Heathcock anti aldol reaction

E -Enolates often react with lower stereoselectivity than those of the corresponding Z-enolates. A classic example to illustrate this point is a study carried out by Heathcock et al.6 (Scheme 2.IV). When the carbonyl compounds 1 were deprotonated with lithium diisopropylamide (LDA) and the resulting enolates were subsequently treated with benzaldehyde at -72° C, the aldol products desired (2) were obtained in 83 to 99% yield. The Z-enolates derived from t -butyl and 1-adamantyl ethyl ketones afforded syn -products in excellent levels of diastereoselectivity. The fact that the syn/anti ratios directly reflect the isomeric purity of the reacting enolates hints that the Z-enolates in these cases undergo aldol reaction through a chairlike six-membered transition state (Scheme 2.III,... 

Under kinetic control, the reactions of prochiral aldehydes with Z-enolates generally lead to syn aldols, while E-enolates lead to anti aldols. The presence of bulky R groups on the enolates, however, may alter these selectivities. The highest diastereoselectivities are observed with boron or titanium enolates. These selectivity trends are interpreted by a concerted cyclic mechanism. The favored transition state resembles a distorted chair, in line with the Zimmermann-Traxler proposals [57, 160, 253] (Figure 6.70). This model has been supported by theoretical studies [9, 40, 41, 125, 1249], Transition states analogous to C2 and C4 (Figure 6.70) are destabilized by 1,3-ecIipsing interactions between the C-R, M-L and C-R bonds, so that models Ci and C3 are more favorable. For the sake of simplification, only the reaction on one face of the enolates is shown in these models, but enolate face selectivity will be discussed later. In some cases, boatlike transition-state models are invoked to interpret selectivity inversions [401, 402, 666], Moreover, Heathcock and coworkers [105] obtained evidence for the influence of an excess of n-B BOTf on the stereoselectivity of the aldol reactions of Z-enolates. In such reactions, anti aldols can be formed preferentially (see bdow). 

Aldol condensations of zinc enolates under conditions of thermodynamic control are reasonably discussed in terms of the relative stability of the two chelated aldolates (19), which leads to the syn aldol, and (20), which leads to the anti aldol. If R is larger than R, the anti chelate, with R and R trans in a six-atom ring, is expected to be the more stable form. Heathcock has noted that the most common mechanism for equilibration of aldolate stereochemistry is reverse aldolization (reversal of equation 29). Aldolates obtained by reaction of an enolate with ketone substrates are expected to undergo reverse aldolization at a faster rate than those obtained with aldehyde substrates, in part for steric reasons. Similarly, aldolates derived from ketone enolates are expected to undergo reverse aldolization at a faster rate than those derived from the more basic ester or amide enolates. 

For the introduction of the C g and C19 stereocenters to the aldehyde 17, we first tested Heathcock s asymmetric anti-selective aldol reaction (eq. 6) (43). We anticipated that the stereocenters in 17 would have little effect on diastereoselectivity since the two methylene groups are... 

Fig. 13.48. anti-Selectivity of the aldol addition with a Heathcock lithium enolate including a mechanistic explanation. The Zimmerman-Traxler transition state Cis destabilized by a 1,3-diaxial interaction, while the Zimmerman-Traxler transition state B does not suffer from such a disadvantage. The reaction thus occurs exclusively via transition state B. 

Reaction of an a-substituted enolate with an aldehyde or ketone can give two pairs of aldol dia-stereomers, which are conveniently designated as the syn form (17) and the anti form (18), where is part of the parent chain in lUPAC nomenclature (equation 29). For simplicity, only one enantiomer of each pair will usually be shown throughout this section. The syn/anti notation for aldol diastereomers has been described in detail by Heathcock. ... 

Largely stimulated by the synthesis of 3-lactam antibiotics, there have been widespread investigations into the stereochemical aspects of imine condensations, mainly involving reactions of enolates of carboxylic acid derivatives or silyl ketene acetals. In analogy to the aldol condensation, stereoselectivity of imine condensations will be discussed in terms of two types in this chapter (i) simple dia-stereoselectivity or syn-anti selectivity, when the two reactants are each prochiral (equation 12) and (ii) diastereofacial selectivity, when a new chiral center is formed in the presence of a pre-existing chiral center in one of the reactants (e.g. equation 13). The term asymmetric induction may be used synonymously with diastereofacial selectivity when one of the chiral reactants is optically active. For a more explicit explanation of these terms, see Heathcock s review on the aldol condensation. ... 

The selectivity of the Reformatsky reaction is apparent in Table 9.16, 26,327 taken from Heathcock s work, which shows the syn/anti selectivity for the hydroxy ester products (anti product 580 and syn product 581) resulting from reaction of a-haloesters with ketones and aldehydes. 27 Aldehydes generally show poorer selectivity than do ketones for formation of the anti product. 580. The bromozinc aldolate products from ketones were shown to equilibrate under reaction conditions but those from aldehydes did not. Generally, increasing the size of R in the a-halo-carbonyl derivative led to greater anti selectivity. 

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