Grignard with acid derivatives

The reaction of carbon nucleophiles with ketones or aldehydes proceeds by acyl addition, as described in Chapter 18. The reaction of carbon nucleophiles with acid derivatives proceeds by acyl substitution, as described in Chapter 20. Carbon nucleophiles included cyanide, alkyne anions, Grignard reagents, organolithium reagents, and organocuprates. Alkyne anions are formed by an acid-base reaction with terminal alkynes (RC=C-H RCsCr). In this latter transformation, it is clear that formation of the alkyne anion relies on the fact that a terminal alkyne is a weak carbon acid. Other carbon acids specifically involve the proton on an a-carbon in aldehydes, ketones, or esters. With a siiitable base, these carbonyl compounds generate a new type of carbon nucleophile called an enolate anion. 

FIGURE 15.43 Grignard reactions with acid derivatives. 

Acid halides are among the most reactive of carboxylic acid derivatives and can be converted into many other kinds of compounds by nucleophilic acyl substitution mechanisms. The halogen can be replaced by -OH to yield an acid, by —OCOR to yield an anhydride, by -OR to yield an ester, or by -NH2 to yield an amide. In addition, the reduction of an acid halide yields a primary alcohol, and reaction with a Grignard reagent yields a tertiary alcohol. Although the reactions we ll be discussing in this section are illustrated only for acid chlorides, similar processes take place with other acid halides. 

TABLE 8. Formation of sulphoxides, R2S=0, from the reaction of Grignard reagents with sulphurous acid derivatives, SOX2... 

C. Reactions of Phosphoric and Phosphinic Acid Derivatives.—The optically active phosphinate ester (90) has been shown to react with benzyl Grignard reagents or lithium anilide with inversion of configuration. Oxidation of... 

Hayashi et al.74 described a process of kinetic resolution in the coupling of Grignard reagents R Mgx (having a chiral center at the point of attachment to the metal) with various alkenyl halides under the influence of chiral phosphine-nickel complexes. Chiral amino acid derivatives (35) were used as ligands. 

A problem inherent in metallation reactions with Grignard reagents is the poor chemos-electivity of the reactions. The most common side-reactions are the competing nucleophile addition and the reduction of the carbonyl compounds. An interesting alternative would be to use the high electrophilicity of the Mg + cation and its tendency to form a multicoordinate complex. The preformation of a Mg(II) complex with a carbonyl compound or a carboxylic acid derivative enhances the acidity of the substrate to the point where a relatively mild base can be used. 

SCHEME 5. Screening of catalysts and crotonic acid derivatives in the copper-catalyzed Grignard addition. Adapted with permission from Acc. Chem. Res., 40, 179-188 (2007). Copyright 2007 American Chemical Society... 

The reactions of several carboxylic acid derivatives with organomagnesium and organolithium compounds were described in Section 14-12. The key step in these reactions is addition of the organometallic compound, as R60MS , to the carbonyl group. For a Grignard reagent,... 

For example, 2-bromoquinuclidine (80) does not form Grignard reagents and 2-aminoquinuclidine is so unstable that on hydrolysis of its urethans (81) under mild conditions ammonia is lost and polymers of dehydroquinuclidine are formed. The synthesis of 2-bromoquinuclidine (80) was achieved by the Borodin reaction,90 and the urethans (81) were obtained from quinuclidine-2-carboxhydrazide (82) by the Curtius reactions.142 The Curtius reaction with quinucli-dine-4-carboxylic acid derivatives gave 4-aminoquinuclidine (83).143 This compound (83) was also synthesized directly from quinuclidine-4-carboxylic acid by the Schmidt reaction. However, the first method is better, in spite of having more steps. 

Another type of chiral Michael acceptor, the oxazepine derivatives (47), is prepared by condensation of the (-)-ephedrine-derived malonic acid derivative (46) with aldehydes (Scheme 18).51 52 Treatment of (47) with a variety of Grignard reagents in the presence of NiCh affords, after hydrolysis and decarboxylation, the 3-substituted carboxylic acids (48), in most cases with more than 90% ee. Diastereoselective Michael additions to (47) were also used for the preparation of optically active cyclopropane derivatives (49)53 and P-substituted-y-butyrolactones (50 Scheme 18).54 A total synthesis of indolmycin is based on this methodology.55... 

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