Ethers, enol, addition hydrolysis

Addition of a hydroxy group to alkynes to form enol ethers is possible with Pd(II). Enol ether formation and its hydrolysis mean the hydration of alkynes to ketones. The 5-hydroxyalkyne 249 was converted into the cyclic enol ether 250[124], Stereoselective enol ether formation was applied to the synthesis of prostacyclin[131]. Treatment of the 4-alkynol 251 with a stoichiometric amount of PdCl2, followed by hydrogenolysis with formic acid, gives the cyclic enol ether 253. Alkoxypalladation to give 252 is trans addition, because the Z E ratio of the alkene 253 was 33 1. 

The crude ketal from the Birch reduction is dissolved in a mixture of 700 ml ethyl acetate, 1260 ml absolute ethanol and 31.5 ml water. To this solution is added 198 ml of 0.01 Mp-toluenesulfonic acid in absolute ethanol. (Methanol cannot be substituted for the ethanol nor can denatured ethanol containing methanol be used. In the presence of methanol, the diethyl ketal forms the mixed methyl ethyl ketal at C-17 and this mixed ketal hydrolyzes at a much slower rate than does the diethyl ketal.) The mixture is stirred at room temperature under nitrogen for 10 min and 56 ml of 10% potassium bicarbonate solution is added to neutralize the toluenesulfonic acid. The organic solvents are removed in a rotary vacuum evaporator and water is added as the organic solvents distill. When all of the organic solvents have been distilled, the granular precipitate of 1,4-dihydroestrone 3- methyl ether is collected on a filter and washed well with cold water. The solid is sucked dry and is dissolved in 800 ml of methyl ethyl ketone. To this solution is added 1600 ml of 1 1 methanol-water mixture and the resulting mixture is cooled in an ice bath for 1 hr. The solid is collected, rinsed with cold methanol-water (1 1), air-dried, and finally dried in a vacuum oven at 60° yield, 71.5 g (81 % based on estrone methyl ether actually carried into the Birch reduction as the ketal) mp 139-141°, reported mp 141-141.5°. The material has an enol ether assay of 99%, a residual aromatics content of 0.6% and a 19-norandrost-5(10)-ene-3,17-dione content of 0.5% (from hydrolysis of the 3-enol ether). It contains less than 0.1 % of 17-ol and only a trace of ketal formed by addition of ethanol to the 3-enol ether. 

Schaub ° introduced methyl groups at both the 16a- and 17a-positions by 1,4-addition of methylmagnesium iodide to the A -20-ketone (8) followed by methylation of the intermediate 16a-methyl-17-enolate anion (9) with methyl iodide. After hydrolysis of the tetrahydropyranyl ether group a 40% yield of the 16,17-dimethyl derivative (10) was obtained. With the corresponding 3j -acetoxy derivative, the yield of (10) is only 20%. 

Reaction of estrone methyl ether with methyl Grignard reagent followed by Birch reduction and hydrolysis of the intermediate enol ether affords the prototype orally active androgen in the 19-nor series, normethandrolone (69). ° (Note that here again the addition of the methyl group proceeded stereoselectively by approach from the least hindered side.) The preparation of the ethyl homolog starts by catalytic reduction of mestranol treatment of the intermediate, 70, under the conditions of the Birch reduction and subsequent hydrolysis of the intermediate enol ether yields norethandrolone (71). ... 

A retroaldol fragmentation subsequent to the addition of p-TsOI I and a small amount of water to epoxide 206, obtained by oxidation of enol ether 205 with DMDO, resulted in the direct formation of dialdehyde hydrate 208, possessing the spirostructure necessary for the construction of the fused-rings core of ( )-ginkoli-de B. Apparently, hydrolysis of the epoxide produces the hemiacetal 207, which undergoes retroaldol fragmentation of the cydobutane to afford the dialdehyde, which forms the stable hydrate 208 (Scheme 8.52) [94]. 

The addition of water to enol ethers causes hydrolysis to aldehydes or ketones (10-6). Ketenes add water to give carboxylic acids in a reaction catalyzed by acids " ... 

Nitroalkenes are also reactive Michael acceptors under Lewis acid-catalyzed conditions. Titanium tetrachloride or stannic tetrachloride can induce addition of silyl enol ethers. The initial adduct is trapped in a cyclic form by trimethylsilylation.316 Hydrolysis of this intermediate regenerates the carbonyl group and also converts the ad-nitro group to a carbonyl.317... 

