Lactones Tebbe reaction

The Tebbe reaction, which converts the oxo groups of esters and lactones to methylene groups to give enol ethers, is described in section 2.1.2. 

A reaction that appears to be mechanistically similar to the Tebbe reaction was developed by Oshima in 1978. Diiodomethane or dibromomethane in the presence of zinc is treated with a Lewis acid to form, presumably, a divalent complex (72), which reacts with aldehydes and ketones to produce the corresponding methylene derivative (73 Scheme 18). This reagent complements the reactivity of the Tebbe reagent, in that the zinc methylenation is not reactive towards esters or lactones. Because it is an electrophilic reagent, it is suitable for the methylenation of enolizable ketones and aldehydes. 

Carboxylic esters undergo the conversion C=0— C=CHR (R = primary or secondary alkyl) when treated with RCHBr2, Zn, and TiCl4 in the presence of A,A,A, iV -tetramethylethylenediamine. Metal carbene complexes R2C=ML (L = ligand), where M is a transition metal such as Zr, W, or Ta, have also been used to convert the C=0 of carboxylic esters and lactones to CR2. It is likely that the complex Cp2Ti=CH2 is an intermediate in the reaction with Tebbe s reagent. 

Dimethyltitanocene (213), called the Petasis reagent, can be used for alkenation of carbonyls (aldehydes, ketones, esters, thioesters and lactones). This reagent is prepared more easily than the Tebbe reagent by the reaction of titanocene dichloride with MeLi. However, this reagent may not be a carbene complex and its reaction may be explained as a nucleophilic attack of the methyl group at the carbonyl [67], Alkenylsilanes are prepared from carbonyl compounds. Tri(trimethylsilyl)titanacyclobutene (216), as a... 

Methylenation.1 When heated in THF at 60-65°, this reagent effects methy-lenation of ketones, even readily enolizable ones, in 60-90% yield and of aldehydes (45-60% yield). It also converts esters and lactones into enol ethers, but this reaction is generally slower. It is thus an attractive alternative to the Tebbe and Grubbs reagent. 

The Julia-Julia coupling reaction has been extended to sugar derived lactones to furnish methylene exoglycals in good yields as exemplified by the conversion of lactone 188 to exomethylene derivative 190 upon treatment with lithiomethyl benzothiazolyl sulfone from 189 <05SL520>. This approach serves as an alternative to the Tebbe reagent commonly used... 

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