Ester enolates reactions with electrophiles

The enolates of fluoroacetate or fluorothioacetate esters are generated either through deprotonation with a lithium amide or by an in situ reduction of ethyl bromofluoroacetate with zinc. These enolates can undergo diverse reactions with electrophiles (Figure 2.7) ... 

The insight that zinc ester enolates can be prepared prior to the addition of the electrophile has largely expanded the scope of the Reformatsky reaction.1-3 Substrates such as azomethines that quaternize in the presence of a-halo-esters do react without incident under these two-step conditions.23 The same holds true for acyl halides which readily decompose on exposure to zinc dust, but react properly with preformed zinc ester enolates in the presence of catalytic amounts of Pd(0) complexes.24 Alkylations of Reformatsky reagents are usually difficult to achieve and proceed only with the most reactive agents such as methyl iodide or benzyl halides.25 However, zinc ester enolates can be cross-coupled with aryl- and alkenyl halides or -triflates, respectively, in the presence of transition metal catalysts in a Negishi-type reaction.26 Table 14.2 compiles a few selected examples of Reformatsky reactions with electrophiles other than aldehydes or ketones.27... 

The reaction of a lithium ester enolate (146) with a nitrone (147) to yield a fi-hydroxylamino acid ester (149) has been recently investigated by Domingo, Merino and coworkers, using DFT (B3LYP/6-31G ) methods, to gain insight on the molecular mechanism. The proposed transition structure (148) shown in equation 42 derives from attack of the most nucleophilic center of enolate 146 on the most electrophilic center of... 

Scheme 9 demonstrates the further synthetic application of the thus obtained N,0-acetals. Substitution of the alkoxy or acyloxy group by nucleophiles like enol ethers, enol esters, enamines, other electron-rich olefins, CH-acidic compounds, electron-rich aromatics, isocyanides, trimethylsilyl cyanide, organometallics, vinyl and allyl silanes, hydroxy functions, or trialkylphosphites either catalyzed by Lewis acids or proton acids leads to the product of the amidoalkylation reaction (path a). In the presence of stereocenters as control elements, diasteroselective amidoalkylation reactions can be performed as shown in a large number of examples. On the other side, as Nyberg showed for the first time [196], elimination with formation of enecarbamates [208] and enamides [196,208,209] followed by reaction with electrophiles or nucleophiles (path b) also is possible. 

Reaction of Enolate Anions. In the presence of certain bases, eg, sodium alkoxide, an ester having a hydrogen on the a-carbon atom undergoes a wide variety of characteristic enolate reactions. Mechanistically, the base removes a proton from the a-carbon, giving an enolate that then can react with an electrophile. Depending on the final product, the base may be consumed stoichiometricaHy or may function as a catalyst. Eor example, the sodium alkoxide used in the Claisen condensation is a catalyst ... 

The mixed Claisen condensation of two different esters is similar to the mixed aldol condensation of two different aldehydes or ketones (Section 23.5). Mixed Claisen reactions are successful only when one of the two ester components has no a hydrogens and thus can t form an enolate ion. For example, ethyl benzoate and ethyl formate can t form enolate ions and thus can t serve as donors. They can, however, act as the electrophilic acceptor components in reactions with other ester anions to give mixed /3-keto ester products. 

Recently, the VNS intermediates have been used for further introducing electrophiles. For example, reaction of the enolate of ethyl 2-chloropropionate with nitrobenzene followed by subsequent reaction with an alkylating agent gives a series of esters bearing a quaternary center (Eq. 9.36).63... 

Whereas reaction of the cyano-substituted indolizine 251 with a base results in the tf-fused product (Equation 34), the diester 255 reacts to give only the Afused product 256 <1987CL2043> (Equation 37). Similarly, when the acylindolizines 257 are prepared (Equation 38), very small amounts of the thienoindolizines are found in the product mixture. When such indolizines are substituted with both cyano and keto groups, treatment with a base gives a mixture of products resulting from reaction of the ester enolate with either of these electrophiles <1989BCJ119> (Equation 39). 

