Formation of Allenes by Addition Reactions

Finally, another interesting use of singlet oxygen in the oxidation of dienes concerns the reactivity of allenes. Besides the formation of endoperoxides by addition to dienes and hydroperoxide formation via the ene reaction, singlet oxygen reacts with electron-rich... 

The beneficial effect of added phosphine on the chemo- and stereoselectivity of the Sn2 substitution of propargyl oxiranes is demonstrated in the reaction of substrate 27 with lithium dimethylcyanocuprate in diethyl ether (Scheme 2.9). In the absence of the phosphine ligand, reduction of the substrate prevailed and attempts to shift the product ratio in favor of 29 by addition of methyl iodide (which should alkylate the presumable intermediate 24 [8k]) had almost no effect. In contrast, the desired substitution product 29 was formed with good chemo- and anti-stereoselectivity when tri-n-butylphosphine was present in the reaction mixture [25, 31]. Interestingly, this effect is strongly solvent dependent, since a complex product mixture was formed when THF was used instead of diethyl ether. With sulfur-containing copper sources such as copper bromide-dimethyl sulfide complex or copper 2-thiophenecarboxylate, however, addition of the phosphine caused the opposite effect, i.e. exclusive formation of the reduced allene 28. Hence the course and outcome of the SN2 substitution show a rather complex dependence on the reaction partners and conditions, which needs to be further elucidated. 

Similar models explain the 1,8-, 1,10- and 1,12-addition reactions to the extended Michael acceptors 91, 93 and 95, respectively (Schemes 2.32 and 2.33). Again, these transformations start with the formation of a cuprate Jt-complex at the double bond neighbouring the acceptor group [61a]. Subsequently, an equilibrating mixture of a-copper(III) intermediates is presumably formed and the regioselectivity of the reaction may then be governed by the different relative rates of the reductive elimination step of these intermediates. Consequently, the exclusive formation of allenic prod-... 

A variety of optically active 4,4-disubstituted allenecarboxylates 245 were provided by HWE reaction of intermediate disubstituted ketene acetates 244 with homochiral HWE reagents 246 developed by Tanaka and co-workers (Scheme 4.63) [99]. a,a-Di-substituted phenyl or 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenyl (BHT) acetates 243 were used for the formation of 245 [100]. Addition of ZnCl2 to a solution of the lithiated phos-phonate may cause binding of the rigidly chelated phosphonate anion by Zn2+, where the axially chiral binaphthyl group dictates the orientation of the approach to the electrophile from the less hindered si phase of the reagent. Similarly, the aryl phosphorus methylphosphonium salt 248 was converted to a titanium ylide, which was condensed with aromatic aldehydes to provide allenes 249 with poor ee (Scheme 4.64) [101]. 

Menthol [(—)-l] has been used as a chiral ligand for aluminum in Lewis acid catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions with surprising success2 (Section D.l.6.1.1.1.2.2.1). The major part of its application is as a chiral auxiliary, by the formation of esters or ethers. Esters with carboxylic acids may be formed by any convenient esterification technique. Esters with saturated carboxylic acids have been used for the formation of enolates by deprotonation and subsequent addition or alkylation reactions (Sections D.l.1.1.3.1. and D.l.5.2.3.), and with unsaturated acids as chiral dienes or dienophiles in Diels-Alder reactions (Section D. 1.6.1.1.1.), as chiral dipolarophiles in 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions (Section D.l.6.1.2.1.), as chiral partners in /(-lactam formation by [2 + 2] cycloaddition with chlorosulfonyl isocyanate (SectionD.l.6.1.3.), as sources for chiral alkenes in cyclopropanations (Section D.l.6.1.5.). and in the synthesis of chiral allenes (Section B.I.). Several esters have also been prepared by indirect techniques, e.g.,... 

In this section, Pd(0)-catalyzed reactions of allenes with nucleophiles are treated, which are clearly different mechanistically from the reactions explained in the above. Attack of nucleophiles may occur at C-1, C-2, and C-3 carbons of the allenes 63. Among them, attack at C-3 to give 64 is predominant. Most importantly, reactions of allenes with pronucleophiles start by the oxidative addition of pronucleophiles to Pd(0) to generate H-Pd-Nu 65. The formation of 64 by hydro-carbonation can be explained in two ways in the case where Nu-H is the carbon pronucleophile. As one possibility, hydropalladation of one of the two double bonds occurs to afford the terminal palladium intermediate 66, which is stabilized by the formation of 7r-allyl complex 67, and reductive elimination provides the C-3 adduct 68. Another possibility is carbopalladation to generate 69, and subsequent reductive elimination provides 68. Of these two possibilities, the hydropalladation mechanism is preferable. 

