Esters aldol addition reactions

Aldol Addition Reactions of Enolates of Esters and Other Carbonyl Derivatives... 

Despite the ability to control ester enolate geometry, the aldol addition reactions of unhindered ester enolate are not very stereoselective.37... 

Silylene transfer to a -unsaturated esters produces oxasilacyclopentenes and provides a new method for regio- and stereo-selective formation of enolate that can undergo facile and selective Ireland-Claisen rearrangements and aldol addition reactions to provide products with multiple contiguous stereocenters and quaternary carbon centers (Scheme 37). 

A number of methods have been developed for accomplishing aldol addition reactions in a stereoselective manner. The preformed lithium enolates of alkyl esters normally react with aldehydes to give mixtures of the two diastereomeric g-hydroxy esters (eq 1). However, the enolates derived from... 

Aldol Reactions. Pseudoephedrine amide enolates have been shown to undergo highly diastereoselective aldol addition reactions, providing enantiomerically enriched p-hydroxy acids, esters, ketones, and their derivatives (Table 11). The optimized procedure for the reaction requires enolization of the pseudoephedrine amide substrate with LDA followed by transmeta-lation with 2 equiv of ZrCp2Cl2 at —78°C and addition of the aldehyde electrophile at — 105°C. It is noteworthy that the reaction did not require the addition of lithium chloride to favor product formation as is necessary in many other pseudoephedrine amide enolate alkylation reactions. The stereochemistry of the alkylation is the same as that observed with alkyl halides and the formation of the 2, i-syn aldol adduct is favored. The tendency of zirconium enolates to form syn aldol products has been previously reported. The p-hydroxy amide products obtained can be readily transformed into the corresponding acids, esters, and ketones as reported with other alkylated pseudoephedrine amides. An asymmetric aldol reaction between an (S,S)-(+)-pseudoephe-drine-based arylacetamide and paraformaldehyde has been used to prepare enantiomerically pure isoflavanones. ... 

A series of innovative investigations by Kiyooka and co-workers have introduced the use of tandem reaction processes that commence with a stereoselective aldol addition reaction and are followed by C=0 reduction [13]. A chiral oxazaboroli-dine complex prepared from BH3-THF and A-/ -toluenesulfonyl (L)-valine controls the absolute stereochemical outcome of the aldol reaction. In a subsequent reaction, the /i-alkoxyboronate effects intramolecular reduction of the ester to furnish the corresponding /i-hydroxy aldehyde. 

The addition reaction of fert-butyl thioacetate-derived silyl ketene acetal produces the corresponding aldol adducts in 84% yield and up to 96% enantiomeric excess (Eq. 16). The enantioselectivity of the products was observed to be optimal with toluene as solvent the use of the more polar dichloromethane consistently produced adducts with 10-15% lower enantiomeric excess. The bulkier ferf-butylthioacetate-derived enol silane was found to lead to uniformly higher levels of enantioselectivity than the smaller S-ethyl thioketene acetal. This process is impressive in that it tolerates a wide range of aldehyde substrates for instance, the aldol addition reaction has been successfully conducted with aldehydes substituted with polar functionaUty such as N-Boc amides, chlorides, esters, and 0-benzyl ethers. A key feature of this system when compared to previously reported processes was the abiUty to achieve high levels of stereoselectivity at 0 °C, in contrast to other processes that commonly prescribe operating temperatures of -78 °C. 

The catalytic, enantioselective aldol addition reaction generates products that can serve as versatile precursors to useful building blocks for asymmetric synthesis (Eq. 26). For example, treatment of cinnamaldehyde adduct 177 with LiAl(HNBn)4178 afforded the crystalline amide 179 (73%). Heating in -BuOH converted 177 to ester 180 (81%). Heating in alkaline methanol yielded (79%) the crystalline lactone 181. The synthetic utility of adducts 179 and 180 is enhanced by the stereoselective reaction methods that have been developed for their reduction to the corresponding syn and anti 3,5-diols [103,104]. 

Dicarbonyl compounds may be converted into dianions, which react with electrophiles at the more basic site. Huckin and Weiler found that 3-keto ester dianions undergo aldol addition reactions at the more basic methyl position (equation 32). The lithium/sodium dianion shows surprisingly weak reactivity, giving the aldol in only 11% yield after 1 h at -78 °C In contrast, the lithium enolates of simple ketones and esters, which should be much less basic than the 3-keto ester dianion, react with aldehydes to give nearly quantitative yields of aldols in THF in seconds at -78 °C. ° Seebach and Meyer also studied this reaction, and obtained the oxolactone (equation 33). Simple diastereoselection in the reaction of 3-keto ester dianions has also been studied (vide infra). 

Boron enolates can also be obtained from esters and amides,and these too undergo aldol addition reactions. Various combinations of boronating reagents and amines have been used, and the E Z ratios are dependent on the reagents and conditions. In most... 

The aldol reaction is one of the most useful carbon-carbon bond forming reactions in which one or two stereogenic centers are constructed simultaneously. Diastereo-and enantioselective aldol reactions have been performed with excellent chemical yield and stereoselectivity using chiral catalysts [142]. Most cases, however, required the preconversion of donor substrates into more reactive species, such as enol silyl ethers or ketene silyl acetals (Scheme 13.45, Mukaiyama-type aldol addition reaction), using no less than stoichiometric amounts of silicon atoms and bases (Scheme 13.45a). From an atom-economic point of view [143], such stoichiometric amounts of reagents, which afford wastes such as salts, should be excluded from the process. Thus, direct catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction is desirable, which utilizes unmodified ketone or ester as a nucleophile (Scheme 13.45b). Many researchers have directed considerable attention to this field, which is reflected in the increasing... 