It is supposed that the nickel enolate intermediate 157 reacts with electrophiles rather than with protons. The successful use of trimethylsilyl-sub-stituted amines (Scheme 57) permits a new carbon-carbon bond to be formed between 157 and electrophiles such as benzaldehyde and ethyl acrylate. The adduct 158 is obtained stereoselectively only by mixing nickel tetracarbonyl, the gem-dibromocyclopropane 150, dimethyl (trimethylsilyl) amine, and an electrophile [82]. gem-Functionalization on a cyclopropane ring carbon atom is attained in this four-component coupling reaction. Phenyl trimethyl silylsulfide serves as an excellent nucleophile to yield the thiol ester, which is in sharp contrast to the formation of a complicated product mixture starting from thiols instead of the silylsulfide [81]. (Scheme 58)... 

During the coverage period of this chapter, reviews have appeared on the following topics reactions of electrophiles with polyfluorinated alkenes, the mechanisms of intramolecular hydroacylation and hydrosilylation, Prins reaction (reviewed and redefined), synthesis of esters of /3-amino acids by Michael addition of amines and metal amides to esters of a,/3-unsaturated carboxylic acids," the 1,4-addition of benzotriazole-stabilized carbanions to Michael acceptors, control of asymmetry in Michael additions via the use of nucleophiles bearing chiral centres, a-unsaturated systems with the chirality at the y-position, and the presence of chiral ligands or other chiral mediators, syntheses of carbo- and hetero-cyclic compounds via Michael addition of enolates and activated phenols, respectively, to o ,jS-unsaturated nitriles, and transition metal catalysis of the Michael addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds. ... 

C. Reactions of Magnesium Ester Enolates and Magnesium Lactone Enolates with Electrophiles... 

The reaction of a citronellic ester enolate with electrophilic agents gives open-chain fluorinated products 32 and 33 only.11 The absence of rearranged fluorinated products in this system, a potential precursor to a 5-hexenyl-type radical clock, indicates that free radicals are not intermediates in the path to fluorinated products.12... 

Enantioselective condensation of aldehydes and enol silyl ethers is promoted by addition of chiral Lewis acids. Through coordination of aldehyde oxygen to the Lewis acids containing an Al, Eu, or Rh atom (286), the prochiral substrates are endowed with high electrophilicity and chiral environments. Although the optical yields in the early works remained poor to moderate, the use of a chiral (acyloxy)borane complex as catalyst allowed the erythro-selective condensation with high enan-tioselectivity (Scheme 119) (287). This aldol-type reaction may proceed via an extended acyclic transition state rather than a six-membered pericyclic structure (288). Not only ketone enolates but ester enolates... 

A less common approach to the synthesis of phosphinates is the reaction of electrophilic phosphonates with carbon nucleophiles such as Grignard reagents or lithium enolates. For example, the phosphinic acid analogue 71 of the amino acid statine was synthesized by displacement of tert-butyl lithioacetate on a 5-phenyl phosphonothioate 70 (Scheme 23)d104l The racemic diastereomers of the 5-phenyl phosphonothioate were obtained in pure form, and the displacement of the phenylsulfanyl moiety was found to be stereospecific, although the stereocenter at phosphorus would later be lost on hydrolysis of the ester. A similar displacement reaction has been described using the p h osp h on och I ori d ate.1711... 

Vinyl ethers have also been prepared by addition of alkoxides to acetylene,6 7 6 elimination from halo ethers and related precursors,6 8 and vinyl exchange reactions.6 Reaction of an electrophilic tungsten carbenoid with methylene phosphorane or diazomethane also produces vinyl ethers.9 Enol ethers have resulted from the reaction of some tantalum and niobium carbenoids with esters,10 and the reaction of phosphoranes with electrophilic esters.4... 

