Hydroxy-esters => ketones

Noyori is largely responsible for the development and evolution of Ru-based asymmetric reductions of ketones in various important new directions [115-118]. Indeed, a number of different protocols and catalysts have been crafted. In the earliest systems, Ru"-BINAP-complexes, such as 211 in alcohol solvents and at moderate H2 pressures, were shown to effect the reduction of a wide range of keto esters, hydroxy ketones, chloroketo esters, and amino ketones with superb enantiocontrol (Figure 2.8) [117, 118, 137]. A key feature of this system is the requirement for the substrate to incorporate a polar functional group that can putatively participate in chelate formation. A particularly attractive feature of the system was disclosed early in the history of the catalyst the catalyst need not be prepared and purified extensively... 

The ester and catalj st are usually employed in equimoleciilar amounts. With R =CjHs (phenyl propionate), the products are o- and p-propiophenol with R = CH3 (phenyl acetate), o- and p-hydroxyacetophenone are formed. The nature of the product is influenced by the structure of the ester, by the temperature, the solvent and the amount of aluminium chloride used generally, low reaction temperatures favour the formation of p-hydroxy ketones. It is usually possible to separate the two hydroxy ketones by fractional distillation under diminished pressure through an efficient fractionating column or by steam distillation the ortho compounds, being chelated, are more volatile in steam It may be mentioned that Clemmensen reduction (compare Section IV,6) of the hj droxy ketones affords an excellent route to the substituted phenols. 

Ehminations of HX to give double bonds offer considerable scope for selectivity and choice of reaction conditions. The dehydration of alcohols is the most common example of this class and may be achieved directly or through intermediate derivatives. In most cases, such derivatives are transient species formed in situ, but sometimes e.g. sulfonates, certain other esters and halides) they are isolated and characterized. Eliminations from jS-substituted ketones are very facile. The dehydration of jS-hydroxy ketones has been covered in section V. 

Huonnations with DAST proceed with high chemoselectivity In general, under very mild reaction conditions usually required for the replacement of hydroxyl groups, other functional groups, including phenolic hydroxyl groups [112], remain intact This provides a method for selective conversion of hydroxy esters [95 97] (Table 6), hydroxy ketones [120, 121], hydroxy lactones [722, 123], hydroxy lactams [124] and hydroxy nitriles [725] into fluoro esters, fluoro ketones, fluoro lactones, fluoro lactams, and fluoro nitnles, respectively (equations 60-63)... 

In addition to the above, Grignaid s leagent has been utilised m preparing olefines, etheis, ketonic esters, hydroxy-acids, quinols, amides, hydroxylammes, c., for details of wliicti books of reference must be consulted ... 

Upon heating of a carboxylic ester 1 with sodium in an inert solvent, a condensation reaction can take place to yield a a-hydroxy ketone 2 after hydrolytic workup. " This reaction is called Acyloin condensation, named after the products thus obtained. It works well with alkanoic acid esters. For the synthesis of the corresponding products with aryl substituents (R = aryl), the Benzoin condensation of aromatic aldehydes is usually applied. 

For the mechanistic course of the reaction the diketone 5 is assumed to be an intermediate, since small amounts of 5 can sometimes be isolated as a minor product. It is likely that the sodium initially reacts with the ester 1 to give the radical anion species 3, which can dimerize to the dianion 4. By release of two alkoxides R 0 the diketone 5 is formed. Further reaction with sodium leads to the dianion 6, which yields the a-hydroxy ketone 2 upon aqueous workup ... 

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. °... 

The oxidation of enol ethers and their derivatives is a useful method for the synthesis of a-hydroxy-ketones or their derivatives, which are versatile building blocks for organic synthesis. Since enol ethers and esters are types of olefin, some asymmetric epoxidation and dihydroxylation reactions have been applied to their oxidation. 

In 1992, Thornton et al. reported that Mn(salen) (43) catalyzed the asymmetric oxidation of silyl enol ethers to give a mixture of a-siloxy and a-hydroxy ketones, albeit with moderate enantioselectivity (Scheme 28).135 Jacobsen et al. examined the oxidation of enol esters with Mn(salen) (27) and achieved good enantioselectivity.136 Adam et al. also reported that the oxidation of enol ethers with (27) proceeded with moderate to high enantioselectivity.137 Good substrates for these reactions are limited, however, to conjugated enol ethers and esters. Based on the analysis of the stereochemistry,137 enol ethers have been proposed to approach the oxo-Mn center along the N—Mn bond axis (trajectory c, vide supra). 

We first examined ketone 48 and hydroxy ketone 56 because (1) no reduction of C5a-carbonyl in 48 occurred when using L-Selectride to reduce the C3-ketone and (2) NaBH4 did not touch the C5a-carbonyl group in hydroxy ketone 56. By using minimized Spartan model of vinylogous ester 48 and the X-ray structure of hydroxy ketone 56, we found unique conformational elements (Fig. 8.10) in addition to fully validating the aforementioned NMR analysis of possible positions for H8a when C8a is ip2-hybridzied and H7 when C8a is sp3-hybridized. In 48,... 

The reaction of ethyl acetoacetate with simple hydroxy ketones has been compared with the corresponding reactions of the ketoses. The results obtained with l-hydroxy-2-propanone and 3-hydroxy-2-butanone, under the same experimental conditions as with D-fructose, establish a parallel between these reactions. However, as in the case of the aldoses, the yield is greater for these simpler hydroxy ketones than for the ketoses.9 The resultant esters, (XV and XVI), were obtained in the form of sirups, but the free acids, (XVII and XVIII), and their phenacyl esters are crystalline. The acids were shown to be identical with those of known structure described in the literature.9... 

Cyanohydrins are starting materials of widespread interest for preparing important compounds such as a-hydroxy acids/esters, a-amino acids, / -amino alcohols, a-hydroxy aldehydes, vicinal diols, and a-hydroxy ketones. Cyanohydrin compounds can be synthesized using various chiral catalysts such as cyclic... 

In numerous complex aldol adducts it is not always possible to extract the relevant vicinal proton coupling constants. Heathcock and co-workers have recently noted that for the -hydroxy ketones and esters that exist in the preferred hydrogen-bonded conformations A and A, NMR spectroscopy may be conveniently employed to assign stereochemistry (13). 

---