Hydroxymethylation is achieved by crossed aldol addition reaction (Section 18-6) of the malonic ester enolate with formaldehyde. 

Acyl oxazolidinones 50-52 are easily prepared from commercially available chiral starting materials. As shown in Scheme 4.6, treatment of the amino-acid-derived amino alcohols with diethyl carbonate, followed by N-acylation, affords 54 [6, 46], The removal of the auxiliary following the aldol addition reactions proceeds smoothly under a variety of mild conditions to afford carboxylic acids 56 (UO2H) [47, 50], primary alcohols 57 (LiBH,) [51], esters 58 (Ti(OBn)4) [52], or Weinreb amides 59 [51]. 

One of the pervasive problems in asymmetric synthesis has been the development of stereoselective acetate ester aldol reactions. Although a number of chiral auxiliaries perform superbly well in diastereoselective propionate aldol additions, these have, with rare exceptions, been unsuccessful in the corresponding additions of unsubstituted acetate-derived enolates [19, 63, 64). Braun s disclosure of a stereoselective acetate aldol addition reaction with 103 was an important milestone in the development of the field (Scheme 4.11) [63, 65]. The diol auxiliary can easily be prepared from mandelic acid esterification of the secondary alcohol is obsei ved, without interference from the tertiary counterpart. Its use has been showcased in a number of syntheses [53]. The high yield and diastereoselectivity generally obtained with 103 were highlighted by investigators at Merck in the construction of the chiral lactone fragment that is common in a number of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, such as compactin (105) [66]. 

In addition to the advances in auxiliary-controlled acetate aldol addition reactions, a number of innovative solutions for the preparation of propionate-derived 1,2-anti products have also appeared using auxiliaries other than Evans oxazolidinone. The various successful approaches to anti aldol adducts stem from the design of novel auxiliaries coupled with the study of metal and base effects on the reaction stereochemistry. Masamune documented that the addition of optically active ester enolate 112 to aldehydes afforded anti aldol adduct 113 in superb yield and diastereoselectivity (Equation 10) [70]. After careful selection of the reaction conditions for the enolization of the ester [71], the aldol addition was successfully carried out with a broad range of substrates including aliphatic, aromatic, unsaturated, and functionalized aldehydes. An attractive feature of this process is the subsequent facile removal of the auxiliary (LiOH, THF/H2O) to afford the corresponding acid without concomitant deterioration of the configurational integrity of the products [70]. 

In the total synthesis endeavor, aldehyde intermediate 149 was assembled as a mixture of epimers at Cu, because the conditions for spirocyclization two steps later in the sequence were expected to lead to the equatorial positioning of the C,5 methyl group (Scheme 6.24) [74], Following an aldol addition reaction between the Zn enolate derived from 150 and the aldehyde 149, treatment with acidic ion-exchange resin afforded the desired spiroketal as the product of a thermodynamically controlled process. Cleavage of the methyl ester concluded this elegant total synthesis of calcimycin (146). 

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. 

The usual base or acid catalyzed aldol addition or ester condensation reactions can only be applied as a useful synthetic reaction, if both carbonyl components are identical. Otherwise complicated mixtures of products are formed. If two different aldehydes or esters are to be combined, it is essential that one of the components is transformed quantitatively into an enol whereas the other component remains as a carbonyl compound in the reaction mixture. 

Even though ketones have the potential to react with themselves by aldol addition recall that the position of equilibrium for such reactions lies to the side of the starting materials (Section 18 9) On the other hand acylation of ketone enolates gives products (p keto esters or p diketones) that are converted to stabilized anions under the reaction conditions Consequently ketone acylation is observed to the exclusion of aldol addition when ketones are treated with base m the presence of esters... 

Other reactions similar to the aldol addition include the Claisen and Perkin reactions. The Claisen reaction, carried out by combining an aromatic aldehyde and an ester in the presence of metallic sodium, is useful for obtaining a,P-unsaturated esters. 

Esterification. The hydroxyl groups of sugars can react with organic and inorganic acids just as other alcohols do. Both natural and synthetic carbohydrate esters are important in various apphcations (1,13). Phosphate monoesters of sugars are important in metabohc reactions. An example is the enzyme-catalyzed, reversible aldol addition between dibydroxyacetone phosphate [57-04-51 and D-ylyceraldehyde 3-phosphate [591-57-1 / to form D-fmctose 1,6-bisphosphate [488-69-7],... 

Several cyditol derivatives of varying ring size, for example, (69)/(70), have been prepared based on an enzymatic aldolization as the initial step. Substrates carrying suitably installed C,H-acidic functional groups such as nitro, ester, phosphonate (or halogen) functionalities made use of facile intramolecular nucleophilic (or radical) cyclization reactions ensuing, or subsequent to, the enzyme-catalyzed aldol addition (Figure 10.27) [134—137]. 

Among the compounds capable of forming enolates, the alkylation of ketones has been most widely studied and applied synthetically. Similar reactions of esters, amides, and nitriles have also been developed. Alkylation of aldehyde enolates is not very common. One reason is that aldehydes are rapidly converted to aldol addition products by base. (See Chapter 2 for a discussion of this reaction.) Only when the enolate can be rapidly and quantitatively formed is aldol formation avoided. Success has been reported using potassium amide in liquid ammonia67 and potassium hydride in tetrahydrofuran.68 Alkylation via enamines or enamine anions provides a more general method for alkylation of aldehydes. These reactions are discussed in Section 1.3. 

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