The structure of the products is determined by the site of protonation of the radical anion intermediate formed after the first electron transfer step. In general, ERG substituents favor protonation at the ortho position, whereas EWGs favor protonation at the para position.215 Addition of a second electron gives a pentadienyl anion, which is protonated at the center carbon. As a result, 2,5-dihydro products are formed with alkyl or alkoxy substituents and 1,4-products are formed from EWG substituents. The preference for protonation of the central carbon of the pentadienyl anion is believed to be the result of the greater 1,2 and 4,5 bond order and a higher concentration of negative charge at C(3).216 The reduction of methoxybenzenes is of importance in the synthesis of cyclohexenones via hydrolysis of the intermediate enol ethers. 

This regiochemistry is consistent with the electrophilic character of Pd(II) in the addition step. Solvent and catalyst composition can affect the regiochemistry of the Wacker reaction. Use of /-butanol as the solvent was found to increase the amount of aldehyde formed from terminal alkenes, and is attributed to the greater steric requirement of /-butanol. Hydrolysis of the enol ether then leads to the aldehyde. 

John Ward has functionalized an indane using method D in route to tetra-petalone A (46) (Fig. 4.24).25 The o-OBoc benzyl alcohol 44 undergoes addition with two equivalents of Grignard and affords after acidic workup the phenolic indane 45 in 73% yield. Because of steric effects, only one diastereomer is observed after hydrolysis of the enol ether and thermodynamic equilibration of the... 

The use of oxygen-containing dienophiles such as enol ethers, silyl enol ethers, or ketene acetals has received considerable attention. Yoshikoshi and coworkers have developed the simple addition of silyl enol ethers to nitroalkenes. Many Lewis acids are effective in promoting the reaction, and the products are converted into 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds after hydrolysis of the adducts (see Section 4.1.3 Michael addition).156 The trimethylsilyl enol ether of cyclohexanone reacts with nitrostyrenes in the presence of titanium dichloride diisopropoxide [Ti(Oi-Pr)2Cl2], as shown in Eq. 8.99.157 Endo approach (with respect to the carbocyclic ring) is favored in the presence of Ti(Oi-Pr)2Cl2. Titanium tetrachloride affords the nitronates nonselectively. 

An interesting synthesis of enantiopure cu-decahydroquinolines, which involves enol ether hydrolysis, double bond isomerization, and intramolecular 1,4-addition of an amino group across a cyclohexenone has been reported <06T9166>. The process is stereoselective, with the exclusive formation of both cu-isomers 176 (43% over 3 steps) and 177 (17% over 3 steps) of the decahydroquinoline ring. 

In contrast to the thermal solvolysis, a rearranged enol ether 45 (and also the hydrolysis product, acetophenone) is formed in addition to the unrearranged product 44. The rearrangement is more apparent in less nucleophilic TFE. The results are best accounted for by heterolysis to give the open primary styryl cation 46 (Scheme 8). This cation gives products of substitution 44 and elimination 30 by reaction with the solvent. Alternatively, 46 can rearrange to the a-phenyl vinyl cation 47 via 1,2-hydride shift, which gives rise to 45 and 30. 

The reaction mechanism proposed for the addition of organostannanes [29] is similar to that for organoboronic acids. An example of the reaction of methyl vinyl ketone 42 is outlined in Scheme 3.15. The catalytic cycle involves a cationic rhodium complex G, phenylrhodium H, and oxa-n -allylrhodium I. Stannyl enol ether 44 is formed by the reaction of oxa-n -allylrhodium I with Me3SnBF4, which upon hydrolysis gives the ketone 43. The lower yields in the absence of water were explained by the further reaction of 44 with methyl vinyl ketone 42. The rapid hydrolysis with water may prevent such oligomerization. 

The zinc-enolate cyclizations are not restricted to a-aminoesters as /3-aminoesters have also been successfully involved in such reactions275. The preformed lithium enolate generated by treatment of the /J-arninoester 423 with LDA had to be added dropwise to an ethereal solution of ZnBr2 in order to avoid a competing /3-elimination reaction induced by the zinc enolate. this reverse addition protocol was respected, a smooth carbocyclization reaction occurred and provided, after hydrolysis, the substituted 3-carbomethoxypyrrolidine 424 as a 87/13 mixture of diastereomers (equation 183). 

Cyclobutenes. This derivative of ketene undergoes [2 + 2]cycloaddition with ethyl propiolate in refluxing methylene chloride to produce the cyclobutene 1 in 65% yield. The ester group activates 1 sufficiently for Diels-Alder addition with the silyl enol ether 2 to give the I I adduct 3 under mild conditions. Hydrolysis of 3 can... 

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