Homoallylic Acetal Substrates

Certain homoallylic tosylates react with KOAc to provide the corresponding acetylated cyclopropane derivatives and/or the expected homoallylic acetates (eq 10). Formation of the cyclopropane derivative is suggested to occur via neighboring group participation of the alkene, and is subject to steric and conformational constraints of the substrate. 

It is noteworthy that (q3-allyl)ruthenium species, which react with nucleophiles to give nucleophilic substitution of allylic substrates, are also active for the allylation of electrophiles. Thus, allyl acetate and carbonate react with aldehydes in the presence of catalytic amounts of Ru3(CO)12 to give homoallylic alcohols in good yields [116] (Eq. 86). 

Acetyl nitrate (or nitryl acetate, Ac0NO2), prepared from nitric acid and acetic anhydride, reacts with simple acyclic and cyclic alkenes to give complex mixtures of nitro acetates, nitro nitrates and nitroalkenes, which are often difficult to separate12 103, The reaction with unsubstituted cycloalkenes was recently reexamined and a complex mixture of products, including allylic and homoallylic nitroalkenes, 1,2-, 1,3- and 1,4-nitro acetates, and 1,4-nitro nitrates, was identified104. These experimental observations are best accommodated by the proposal, supported by theoretical calculations, that the initial reaction of acetyl nitrate with alkene substrates is a [2 + 2] addition of the nitryl cation to the C-C double bond to form a cyclic cationic intermediate. 

Cha also explored substrate directed asymmetric synthesis using the Kulinkovich reaction. Sequential treatment of homoallylic alcohol 21 with Ti(0/-Pr)4 and c-C5H9MgCl furnished the putative intermediate 22, which upon exposure to ethyl acetate produced /ra s-l,2dialkylcyclopropanol 23 in... 

Finally, Chen s work on the direct allylation of carbonyl compounds using benzyl alcohol in the multicomponent Sakurai reaction catalyzed by selective and green solid acids, such as sihcomolybdic acid (SMA-SiO ) [92] or perchloric acid (HClO -SiOj) [93], both supported on silica gel, should be mentioned. In some cases, the use of preformed acetals as substrates provided better results. These methods allowed the synthesis of a broad number of homoallylic ethers in moderate to high yields in a short reaction time. Significantly, catalyst loading of HClO -SiOj is only 2mol%. 

As a special case, the formation of hemiacetals 2 (lactolization) during the hydroformylation of hydroxy-functionalized olefins, such as allyl or homoallyl alcohols, has to be mentioned (1, Y= O, Scheme 5.70). With these substrates, the reaction occurs in an intramolecular manner. In the presence of an external alcohol, the cyclic hemiacetal can further react to give a nonsymmetric cyclic acetal 3. Hemiacetals can be subjected to hydrogenation to afford diols 4. Under reducing conditions and in the presence of amines, amino alcohols 5 are formed both are valuable building blocks in fine chemistry. Alternatively, oxidation gives lactones 6 [5]. By dehydration of hemiacetals, cychc vinyl ethers 7 are formed. The same transformation with allylamines (Y=NR) gives cyclic hemiaminals, A/ ,0-acetals, lactames, or vinyl amines. 

Hydroformylation of substrates incorporating O- or N-nudeophilic moieties leads to cyclic hemiacetals, acetals, 0,N-acetals, or enamines depending on the reaction conditions and the functional groups of the substrates. In the total synthesis of the anticancer agent, natural product leucascandroUde A (24), three different carbonyla-tion steps were incorporated (Scheme 12.1). Alkene 20 underwent a cyclohydrocar-bonylation reaction under hydroformylation conditions, resulting in the formation of hemiacetal 21. The other two carbonylation steps involved formylation of 18 and intramolecular alkoxycarbonylation of alkene 22 [28]. Various tryptamine derivatives [29] and the framework of piperidine alkaloids [30] were also synthesized via cyclohydrocarbonylation starting from functionalized homoallylic amines or aniline derivatives, respectively. 

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