Having defined the types of commonly used carbon nucleophiles and carbon electrophiles, it would seem that if you react any of the carbon nucleophiles (electron donors) with any of the carbon electrophiles (electron acceptors), then a carbon-carbon bond should be formed. While this is theoretically true, it is unworkable from a practical point of view. If, for example, a carbanion nucleophile was reacted with a cationic electrophile, it is unlikely that the desired carbon-carbon bond formation would be detected, even after the smoke cleared. Or if a silyl enol ether nucleophile was reacted with an a, /f-unsaturated ester, no reaction could be observed to take place in any reasonable time frame. 

Enolates are important nucleophiles which react nicely with a variety of carbonyl compounds. In this case, the nucleophilic reactivity of the enolate and the electrophilic reactivity of the carbonyl group are well matched and a wide variety of products can be made. The type of enolate (ketone, ester, etc.) and the type of carbonyl electrophile (aldehyde, ketone, ester, etc.) determine the structure of the final product. Furthermore these reactions are often named according to the two partners that are reacted and the type of product produced from them. 

A crossed Claisen is die reaction of an ester enolate with an aldehyde or ketone to produce a /3-hydroxy ester. This works well because aldehydes and ketones are more reactive electrophiles than esters thus the ester enolate reacts faster with die aldehyde or ketone than it condenses with itself, avoiding product mixtures. Moreover, die aldehyde or ketone should not have a hydrogens so that proton transfer to die more basic ester enolate is avoided. This would lead to the formation of an aldehyde or ketone enolate in the mixture, and an aldol reaction would be a major competing reaction. 

Similar experimental results were observed recently in our laboratory (154). Indeed, the lithium enolate of bicyclic spiro ester 499 gave almost exclusively the equatorial product 500 (E= CgHjS, CH3S, CgHgSe, CH3 or 1) on reaction with various electrophiles. 

Dichlorovinylation. Enolate dichlorovinylation with trichloroethylene involves proton elimination to form dichloroacetylene as the actual electrophile.1 Dichloroac-etylene can be prepared by reaction of trichloroethylene with Li N[Si(CH3)j]2 followed by distillation. In the absence of a proton donor, it reacts with a variety of tertiary enolates to give a-chloroethynyl ketones and esters in 43-90% yields. 

One of the characteristic reactions of the Ti reagent is the intramolecular nucleophilic acylation of the titanacycle with esters, and 2,7- and 2,8-enyne esters afford interesting mono- and bicyclic skeletons [125], Titanacycle 297, formed from a, /i-unsaturated ester 296, is converted to the alkenyltitanium 300 by protonation, and the cyclopentenone 301 is formed by intramolecular acylation [126], As 297 is a tautomeric form of the Ti enolate, it reacts with electrophiles such as aldehydes to give 298, which cyclizes to 299. The a,/i-alkynic ester 302 generates the titanacycle 303 and is converted to the bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane system 305 via 304 [126]. The titanacycle... 

If the reaction between the enol and the electrophile proceeds extremely fast, the enol tautomer of a carbonyl or carboxyl compound might be consumed completely. The generation of enol becomes the rate-determining step. This situation occurs with the enol titration of ace-toacetic ester, (Figure 12.4). In this process, bromine is added to an equilibrium mixture of the ketone form (B) and the enol form (iso-B) of an acetoacetic ester. Bromine functionalizes the enol form via the intermediacy of the carboxonium ion E to form the bromoacetic ester D. The trick of conducting the enol titration is to capture the enol portion of a known amount of acetoacetic ester by adding exactly the equivalent amount of bromine. From the values for... 

Crossed Claisen condensations can be chemoselective even when the nonenolizable ester is not a better electrophile than the enolizable ester. This can be accomplished by a suitable choice of reaction conditions. The nonenolizable ester is mixed with the base and the enoliz-able ester is added slowly to that mixture. The enolate of the enolizable ester then reacts mostly with the nonenolizable ester for statistical reasons it reacts much less with the noneno-lized form of the enolizable ester, which is present only in rather small concentration. Carbonic acid esters and benzoic acid esters are nonenolizable esters of the kind just described. 

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