracts hard anion such as methyl anion and hydride to initiate selective reactions that are otherwise difficult to achieve. The B(CgF5)3-promoted early transition-metal-catalyzed olefin polymerizations are typical reactions [16]. The B(C6F5)3-Ph3SiH system is useful for hydro-silylation of the carbonyl group, in which the boron of 35 activates the Si—H bond rather than the carbonyl group (see 40 in Scheme 3.39) and reduces even the ester carbonyl group effectively [17]. A number... 

In further revelation of the strong stereoelectronic requirement for the intramolecular SN2 reaction, the hydroxy ester 156 furnished the lactone 157 only and none of the tetrahydrofuran product 158 on reaction with a base. Whereas the product 157 arises from the 5-exo-trig process involving attack of the oxy anion on the ester carbonyl function, the difficult 5-endo-thg process involving attack of the oxy ion at the olefinic carbon in conjugate fashion is required for the formation of 158 [25, 26]. 

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