Intermolecular radical approach

Following the pioneer work of Kharasch [60], methods involving radical transfer of halides have been developed. The atom transfer method has emerged in the 1980s as one of the best method for conducting intra- and intermolecular radical additions to olefins [61]. This approach is particularly appealing from an atom economy point of view since all atoms remains in the final product. The non-reductive nature of these reactions is also particularly important for the preparation of functionalized molecules. Halides transfers and more particularly iodine atom transfers have found nice applications for cyclizations, annula-tions and cascade reactions [62]. These reactions are based on exothermic radical steps, such as the addition of an alkyl radical to an olefin, followed by an... 

The radical approach for C-C bond formation is a popular method within organic chemistry. The use of radical chemistry in carbohydrate synthesis has certain advantages. Firstly the reaction conditions are very mild and tolerant of a range of functional and protecting groups. Anomeric radicals are also stable towards elimination and epimerisation. Most significantly, the chemistry required to incorporate an appropriate substituent at C-1, employed in the initial homolytic cleavage step, is common within carbohydrate chemistry. The use of such radical techniques can be subdivided into two classes, intermolecular and intramolecular reactions. 

Procter and coworkers" have described a Sm(II)-mediated (106), asymmetric capture and release approach (Scheme 7.22) to y-butyrolactones (107) that involves intermolecular radical additions to a,[3-unsaturated esters (105) attached to resin through an ephedrine chiral linker (108). Resin capture-release is a hybrid technique that combines elements of traditional solid-phase synthesis and the use of supported reagents. Fukuzawa s Sm(II)-mediated, asymmetric method to y-butyrolactones was chosen to demonstrate the feasibility of such a process. y-Butyrolactones (107) were obtained by capture of a reactive intermediate from solution through an asymmetric transformation starting from a,p-unsaturated esters (105) immobilized on an ephedrine chiral resin. Lactone products were obtained in moderate yields with selectivities up to 96% ee. Nevertheless, the ephedrine resin can be efficiently reused for many cycles although in some cases lower yields were obtained on reuse of the chiral resin. 

Another competing reaction is the intermolecular replacement of bromine by hydrogen in the radical translocating group. Additional approaches capitalizing on stereospecific hydrogen translocation to the anomeric radical have been described by Crich [186, 187]. Despite excellent stereoselectivity, the radical approach is rendered impractical by the circuitous methods needed for generation of the key anomeric radical [51]. 

In the synthesis of molecules without functional groups the application of the usual polar synthetic reactions may be cumbersome, since the final elimination of hetero atoms can be difficult. Two solutions for this problem have been given in the previous sections, namely alkylation with nucleophilic carbanions and alkenylation with ylides. Another direct approach is to combine radical synthons in a non-polar reaction. Carbon radicals are. however, inherently short-lived and tend to undergo complex secondary reactions. Escheirmoser s principle (p. 34f) again provides a way out. If one connects both carbon atoms via a metal atom which (i) forms and stabilizes the carbon radicals and (ii) can be easily eliminated, the intermolecular reaction is made intramolecular, and good yields may be obtained. 

Examples of the intermolecular C-P bond formation by means of radical phosphonation and phosphination have been achieved by reaction of aryl halides with trialkyl phosphites and chlorodiphenylphosphine, respectively, in the presence of (TMSlsSiH under standard radical conditions. The phosphonation reaction (Reaction 71) worked well either under UV irradiation at room temperature or in refluxing toluene. The radical phosphina-tion (Reaction 72) required pyridine in boiling benzene for 20 h. Phosphinated products were handled as phosphine sulfides. Scheme 15 shows the reaction mechanism for the phosphination procedure that involves in situ formation of tetraphenylbiphosphine. This approach has also been extended to the phosphination of alkyl halides and sequential radical cyclization/phosphination reaction. ... 

The occurrence of the indole subunit is well established within the class of natural products and pharmaceutically active compounds. Recently, the Reissig group developed an impressive procedure for the assembly of highly functionalized in-dolizidine derivatives, highlighting again the versatility of domino reactions [8]. The approach is based on a samarium(II) iodide-mediated radical cydization terminated by a subsequent alkylation which can be carried out in an intermolecular - as well as in an intramolecular - fashion. Reaction of ketone 3-11 with samarium(ll) iodide induced a 6-exo-trig cydization, furnishing a samarium enolate intermediate... 

All the examples presented under Sect. 4.1 used an iodine atom transfer to generate the desired radicals. Another approach involving abstraction of hydrogen atom is also reported. For instance, ethers and acetals undergo direct intermolecular addition to aldehydes under treatment with Et3B/air... 

An interesting question then arises as to why the dynamics of proton transfer for the benzophenone-i V, /V-dimethylaniline contact radical IP falls within the nonadiabatic regime while that for the napthol photoacids-carboxylic base pairs in water falls in the adiabatic regime given that both systems are intermolecular. For the benzophenone-A, A-dimethylaniline contact radical IP, the presumed structure of the complex is that of a 7t-stacked system that constrains the distance between the two heavy atoms involved in the proton transfer, C and O, to a distance of 3.3A (Scheme 2.10) [20]. Conversely, for the napthol photoacids-carboxylic base pairs no such constraints are imposed so that there can be close approach of the two heavy atoms. The distance associated with the crossover between nonadiabatic and adiabatic proton transfer has yet to be clearly defined and will be system specific. However, from model calculations, distances in excess of 2.5 A appear to lead to the realm of nonadiabatic proton transfer. Thus, a factor determining whether a bimolecular proton-transfer process falls within the adiabatic or nonadiabatic regimes lies in the rate expression Eq. (6) where 4>(R), the distribution function for molecular species with distance, and k(R), the rate constant as a function of distance, determine the mode of transfer. 

Intennoleciilar Reactions. The intermolecular version of free radical reactions of sugar-derived radicals consists mainly of addition onto suitably activated olefins, such as acrylonitrile, generally used in excess. This approach has been explored by Giese [102]. The stereochemical course of the reaction is dictated by steric effects of the vicinal substituents, as seen from the reaction of radical 71 where equatorial attack is favored over the axial with acrylonitrile (Scheme 28). Only equatorial attack is observed using... 

One of the first examples of radical cydization reactions in the total syntheses of indole alkaloids was Stork s approach towards ( )-gelsemine (55) [58] featuring a mixed acetal 6-exo radical cydization as the pivotal step (Scheme 23). Thus, exposure of cyclopentene bromide 117 to standard radical cydization conditions led to the cii-fiised bicyclic ester 118. A relatively dilute concentration (0.02 M) was needed to minimize possible intermolecular reactions although the intramolecular reaction was kinetically more favored. Diastereomeric phenylselenides were easily obtained by treating 118 with LDA and quenching the enolate with diphenyl diselenide. The a,P-unsaturated ester 119 was secured when the selenide underwent... 

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