Esters rhodium-catalyzed carbenoid reactions

Rhodium(II) acetate catalyzes C—H insertion, olefin addition, heteroatom-H insertion, and ylide formation of a-diazocarbonyls via a rhodium carbenoid species (144—147). Intramolecular cyclopentane formation via C—H insertion occurs with retention of stereochemistry (143). Chiral rhodium (TT) carboxamides catalyze enantioselective cyclopropanation and intramolecular C—N insertions of CC-diazoketones (148). Other reactions catalyzed by rhodium complexes include double-bond migration (140), hydrogenation of aromatic aldehydes and ketones to hydrocarbons (150), homologation of esters (151), carbonylation of formaldehyde (152) and amines (140), reductive carbonylation of dimethyl ether or methyl acetate to 1,1-diacetoxy ethane (153), decarbonylation of aldehydes (140), water gas shift reaction (69,154), C—C skeletal rearrangements (132,140), oxidation of olefins to ketones (155) and aldehydes (156), and oxidation of substituted anthracenes to anthraquinones (157). Rhodium-catalyzed hydrosilation of olefins, alkynes, carbonyls, alcohols, and imines is facile and may also be accomplished enantioselectively (140). Rhodium complexes are moderately active alkene and alkyne polymerization catalysts (140). In some cases polymer-supported versions of homogeneous rhodium catalysts have improved activity, compared to their homogenous counterparts. This is the case for the conversion of alkenes direcdy to alcohols under oxo conditions by rhodium—amine polymer catalysts... 

Rhodium(II) octanoate-catalyzed decomposition of diazo esters 52, involving in the first stage a reaction of a carbenoid with the pyrrole double bond, furnishes polycyclic lactones 53 (34-79% R = H, Me R = H, Ph) (94TL5209) as shown in Scheme 18. 

An alternative strategy for achieving asymmetric control may be by covalent attachment of a chiral auxiliary to the carbenoid. This strategy has so far met with rather limited success in cyclopropanation reactions (see eq. (3) for a similar palladium-catalyzed reaction). However, the use of a-hydroxy esters as chiral auxiliaries with stabilized rhodium(II) vinylcarbenoids allowed entry into both series of enantiomeric vinylcyclopropanes with predictable stereochemistry. Optical yields are fair to excellent [14] and the outcome of the reaction was rationalized on the basis of interactions between the carbonyl oxygen of the chiral auxiliary and the carbenoid carbon. The strategy led to an efficient synthesis of optically active hydroxy vitamin D3 ring A [28]. 

The tandem cyclization-cycloaddition reaction of 1-diazoacetyl-7,7-dimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-one (1) with dimethyl butynedioate catalyzed by rhodium(II) acetate dimer in benzene at 25 °C, afforded a formal [3 + 2] cycloadduct 2 in 85% yield with complete diastereofacial selectivity48. This reaction is interpreted to proceed via rhodium carbenoids and subsequent transannular cyclization of the electrophilic carbon onto the adjacent oxo group to generate a cyclic carbonyl ylide. followed by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition. Similar reactions are observed with other dipolar-ophiles, such as propargylic esters and A -phenylmaleimide. Studies dealing with the geometric requirements of dipole formation were undertaken. 

Ylide generation from diazo compounds by reaction of carbenoids is a better method than photochemical or thermal dediazoniation in the presence of organic substrates containing heteroatoms, because these dediazoniations without metal catalysis yield, in most cases, not very selective carbenes. Here again, the copper-catalyzed route is in most cases inferior to that with rhodium catalysts. The diazoketo ester with a terminal thioalkyl group (8.145) can be obtained from the... 

Some other electrophiles that convert alkenes to cyclopropanes are not free carbenes but have metals coordinated with their electrophihc site. These are called carbenoids and include the Simmons-Smith reaction and the copper-, rhodium-, or palladium-catalyzed decomposition of diazoketones and esters (Section 7.3). That the metal atom is present in the electrophile is shown by the variation of the stereoselectivity of the reaction with changes in the other ligands on metal. 

The combination of reactions of rhodium carbenoids with polyether-macrocycle synthesis offered interesting procednres for the synthesis of this important class of compounds. One elegant example is the Rh-catalyzed four-component reaction of two a-diazo- 3-keto esters and two cyclic ethers, such as tetrahydrofuran or 1,4-dioxane, to yield functionalized 16- to 18-membered macrocycles 65 (Scheme 5.44) [42]. The process involves the generation of electrophilic rhodium carbenoid A, the addition of cyclic ether to this intermediate, as well as the formation and dimerization of the oxonium ylide intermediate B. Another example is the Rh-catalyzed macrocyclization of oxetanes with a-diazocarbonyls (Scheme 5.45) [43]. In this case, three oxetanes and one rhodium carbenoid intermediate condense in a one-step process. It is noteworthy that these macrocyclizations could proceed under high-concentration conditions (1M). 

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