Synthons ester enolates

A good equivalent for the ester enolate synthon is a p-dicarbonyl compound, because it can easily be disconnected to diethyl malonate and an alkylating agent, thromboxane antagonist intermediate synthesis... 

Michael addition of metal enolates to a,/3-unsaturated carbonyls has been intensively studied in recent years and provides an established method in organic synthesis for the preparation of a wide range of 1,5-dicarbonyl compounds (128) under neutral and mild conditions . Metal enolates derived from ketones or esters typically act as Michael donors, and a,-unsaturated carbonyls including enoates, enones and unsaturated amides are used as Michael acceptors. However, reaction between a ketone enolate (125) and an a,/3-unsaturated ester (126) to form an ester enolate (127, equation 37) is not the thermodynamically preferred one, because ester enolates are generally more labile than ketone enolates. Thus, this transformation does not proceed well under thermal or catalytic conditions more than equimolar amounts of additives (mainly Lewis acids, such as TiCU) are generally required to enable satisfactory conversion, as shown in Table 8. Various groups have developed synthons as unsaturated ester equivalents (ortho esters , thioesters ) and /3-lithiated enamines as ketone enolate equivalents to afford a conjugate addition with acceptable yields. 

Amino nitriles are useful for conjugate addition Acyl anion equivalents of the ester d1 synthon - C02R Methods Based on Vinyl (Enol) Ethers and Enamines Lithium derivatives of cyclic vinyl ethers The synthesis of pederin and related anti-tumour agents Lithium derivatives ofallenyl ethers Oxidative Cleavage of Allenes... 

The synthesis of p-lactams by the condensation of ester enolates with imines, followed by ring closure, utilizes the same starting materials as the [2 + 2]-cycloaddition, but offers added flexibility and new opportunities for stereocontrol. While most often used for the preparation of penem synthons in which the relative stereochemistry of the C-3-hydroxyethyl group and ring substituents... 

In previous sections, ester enolates were used as or carboxyl synthon. Modem techniques allow generation of both mono- and di-anions of carboxylic acids (see the formation of 4.66 in section 4.3.A). These enolate anions undergo C-alkylation and C-condensation reactions. Such compounds are also carboxyl surrogates that have proved to be useful. This section gives examples of these reactions when applied to the synthesis of amino acids. 

Aldol additions and ester condensations have always been and still are the most popular reactions for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds (A.T. Nielsen, 1968). The earbonyl group acts as an a -synthon, the enoi or enolate as a d -synthon. Both reactions will be treated together here, and arguments, which are given for aldol additions, are also valid for ester condensations. Many famous name reactions belong to this category ). The products of aldol additions may be either /J-hydroxy carbonyl compounds or, after dehydration, or, -unsaturated carbonyl compounds. 

Aldehydes and ketones RCOR react with oc-methoxyvinyllithium CH2= C(Li)OMe to give hydroxy enol ethers RR C(OH)C(OMe)=CH2, which are easily hydrolyzed to acyloins, RR C(OH)COMe. this reaction, the CH2=C(Li)OMe is a synthon for the unavailable H3C—C=0. The reagent also reacts with esters RCOOR to give RC(OH)(COMe=CH2)2- A synthon for the Ph—C=0 ion is PhC(CN)OSiMe3, which adds to aldehydes and ketones RCOR to give, after hydrolysis, the a-hydroxy ketones, RR C(OH)-COPh. °... 

Specific enol equivalents will be needed for both synthons (61) and (66), Since (61) is to give a double bond but (66) is to give an alcohol, the logical choices are a Wittig reagent - actually (67) - for (61) and a Reformatsky reagent for (66). The ester to aldehyde conversion (65 63) Is easiest by over-reduction and re-... 

Heterocycles.—The phosphonium salt (59) is an effective three-carbon synthon, as demonstrated by its reaction with enolates of /9-keto-esters (Scheme 20) to give cyclopentenyl sulphides via an intramolecular Wittig reaction.63 Ylides are also intermediates in the synthesis of dihydrofurans (60) from the cyclopropylphos-phonium salt (61) and sodium carboxylates (Scheme 21).64 Cumulated ylides are very useful for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds, e.g. (62), from molecules which contain both an acidic Y—H bond and a carbonyl or nitroso-function, as shown in Scheme 22.65... 

