Ketone enolate. formation

Ketone imine anions can also be alkylated. The prediction of the regioselectivity of lithioenamine formation is somewhat more complex than for the case of kinetic ketone enolate formation. One of the complicating factors is that there are two imine stereoisomers, each of which can give rise to two regioisomeric imine anions. The isomers in which the nitrogen substituent R is syn to the double bond are the more stable.114... 

Scheme 3.26 Conversion of the ester to isobutyl ketone-enolate formation.

This reagent readily reduces esters in toluene, hexanes, THF or CH2CI2 solutions, etc. The reaction is especially useful for the preparation of allylic alcohols from a,3-unsaturated esters. 3-Keto esters have been selectively reduced to 3-hydroxy ketones via ketone enolate formation and AIH3 reduction. 

Acid catalyzed hydration (Section 9 12) Water adds to the triple bond of alkynes to yield ketones by way of an unstable enol intermediate The enol arises by Markovnikov hydration of the alkyne Enol formation is followed by rapid isomerization of the enol to a ketone... 

Our experience to this point has been that C—H bonds are not very acidic Com pared with most hydrocarbons however aldehydes and ketones have relatively acidic protons on their a carbon atoms pA s for enolate formation from simple aldehydes and ketones are m the 16 to 20 range... 

Hydroperoxides have been obtained from the autoxidation of alkanes, aralkanes, alkenes, ketones, enols, hydrazones, aromatic amines, amides, ethers, acetals, alcohols, and organomineral compounds, eg, Grignard reagents (10,45). In autoxidations involving hydrazones, double-bond migration occurs with the formation of hydroperoxy—azo compounds via free-radical chain processes (10,59) (eq. 20). 

The idea of kinetic versus thermodynamic control can be illustrated by discussing briefly the case of formation of enolate anions from unsymmetrical ketones. This is a very important matter for synthesis and will be discussed more fully in Chapter 1 of Part B. Most ketones, highly symmetric ones being the exception, can give rise to more than one enolate. Many studies have shown tiiat the ratio among the possible enolates that are formed depends on the reaction conditions. This can be illustrated for the case of 3-methyl-2-butanone. If the base chosen is a strong, sterically hindered one and the solvent is aptotic, the major enolate formed is 3. If a protic solvent is used or if a weaker base (one comparable in basicity to the ketone enolate) is used, the dominant enolate is 2. Enolate 3 is the kinetic enolate whereas 2 is the thermodynamically favored enolate. 

Site-specificity of the reaction is established in the first step since enolate formation involves the carbonyl carbon and the former halide bearing carbon, while the stereospecificity of the incoming deuterium is determined during the second step. It appears that the ketonization in deuterioacetic acid yields mainly the kinetic product (axial attack) although deuteration is... 

Thus, mixed aldol additions can be achieved by the tactic of quantitative enolate formation using LDA followed by addition of a different aldehyde or ketone. 

The mechanism of the Fiesselmann reaction between methylthioglycolate and a,P-acetylenic esters proceeds via consecutive base-catalyzed 1,4-conjugate addition reactions to form thioacetal Enolate formation, as a result of treatment with a stronger base, causes a Dieckmann condensation to occur providing ketone 8. Elimination of methylthioglycolate and tautomerization driven by aromaticity provides the 3-hydroxy thiophene dicarboxylate 9. 

Michael additions followed by further Michael additions have become popular reactions and are usually referred to as Michael Michael Induced Ring Closure (MIM1RC) reactions. A three component Michael-Michael-aldol reaction of ketone enolates with acrylates can be achieved, resulting in the formation of six-membered ring compounds with good efficiency and high diastereoselectivites319. 

When two equivalents of pyridine were added to the nmr sample and the probe heated to 80° C, the enol formate 61 decreased and phenyl cyclopropyl ketone 58 appeared at a rate approximately ten times faster than in the previous buffered system. The observation of intermediate 61 and the kinetic results, together with the observed induction periods, are consistent with the idea that some and perhaps all of the rearranged product ketone in the solvolysis of this system arises via double-bond participation in 61 rather than triple-bond participation and a vinyl cation (80). 

