Ethers, allyl benzyl Wittig rearrangement

The rearrangement of an ether 1 when treated with a strong base, e.g. an organo-lithium compound RLi, to give an alcohol 3 via the intermediate a-metallated ether 2, is called the Wittig rearrangement. The product obtained is a secondary or tertiary alcohol. R R can be alkyl, aryl and vinyl. Especially suitable substrates are ethers where the intermediate carbanion can be stabilized by one of the substituents R R e.g. benzyl or allyl ethers. 

Miscellaneous The treatment of allyl 1-bromo-2-naphthyl ether 43 with f-BuLi affords benzyl alcohol 44 via a sequential reaction consisting of bromine-lithium exchange, and anion translocation, followed by a [1,2]-Wittig rearrangement (equation 23). ... 

A high level of enantioselectivity in an acyclic system has been reported in the rearrangement of tricarbonylchromium(O) complexes of allyl benzyl ethers using chiral lithium amide base 73 (equation 38) . Upon treatment with 1.1 equivalents of lithium amide 73 and 1 equivalent of LiCl at —78 to —50°C, ether 74 afforded the rearrangement product R)-75 in 80% yield with 96% ee. The effect of substituents on the chemical yields and enantioselectivity of the [2,3]-Wittig rearrangement was also studied (see Table 3). 

The Wittig rearrangement is the base-catalyzed 1.2-shift of an alkyl, allyl. benzyl, or phenyl group of an ether from oxygen to carbon. A patent claim describes the conversion of aryl arylmethyl ethers such as 21 into diarylmethanols such as 22.14... 

Benzyl methyl ether or allyl methyl ethers can be selectively metalated at the benzylic/allylic position by treatment with BuLi or sBuLi in THF at -40 °C to -80 C, and the resulting organolithium compounds react with primary and secondary alkyl halides, epoxides, aldehydes, or other electrophiles to yield the expected products [187, 252, 253]. With allyl ethers mixtures of a- and y-alkylated products can result [254], but transmetalation of the lithiated allyl ethers with indium yields y-metalated enol ethers, which are attacked by electrophiles at the a position (Scheme 5.29). Ethers with ft hydrogen usually undergo rapid elimination when treated with strong bases, and cannot be readily C-alkylated (last reaction, Scheme 5.29). Metalation of benzyl ethers at room temperature can also lead to metalation of the arene [255] (Section 5.3.11) or to Wittig rearrangement [256]. Epoxides have been lithiated and silylated by treatment with sBuLi at -90 °C in the presence of a diamine and a silyl chloride [257]. 

Hauser noted that diallyl ether (8) also undergoes Wittig rearrangement upon base treatment and suggested that product formation could involve either a 1,2-shift or a cyclic mechanism (equation 3). Later studies by Schdllkopf and Makisumi with substituted allylic ethers (10,11 and 14-16 equations 4 and 5) pointed to a cyclic (SnO mechanism a process allowed by the Woodward-Hoffmann rules. The diastereoselectivity of the reaction was not determined in these cases, but Schollkopf subsequently found that benzyl rrans-crotyl ether (20 equation 6) affords mainly the anti products upon rearrangement of ether (20) with BuLi in THF. Rautenstrauch observed a 1 1 mixture of syn and anti products upon rearrangement of ether (20) in the presence of TMEDA, whereas the cis isomer (23) gave only the syn product (22 equation 7). ... 

As noted in Section 3.11.1, some of the earliest mechanistic work on the 2,3-Wittig rearrangement was carried out with allyl benzyl ethers. Selective benzyl deprotonation is typically effected with n-butyl-lithium in THF or THF-TMEDA at low temperature. Rautenstrauch s studies, summarized in Table 8, clearly showed that lower temperature favors 2,3- over 1,2-rearrangement, and established the potential... 

Table 8 2,3-Wittig Rearrangement of Allyl Benzyl Ethers...

Scheme 6.11. Asymmetric induction and chirality transfer in [2,3]-Wittig rearrangements of allylic benzyl [78], ally [78], and trimethylsilylpropargyl [79] ethers.

Another protocol to achieve an enantioselective [2,3]-Wittig rearrangement is by the use of -BuLi with sparteine 20 as the chiral ligand. This has been demonstrated by Kimachi and Kawasaki with allyl ortho-substituted benzyl ethers 18 and ort/to-substituted benzyl prenyl ethers as... 

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