Ketone lithium enolates structure

A more detailed representation of the reaction requires more intimate knowledge of the enolate structure. Studies of ketone enolates in solution indicate that both tetrameric and dimeric clusters can exist Tetrahydrofliran, a solvent in which many synthetic reactions are performed, favors tetrameric structures for the lithium enolate of isobutyr-ophenone, for example. ... 

The reaction of the enamines of cyclohexanones with a,ft-unsaluraled sulfones gives mixtures resulting from attack of the enamine at the a- and /(-carbons of the oc,/ -unsaturated sulfone. The ratio of x- and /1-adducts is dependent upon the reaction solvent, the geometry and structure of the sulfone1 4. The diastereoselectivity of these reactions is also poor. The reaction of lithium enolates of cyclic ketones with ( )-[2-(methylsulfonyl)ethenyl]benzene, however, gives bicyclic alcohols, as single diastereomers, that result from initial -attack on the oc,/ -unsaturated sulfone5. 

Fig. 1.1. Crystal structure of lithium enolate of methyl -butyl ketone in a structure containing four Li+, two enolates, and one HMDA anions, one bromide ion, and two TMEDA ligands. Reproduced from Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 35, 1322 (1996), by permission of Wiley-VCH.

Detailed investigations indicate that the enolization process (LDA, THF) affords enolates 37 and 38 with at/east 97% (Z)-stereoselection. Related observations have recently been reported on the stereoselective enolization of dialkylthioamides (38). In this latter study, the Ireland-Claisen strategy (34) was employed to assign enolate geometry. Table 10 summarizes the enolization stereo selection that has been observed for both esters and amides with LDA. Complementary kinetic enolization ratios for ketonic substrates are included in Table 7. Recent studies on the role of base structure and solvent are now beginning to appear in the literature (39,40), and the Ireland enolization model for lithium amide bases has been widely accepted, A tabular survey of the influence of the ester moiety (ORj) on a range of aldol condensations via the lithium enolates is provided in Table 11 (eq. [24]). Enolate ratios for some of the condensations illustrated may be found in Table 10. It is apparent from these data that ( )-enolates derived from alkyl propionates (Rj = CH3, t-C4H9) exhibit low aldol stereoselectivity. In contrast, the enolates derived from alkoxyalkyl esters (Rj = CHjOR ) exhibit 10 1 threo diastereo-... 

Be this as it may, lithium attempts to bind to several bonding partners the structural consequences for the enolates of a ketone, an ester, and an amide are shown in Figure 13.2 In contrast to the usual notation, these enolates are not monomers at all The heteroatom that carries the negative charge in the enolate resonance form is an excellent bonding partner such that several of these heteroatoms are connected to every lithium atom. Lithium enolates often result in tetramers if they are crystallized in the absence of other lithium salts and in the absence of other suitable neutral donors. The lithium enolate of fert-butyl methyl ketone, for example, crystallizes from THF in the form shown in Figure 13.3. 

C with LDA results in the chemoselective formation of an aza-enolate D, as in the case of the analogous aldimine A of Figure 10.30. The C=C double bond of the aza-enolate D is fnms-configured. This selectivity is reminiscent of the. E-preference in the deprotonation of sterically unhindered aliphatic ketones to ketone enolates (Section 10.1.2, paragraph Stereocontrol in the Formation of Lithium Enolates ) and, in fact, the origin is the same both deprotonations occur via six-membered ring transition states with chair conformations. The transition state structure with the least steric interactions is preferred in both cases, which is the one that features the C atom in the /3 position of the C,H acid in the pseudoequatorial orientation. 

Seebach, Dunitz and coworkers reported, in 1981226, the first crystal structures of lithium enolates of simple ketones, obtained in THF from pinacolone (3,3-dimethyl-2-butanone) and cyclopentanone. Both were arranged as tetrasolvated cubic tetramers, one THF molecule capping each lithium cation (Scheme 58A). Note that pinacolone enolate can also be crystallized, from heptane at — 20 °C, as a prismatic unsolvated hexamer exhibiting an approximate S6 symmetry and six slight it-cation interactions227,228 (Scheme 58B) or as a dimer in the presence of 2 molecules of TriMEDA29. Similarly,... 

This volume, which complements the earlier one, contains 9 chapters written by experts from 7 countries. These include a chapter on the dynamic behavior of organolithium compounds, written by one of the pioneers in the field, and a specific chapter on the structure and dynamics of chiral lithium amides in particular. The use of such amides in asymmetric synthesis is covered in another chapter, and other synthetic aspects are covered in chapters on acyllithium derivatives, on the carbolithiation reaction and on organolithi-ums as synthetic intermediates for tandem reactions. Other topics include the chemistry of ketone dilithio compounds, the chemistry of lithium enolates and homoenolates, and polycyclic and fullerene lithium carbanions. 

Generally, ester enolates of structure (202 R = M, R = Oalkyl) rearrange via a 3,3-shift, whereas the corresponding amide enolates (202 R = M, R = N(alkyl)2) and acid dianions (202 R = M, R = OM) prefer the 2,3-pathway (equation 20). Both pathways have been observed with ketone enolates (202 R = M, R = alkyl). With substrate (179), Koreeda and Luengo observed only traces of Wittig rearrangement product (205), except for the lithium enolate, where (205) accounted for up to 20% of the reaction mixture (equation 21). ° Thomas and Dubini, however, reported predominant formation of 2,3 Wittig products (207) and (209) under base treatment of ketones (206) and (208) (equation 22). ... 

In this chapter the focus is primarily on the recent structural work concerning carbanions of alkali and alkaline earth cations that are widely utilized in synthetic organic chemistry. In this context the year 1981 is significant because the first detailed X-ray ffhu tion analyses of two lithium enolates of simple ketones, i.e. 3.3-dimethyl-2-butanone and cyclopentanone, were published. Since 1981 a number of detailed X-ray diffinction analyses of synthetically useful enolate anions of alkali and alkaline earth cations... 

Exactly 10 years after the previous statement appeared, the first lithium enolate crystal structures were published as (5) and (6). Thus, structural information derived from X-ray diffraction analysis proved the tetrameric, cubic geometry for the THF-solvated, lithium enolates derived from r-butyl methyl ketone (pinacolone) and from cyclopentanone. Hence, the tetrameric aggregate characterized previously by NMR as (7) was now defined unambiguously. Moreover, the general tetrameric aggregate (7) now became embellished in (5) and (6) by the inclusion of coordinating solvent molecules, i.e. THE. A representative quotation from this 1981 crystal structure analysis is given below. 

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