Hydroboration transformations

Application of the hydroboration transform to intermediate 5 provides unsaturated alcohol 6 as a potential precursor. In the synthetic direction, a regio- and stereocontrolled hydroboration/oxidation of the A5 6 double bond in 6 could accomplish the simultaneous introduction of the adjacent C-5 hydroxyl- and C-6 methyl-bearing... 

One of the newer and more fmitful developments in this area is asymmetric hydroboration giving chiral organoboranes, which can be transformed into chiral carbon compounds of high optical purity. Other new directions focus on catalytic hydroboration, asymmetric aHylboration, cross-coupling reactions, and appHcations in biomedical research. This article gives an account of the most important aspects of the hydroboration reaction and transformations of its products. For more detail, monographs and reviews are available (1—13). 

Primary dialkylboranes react readily with most alkenes at ambient temperatures and dihydroborate terminal acetylenes. However, these unhindered dialkylboranes exist in equiUbtium with mono- and ttialkylboranes and cannot be prepared in a state of high purity by the reaction of two equivalents of an alkene with borane (35—38). Nevertheless, such mixtures can be used for hydroboration if the products are acceptable for further transformations or can be separated (90). When pure primary dialkylboranes are required they are best prepared by the reduction of dialkylhalogenoboranes with metal hydrides (91—93). To avoid redistribution they must be used immediately or be stabilized as amine complexes or converted into dialkylborohydtides. 

Usually, organoboranes are sensitive to oxygen. Simple trialkylboranes are spontaneously flammable in contact with air. Nevertheless, under carefully controlled conditions the reaction of organoboranes with oxygen can be used for the preparation of alcohols or alkyl hydroperoxides (228,229). Aldehydes are produced by oxidation of primary alkylboranes with pyridinium chi orochrom ate (188). Chromic acid at pH < 3 transforms secondary alkyl and cycloalkylboranes into ketones pyridinium chi orochrom ate can also be used (230,231). A convenient procedure for the direct conversion of terminal alkenes into carboxyUc acids employs hydroboration with dibromoborane—dimethyl sulfide and oxidation of the intermediate alkyldibromoborane with chromium trioxide in 90% aqueous acetic acid (232,233). 

Long-chain primary alcohols, eg, triacontanol, can be prepared by the hydroboration, isomerization, and oxidation of the corresponding internal alkenes (437). The less thermodynamically stable stereoisomer can be transformed into the more stable one by heating, eg, i j -into /ra/ j -myrtanjiborane (204). 

Hydroboration of a,C0-dienes with monoalkylboranes gives reactive organoboron polymers which can be transformed into polymeric alcohols or polyketones by carbonylation, cyanidation, or the DOME reaction followed by oxidation (446—448). 

The retrosynthetic elimination of olefinic stereocenters (E or Z) was illustrated above by the conversion 147 => 148 under substrate spatial control. It is also possible to remove olefinic stereocenters under transform mechanism control. Examples of such processes are the retrosynthetie generation of acetylenes from olefins by transforms such as trans-hydroalumination (LiAlH4), ci5-hydroboration (R2BH), or ci -carbometallation... 

Hydroboration affords an efficient preparation of the 5a-A -system (141, for example) from A" -3-ketones. Reaction with diborane followed by decomposition of the organoboron intermediate with refluxing acetic anhydride gives good yields of olefins. Ketones must be protected, and alcohols are transformed to acetates. A -7-Ketones yield 5oc-A -olefins (for example, 138). 

The alkylboranes obtained by the hydroboration reaction are versatile intermediates for further transformations. The most important transformation is the oxidation to yield alcohols 17 it is usually carried out by treatment with hydroperoxide in alkaline solution. The group R migrates from boron to oxygen with retention of configuration ... 

The metal catalysed hydroboration and diboration of alkenes and alkynes (addition of H-B and B-B bonds, respectively) gives rise to alkyl- or alkenyl-boronate or diboronate esters, which are important intermediates for further catalytic transformations, or can be converted to useful organic compounds by established stoichiometric methodologies. The iyn-diboration of alkynes catalysed by Pt phosphine complexes is well-established [58]. However, in alkene diborations, challenging problems of chemo- and stereo-selectivity control stiU need to be solved, with the most successful current systems being based on Pt, Rh and An complexes [59-61]. There have been some recent advances in the area by using NHC complexes of Ir, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag and Au as catalysts under mild conditions, which present important advantages in terms of activity and selectivity over the established catalysts. 

The reactions can be made enantioselective by using enantiomerically pure IpcBH2 for hydroboration of alkenes and then transforming the products to enantiomerically pure derivatives of 9-BBN by reaction with 1,5-cyclooctadiene.22... 