Several steps are involved. First, the enolate of the /i-keto ester opens the cyclopropane ring. The polarity of this process corresponds to that in the formal synthon B. The product 121 122... 

S. Hanessian, P. C. Tyler, and Y. Chapleur, Reaction of lithium dimethylcuprate with confor-mationally biased acyloxy enol esters. Regio and stereocontrolled access to functionalized six-carbon chiral synthons. Tetrahedron Lett. 22 4583 (1981). 

Addition to (l-acyloxy enol esters. Addition of lithium dimethylcuprate to chiral enol esters derived from carbohydrates provides access to C6 chiral synthons with four alternating and/or consecutive methyl and hydroxyl groups.21 Example ... 

The extra ester group is not normally added to the preformed ketone as ethyl acetoacetate 41 is available and the diester is available diethyl malonate 59. If it is necessary to make the 1,3-dicarbonyl compound, this can be done by methods described in chapters 19 and 20. The carboxylic acid 56 can be disconnected at the branchpoint to an alkyl halide and the synthon 58 that could be realised as the anion of diethyl malonate 59 or the lithium enolate of ethyl acetate. 

A simple example would be the keto-ester 11. We should prefer to disconnect the bond at the branchpoint and that suggests the synthons 12 and 13. The reagent for 13 can be the bromoester 15 but we shall need to choose our enolate equivalent carefully. It should not be too basic as the marked protons in 15 between Br and CC Et are rather acidic. 

The iminium salts of 2,3-dihydropyridines are far more stable than the free bases and have been used extensively in the synthesis of alkaloids. N-Benzyl iminium salt 26, formed from the Polonovski-Potier reaction of V-oxide 25, was transformed into enol ether 27, which is a synthon for the unstable AT-benzvl-l, 2-dihvdropyridine 28 (Scheme 5) <2004LOC168>. The same transformation on a similar iminium salt has been used in the formation of macrocyclic marine alkaloids <1995TL2059>. Carbon nucleophiles, such as the silylenol ethers of esters, have been shown to undergo 1,2-addition rather than 1,4-addition to 2,3-dihydropyridinium salts <1999T14995>. 

We introduced the chemistry of malonate esters in Chapters 21 and 26 as a useful way of controlling the enolization of carbonyl compounds. Alkylation followed by decarboxylation means that we can treat acetoacetate and malonate esters as equivalent for these synthons. 

The pKa of the methylene protons of 7 is close to that of cyanacetic ester. Thus, it was interesting to compare the reactions of these two species. We found that 7 can be acylated by various carboxylic acid halides, leading to compound 11. According to IR and NMR data 11 exists mostly as the enol-form, due to the influence of the carboranyl substituent, which strongly stabilizes conjugated double bonds.13 Compound 11 is a useful synthon for the preparation of heterocyclic compounds. It can be methylated, chlorinated and acylated twice ( compound 13). Compound 13 gives an adduct with phenylhydrazine (scheme 6). 

Carboranyl acid halides can be very easy prepared. We have studied the acylation of malononitrile and acetoacetic ester by methylcarboranyl carboxylic acid chloride (15). The reaction with malononitrile leads to the compound 17a, which exists also as a enol form, similar to compound 13. Compound 17a can be methylated to give compound 17b, a novel synthon for the preparation of wide range of heterocyclic compounds (Scheme 7). 

It was a particular interest for us to study the preparation of P,p-carboranyl derivatives, which are synthons for a number of compounds. We found that interaction of compound 16 with the magnesium enolate of acetylacetic ester in Et20/EtOH results in esterification of 16 by the EtOH solvent. The same reaction with the sodium enolate of acetylacetonate results in the product of O-acylation. We also found a general method of preparation of carboranyl p,p-diketones (e.g., 19) by reaction of 16 with enamines (Scheme 8). 

Addition of lithium enolates derived from esters and ketones to epoxides has been the object of some consideration, because it offers a direct route for the synthesis of y -hydroxy esters and y-hydroxy ketones, very useful for difunctionahzed organic compounds" . In fact, more complex molecules can be synthesized by using these compounds as synthons... 

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