Unsaturated substituents of dioxolanes 36-38 and dioxanes 39-41 are prone to prototropic isomerization under the reaction conditions. According to IR spectroscopy, the isomer ratio in the reaction mixture depends on the temperature and duration of the experiment. However, in all cases, isomers with terminal acetylenic (36, 39) or allenic (37, 40) groups prevail. An attempt to displace the equilibrium toward the formation of disubstituted acetylene 41 by carrying out the reaction at a higher temperature (140°C) was unsuccessful From the reaction mixture, the diacetal of acetoacetaldehyde 42, formed via addition of propane-1,3-diol to unsaturated substituents of 1,3-dioxanes 39-41, was isolated (74ZOR953). 

Intermolecular hydroalkoxylation of 1,1- and 1,3-di-substituted, tri-substituted and tetra-substituted allenes with a range of primary and secondary alcohols, methanol, phenol and propionic acid was catalysed by the system [AuCl(IPr)]/ AgOTf (1 1, 5 mol% each component) at room temperature in toluene, giving excellent conversions to the allylic ethers. Hydroalkoxylation of monosubstituted or trisubstituted allenes led to the selective addition of the alcohol to the less hindered allene terminus and the formation of allylic ethers. A plausible mechanism involves the reaction of the in situ formed cationic (IPr)Au" with the substituted allene to form the tt-allenyl complex 105, which after nucleophilic attack of the alcohol gives the o-alkenyl complex 106, which, in turn, is converted to the product by protonolysis and concomitant regeneration of the cationic active species (IPr)-Au" (Scheme 2.18) [86]. 

A possible reaction mechanism shown in Scheme 7-10 includes (a) oxidative addition of the S-H bond to Pd(0), (b) insertion of the allene into the Pd-H bond to form the tt-allyl palladium 38, (c) reductive elimination of allyl sulfide, (d) oxidative addition of the I-aryl bond into the Pd(0), (e) insertion of CO into the Pd-C bond, (f) insertion of the tethered C=C into the Pd-C(O) bond, and (g) P-elimination to form 37 followed by the formation of [baseHjI and Pd(0). 

As described in the preceding sections, many domino reactions start with the formation of vinyl palladium species, these being formed by an oxidative addition of vinylic halides or triflates to Pd°. On the other hand, such an intermediate can also be obtained from the addition of a nucleophile to a divalent palladium-coordinated allene. Usually, some oxidant must be added to regenerate Pd11 from Pd° in order to achieve a catalytic cycle. Lu and coworkers [182] have used a protonolysis reaction of the formed carbon-palladium bond in the presence of excess halide ions to regenerate Pd2+ species. Thus, reaction of 6/1-386 and acrolein in the presence of Pd2+ and LiBr gave mainly 6/1-388. In some reactions 6/1-389 was formed as a side product (Scheme 6/1.98). 

Attempts to employ allenes in palladium-catalyzed oxidations have so far given dimeric products via jr al lyI complexes of type 7i62.63. The fact that only very little 1,2-addition product is formed via nucleophilic attack on jral ly I complex 69 indicates that the kinetic chloropalladation intermediate is 70. Although formation of 70 is reversible, it is trapped by the excess of allene present in the catalytic reaction to give dimeric products. The only reported example of a selective intermolecular 1,2-addition to allenes is the carbonylation given in equation 31, which is a stoichiometric oxidation64. 

Terminal allenes.1 A synthesis of 1,2-dienes (3) from an aldehyde or a ketone involves addition of ethynylmagnesium bromide followed by reaction of the adduct with methyl chloroformate. The product, a 3-methoxycarbonyloxy-l-alkyne (2), can be reduced to an allene by transfer hydrogenolysis with ammonium formate catalyzed by a zero-valent palladium complex of 1 and a trialkylphosphine. The choice of solvent is also important. Best results are obtained with THF at 20-30° or with DMF at 70°. 

Brown proposed a mechanism where the enolate radical resulting from the radical addition reacts with the trialkylborane to give a boron enolate and a new alkyl radical that can propagate the chain (Scheme 24) [61]. The formation of the intermediate boron enolate was confirmed by H NMR spectroscopy [66,67]. The role of water present in the system is to hydrolyze the boron enolate and to prevent its degradation by undesired free-radical processes. This hydrolysis step is essential when alkynones [68] and acrylonitrile [58] are used as radical traps since the resulting allenes or keteneimines respectively, react readily with radical species. Maillard and Walton have shown by nB NMR, ll NMR und IR spectroscopy, that tri-ethylborane does complex methyl vinyl ketone, acrolein and 3-methylbut-3-en-2-one. They proposed that the reaction of triethylborane with these traps involves complexation of the trap by the Lewis acidic borane prior to conjugate addition [69]. 

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