NHC-promoted enolate formation from an enal, followed by a desymmetrising aldol event to generate P-lactones and loss of CO, has been exploited by Scheidt and co-workers to generate functionalised cyclopentenes 240 in high ee from enal substrates 238 (Scheme 12.52) [94]. Interestingly, the use of alkyl ketones in this reaction manifold allows the isolation of the p-lactone intermediates with acyclic diketones, P-lactones 239 are formed with the R group anti- to the tertiary alkox-ide, while with cyclic diketones the P-lactone products have the R group with a syn relationship to the alkoxide [95]. 

Note also that dialkyl ketones such as acetone and 3-pentanone are slightly more acidic than the simple alcohols in DMSO. Use of alkoxide bases in DMSO favors enolate formation. For the amide bases, -K b-h) << a(c-H)> and complete formation of the enolate occurs. 

Regioselectivity and Stereoselectivity in Enolate Formation from Ketones and Esters... 

Scheme 1.1 shows data for the regioselectivity of enolate formation for several ketones under various reaction conditions. A consistent relationship is found in these and related data. Conditions of kinetic control usually favor formation of the less-substituted enolate, especially for methyl ketones. The main reason for this result is that removal of a less hindered hydrogen is faster, for steric reasons, than removal of a more hindered hydrogen. Steric factors in ketone deprotonation are accentuated by using bulky bases. The most widely used bases are LDA, LiHMDS, and NaHMDS. Still more hindered disilylamides such as hexaethyldisilylamide9 and bis-(dimethylphenylsilyl)amide10 may be useful for specific cases. 

Enantioselective enolate formation can also be achieved by kinetic resolution through preferential reaction of one of the enantiomers of a racemic chiral ketone such as 2-(f-butyl)cyclohcxanone (see Section 2.1.8 of Part A to review the principles of kinetic resolution). 

The composition of the enol ethers trimethylsilyl prepared from an enolate mixture reflects the enolate composition. If the enolate formation can be done with high regio-selection, the corresponding trimethylsilyl enol ether can be obtained in high purity. If not, the silyl enol ether mixture must be separated. Trimethylsilyl enol ethers can be prepared directly from ketones. One procedure involves reaction with trimethylsilyl... 

The preparation of ketones and ester from (3-dicarbonyl enolates has largely been supplanted by procedures based on selective enolate formation. These procedures permit direct alkylation of ketone and ester enolates and avoid the hydrolysis and decarboxylation of keto ester intermediates. The development of conditions for stoichiometric formation of both kinetically and thermodynamically controlled enolates has permitted the extensive use of enolate alkylation reactions in multistep synthesis of complex molecules. One aspect of the alkylation reaction that is crucial in many cases is the stereoselectivity. The alkylation has a stereoelectronic preference for approach of the electrophile perpendicular to the plane of the enolate, because the tt electrons are involved in bond formation. A major factor in determining the stereoselectivity of ketone enolate alkylations is the difference in steric hindrance on the two faces of the enolate. The electrophile approaches from the less hindered of the two faces and the degree of stereoselectivity depends on the steric differentiation. Numerous examples of such effects have been observed.51 In ketone and ester enolates that are exocyclic to a conformationally biased cyclohexane ring there is a small preference for... 

Scheme 1.5 gives some examples of alkylation of ketone enolates. Entries 1 and 2 involve formation of the enolates by deprotonation with LDA. In Entry 2, equilibration... 

Ester enolates are somewhat less stable than ketone enolates because of the potential for elimination of alkoxide. The sodium and potassium enolates are rather unstable, but Rathke and co-workers found that the lithium enolates can be generated at -78° C.69 Alkylations of simple esters require a strong base because relatively weak bases such as alkoxides promote condensation reactions (see Section 2.3.1). The successful formation of ester enolates typically involves an amide base, usually LDA or LiHDMS, at low temperature.70 The resulting enolates can be successfully alkylated with alkyl bromides or iodides. HMPA is sometimes added to accelerate the alkylation reaction. 

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