A recently developed application of the Ramberg-Backlund reaction is the synthesis of C-glycosides. The required thioethers can be prepared easily by exchange with a thiol. The application of the Ramberg-Backlund conditions then leads to an exocyclic vinyl ether that can be reduced to the C-nucleoside.95 Entries 3 and 4 in Scheme 10.6 are examples. The vinyl ether group can also be transformed in other ways. In the synthesis of partial structures of the antibiotic altromycin, the vinyl ether product was subjected to diastereoselective hydroboration. 

In Scheme 13.8, the side chain was added in one step by a borane carbonylation reaction. This synthesis is very short and the first four steps were used to transform the aldehyde group in the starting material to a methyl ester. The stereochemistry at C(4)-C(7) is established in the hydroboration in Step B, in which the C(7)-H bond is formed. A 1 1 mixture of diastereomers resulted, indicating that the configuration at C(4) has little influence on the direction of approach of the borane reagent. 

The preparation of a functional segmented block copolymer was also investigated (scheme ll).15 First hydroboration polymerization of the oligomer using thexylborane was carried out. Then the obtained organoboron polymer was subjected to a chain-transformation reaction (DCME rearrangement). DCME and lithium alkoxide of 3-ethyl-3-pentanol in hexane was added to a THF solution of the polymer at 0°C. 

A solution of BH3THF complex in THF is generally used as the hydroborating agent. Primary hydroboration products 19 and 20 are transformed into the corresponding 1-boraadamantane THF complexes 21 under reflux in THF (1-4 h), or in 4-5 days at room temperature (Scheme 2). 

Hydroboration-isomerization of 38 and 39 with BH3-THF in THF solution gives rise to THF-3-methyl-l-boraadamantane 40, which was further transformed into the air-stable adducts with pyridine 41a and 1-amino-adamantane 41b (Scheme 10) <2005MI1, 2005MI2>. 

The field of transition metal-catalyzed hydroboration has developed enormously over the last 20 years and is now one of the most powerful techniques for the transformation of C=C and C=C bonds.1-3 While hydroboration is possible in the absence of a metal catalyst, some of the more common borane reagents attached to heteroatom groups (e.g., catecholborane or HBcat, (1)) react only very slowly at room temperature (Scheme 1) addition of a metal catalyst M] accelerates the reaction. In addition, the ability to manipulate [M] through the judicious choice of ligands (both achiral and chiral) allows the regio-, chemo-, and enantioselectivity to be directed. 

Though the triplet sensitized photolysis of isoprene (159) does, as noted above, produce a complex mixture of products, one of these adducts has been used in the context of complex molecule synthesis (equation 5)71. Cyclobutane 160, which was formed in ca 20% yield by the benzophenone sensitized photolysis of 159, could be easily transformed into fragrantolol, 161, an isomer of grandisol isolated from the roots of the Artemisia fragrans, by simple hydroboration/oxidation of the less hindered double bond. 

Many metals including nickel,32,33 ruthenium,34 iridium,35 36 lanthanum,37,38 titanium,39 and zirconium40-42 have been employed in this transformation with varying degrees of success, but rhodium has remained the metal of choice for transition metal hydroboration. The mechanism of rhodium-catalyzed hydroboration (Scheme 4), is thought to depend on the nature of the substrate, the catalyst, the ligand used and the reaction conditions employed.43... 

The uncatalyzed hydroboration-oxidation of an alkene usually affords the //-Markovnikov product while the catalyzed version can be induced to produce either Markovnikov or /z/z-Markovnikov products. The regioselectivity obtained with a catalyst has been shown to depend on the ligands attached to the metal and also on the steric and electronic properties of the reacting alkene.69 In the case of monosubstituted alkenes (except for vinylarenes), the anti-Markovnikov alcohol is obtained as the major product in either the presence or absence of a metal catalyst. However, the difference is that the metal-catalyzed reaction with catecholborane proceeds to completion within minutes at room temperature, while extended heating at 90 °C is required for the uncatalyzed transformation.60 It should be noted that there is a reversal of regioselectivity from Markovnikov B-H addition in unfunctionalized terminal olefins to the anti-Markovnikov manner in monosubstituted perfluoroalkenes, both in the achiral and chiral versions.70,71... 

The development of chiral catalysts for use in enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed hydroborations was pioneered by Burgess9, Suzuki,77 and Hayashi.78 The chiral diphosphine ligands employed in their preliminary investigations 23-26 (Figures 2(a) and 2(b)), had previously been successfully applied in other catalytic asymmetric transformations. 

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