Ketones enolates, stereoselective formation

Addition of a hydroxy group to alkynes to form enol ethers is possible with Pd(II). Enol ether formation and its hydrolysis mean the hydration of alkynes to ketones. The 5-hydroxyalkyne 249 was converted into the cyclic enol ether 250[124], Stereoselective enol ether formation was applied to the synthesis of prostacyclin[131]. Treatment of the 4-alkynol 251 with a stoichiometric amount of PdCl2, followed by hydrogenolysis with formic acid, gives the cyclic enol ether 253. Alkoxypalladation to give 252 is trans addition, because the Z E ratio of the alkene 253 was 33 1. 

A further improvement utilizes the compatibility of hindered lithium dialkylamides with TMSC1 at —78 °C. Deprotonation of ketones and esters with lithium dialkylamides in the presence of TMSC1 leads to enhanced selectivity (3) for the kinetically generated enolate. Lithium t-octyl-t-butyl-amide (4) appears to be superior to LDA for the regioselective generation of enolates and in the stereoselective formation of (E) enolates. 

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... 

A similar preference for formation of the syn aldol is found for other Z-enolates derived from ketones in which one of the carbonyl substituents is bulky. Ketone enolates with less bulky substituents show a decreasing stereoselectivity in the order r-butyl > i-propyl > ethyl.2c This trend parallels a decreasing preference for stereoselective formation of the Z-enolate. 

Silyl ketene acetals from esters.1 Ireland has examined various factors in the enolization and silylation of ethyl propionate (1) as a model system. As expected from previous work (6, 276-277), use of LDA (1 equiv.) in THF at —78 -+ 25° results mainly in (E)-2, formed from the (Z)-enolate. The stereoselectivity is markedly affected by the solvent. Addition of TMEDA results in a 60 40 ratio of (Z)- and (E)-2 and lowers the yield significantly. Use of THF/23% HMPA provides (Z)- and (E)-2 in the ratio of 85 15 with no decrease in yield. This system has been widely used for (E)-selective lithium enolate formation from esters and ketones. Highest stereoselectivity is observed by addition of DMPU, recently introduced as a noncar-... 

Kinetic enolates. The kinetic enolate of a ketone or ester is generated with enhanced selectivity by a lithium dialkylamide in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane. In addition, LOBA is superior to LDA for regioseicctivc generation of enolates and for stereoselective formation of (E)-enolatfes. 

The base-induced abstraction of a proton a to a carbonyl group is not the only method for the preparation of ketone enolates alternative methods also can provide good regio-and stereoselectivities. Enol ethers 11 can be converted on addition of a Lewis acid into the corresponding enolates 12, which can attack the liberated benzyl cation under formation of a-benzylated ketones 13 (equation 4) in good yields (Table 3) °. 

Although stereoselective formation of enolates from acyclic ketones with bases such as LDA is rather difficult, stereodefined boron enolates are more readily accessible. In the Mukaiyama method, an ethyl ketone is treated with a dialkylboron triflate and a tertiary amine, usually i-Pr2NEt. The resultant Z-(0) boron enolates (also known as enol borinates) are believed to be formed under kinetic control by deprotonation of the Lewis acid-complexed substrate. Brown and co-workers have shown that E- 0) boron enolates may be prepared by treatment of ethyl ketones with dicyclohexylboron chloride in the presence of Et3N. ... 

Since the reactions of lithium (El-iOl-enolates are not stereoselective (see Table 6.3b), formation of 2,3-anti aldol products is conveniently accomplished by ketone enolization using dicyclohexylboron chloride. Reaction of the resultant boron... 

Generation of enol silyl ethers from acyclic ketone precursors can be accomplished using the same kind of reagents. Depending on the reaction conditions, stereoselective formation of either the ( )- or the (Z)-isomer of the enol silyl ethers has been reported (Scheme 11). An in situ method of generating the enolate anion with lithium dialkylamides in the presence of trimethylchlorosilane leads to enhanced selection for the kinetically preferred enol silyl ether (e.g. 34a). Lithium r-octyl-r-butylamide (LOBA) is... 

The treatment of an ester (or lactone) with a base and a silyl halide or trillate gives rise to a particular type of sUyl enol ether normally referred to as a silyl ketene acetal. The extent of O- versus C-silylation depends on the structure of the ester and the reaction conditions. The less-bulky methyl or ethyl (or 5-tert-butyl) esters are normally good substrates for O-silylation using LDA as the base. Acyclic esters can give rise to two geometrical isomers of the silyl ketene acetal. Good control of the ratio of these isomers is often possible by careful choice of the conditions. The f-isomer is favoured with LDA in THF, whereas the Z-isomer is formed exclusively by using THF/HMPA (1.24). Methods to effect stereoselective silyl enol ether formation from acyclic ketones are less well documented. ... 

Combination of achiral enolates vith achiral aldehydes mediated by chiral ligands at the enolate counter-ion opens another route to non-racemic aldol adducts. Again, this concept has been extremely fruitful for boron, tin, titanium, zirconium and other metal enolates. It has, ho vever not been applied very frequently to alkaline and earth alkaline metals. The main, inherent, dra vback in the use of these metals is that the reaction of the corresponding enolate, vhich is not complexed by the chiral ligand, competes vith that of the complexed enolate. Because the former reaction path vay inevitably leads to formation of the racemic product, the chiral ligand must be applied in at least stoichiometric amounts. Thus, any catalytic variant is excluded per se. Among the few approaches based on lithium enolates, early vork revealed that the aldol addition of a variety of lithium enolates in the presence of (S,S)-l,4-(bisdimethylamino)-2,3-dimethoxy butane or (S,S)-1,2,3,4-tetramethoxybutane provides only moderate induced stereoselectivity, typical ee values being 20% [177]. Chelation of the ketone enolate 104 by the chiral lithium amide 103 is more efficient - the j5-hydroxyl ketone syn-105 is obtained in 68% ee and no anti adduct is formed (Eq. (47)) [178]. 

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