Lithium allyl alcohols

Propargylic alcohols are reduced by reaction with lithium aluminum hydride and subsequent hydrolysis to ( J-allylic alcohols via an organoaluminum intermediate (A) as shown below ... 

Allyl alcohol is produced by the catalytic isomerization of propylene oxide at approximately 280°C. The reaction is catalyzed with lithium phosphate. A selectivity around 98% could be obtained at a propylene oxide conversion around 25% ... 

The synthesis of the trisubstituted cyclohexane sector 160 commences with the preparation of optically active (/ )-2-cyclohexen-l-ol (199) (see Scheme 49). To accomplish this objective, the decision was made to utilize the powerful catalytic asymmetric reduction process developed by Corey and his colleagues at Harvard.83 Treatment of 2-bromocyclohexenone (196) with BH3 SMe2 in the presence of 5 mol % of oxazaborolidine 197 provides enantiomeri-cally enriched allylic alcohol 198 (99% yield, 96% ee). Reductive cleavage of the C-Br bond in 198 with lithium metal in terf-butyl alcohol and THF then provides optically active (/ )-2-cyclo-hexen-l-ol (199). When the latter substance is treated with wCPBA, a hydroxyl-directed Henbest epoxidation84 takes place to give an epoxy alcohol which can subsequently be protected in the form of a benzyl ether (see 175) under standard conditions. 

Removal of the carbonate ring from 7 (Scheme 1) and further functional group manipulations lead to allylic alcohol 8 which can be dissected, as shown, via a retro-Shapiro reaction to give vinyl-lithium 9 and aldehyde 10 as precursors. Vinyllithium 9 can be derived from sulfonyl hydrazone 11, which in turn can be traced back to unsaturated compounds 13 and 14 via a retro-Diels-Alder reaction. In keeping with the Diels-Alder theme, the cyclohexene aldehyde 10 can be traced to compounds 16 and 17 via sequential retrosynthetic manipulations which defined compounds 12 and 15 as possible key intermediates. In both Diels-Alder reactions, the regiochemical outcome is important, and special considerations had to be taken into account for the desired outcome to. prevail. These and other regio- and stereochemical issues will be discussed in more detail in the following section. 

The spontaneous rearrangement of allyl p-toluenesulphenates to allyl sulphoxides was independently recorded by Mislow and coworkers and Braverman and Stabinsky. Mislow and colleagues201 have demonstrated that simple allyl alcohols such as 149, on conversion to the corresponding lithium alkoxides followed by treatment with arenesulphenyl chlorides, may be smoothly transformed at room temperature via the sulphenate esters into allylic sulphoxides 150 (equation 83). Braverman and Stabinsky202 have found that when the more reactive trichloromethanesulphenyl chloride is treated with allyl alcohol and pyridine in ether at — 70°, it affords trichloromethyl allyl sulphoxide and not allyl trichloromethanesulphenate as reported by Sosnovski203 (equation 84). 

Demailly and coworkers195 found that the asymmetric induction increased markedly when optically active methyl pyridyl sulfoxide was treated with an aldehyde. They also synthesized (S)-chroman-2-carboxylaldehyde 152, which is the cyclic ring part of a-tocopherol, by aldol-type condensation of the optically active lithium salt of a,/3-unsaturated sulfoxide. Although the diastereomeric ratio of allylic alcohol 151 formed from lithium salt 149 and 150 was not determined, the reaction of 149 with salicylaldehyde gave the diastereomeric alcohol in a ratio of 28 72196. 

ALCOHOL represents a convenient method of converting allyl alcohol to 2-substituted 1-propanols, while a one-pot reaction sequence of alkylation (alkyl lithium) and reduction (lithium—liquid ammonia) provides excellent yields of AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS FROM AROMATIC KETONES AND ALDEHYDES. 

It is possible to treat ketones with allyl alcohol and an acid catalyst to give y,5-unsaturated ketones directly, presumably by initial formation of the vinylic ethers, and then Claisen rearrangement.In an analogous procedure, the enolates (126) of allylic esters [formed by treatment of the esters with lithium isopropylcyclohex-... 

The stereochemistry of the first step was ascertained by an X-ray analysis [8] of an isolated oxazaphospholidine 3 (R = Ph). The overall sequence from oxi-rane to aziridine takes place with an excellent retention of chiral integrity. As the stereochemistry of the oxirane esters is determined by the chiral inductor during the Sharpless epoxidation, both enantiomers of aziridine esters can be readily obtained by choosing the desired antipodal tartrate inductor during the epoxidation reaction. It is relevant to note that the required starting allylic alcohols are conveniently prepared by chain elongation of propargyl alcohol as a C3 synthon followed by an appropriate reduction of the triple bond, e. g., with lithium aluminum hydride [6b]. 

Subsequently, these authors have also studied the effect of polar factors on the sulfenate-sulfoxide equilibrium and obtained similar results to those reported by Braverman and coworkers . For example, reaction of 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfenyl chloride with lithium allyl-a-dj alcoholate gives only (or perhaps mainly ) allyl-a-d2 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfenate, whereas the corresponding reaction with 4-nitrobenzenesul-fenyl chloride results in complete ( > 99%) rearrangement to the sulfoxide. However, when a single nitro group is located in the ortho position, the ratio (K) of sulfenate to sulfoxide approaches unity. This ratio is also affected by the polarity of the solvent and changes from 1.43 in CCI4 to 0.39 in chloroform, consistent with the results described above for the equilibrium shown in equation 9. 

Imidate esters can also be generated by reaction of imidoyl chlorides and allylic alcohols. The lithium anions of these imidates, prepared using lithium diethylamide, rearrange at around 0°C. When a chiral amine is used, this reaction can give rise to enantioselective formation of 7, 8-unsaturated amides. Good results were obtained with a chiral binaphthylamine.265 The methoxy substituent is believed to play a role as a Li+ ligand in the reactive enolate. 

Allylic substitution reactions using LPDE have also been reported. The reaction of an allyl alcohol with several nucleophiles proceeds smoothly in a 3.0 M LPDE solution (Scheme 2). 3 Moreover, a highly cationic lithium species has been developed, and a catalytic amount of this species promotes allylic substitution reactions efficiently.14... 

Conversion of ketone 80 to the enol silane followed by addition of lithium aluminum hydride to the reaction mixture directly provides the allylic alcohol 81 [70]. Treatment of crude allylic alcohol 81 with tert-butyldimethylsilyl chloride followed by N-b ro m o s u cc i n i m i de furnishes the a-bromoketone 82 in 84 % yield over the two-step sequence from a.p-unsaturated ester 80. Finally, a one-pot Komblum oxidation [71] of a-bromoketone 82 is achieved by way of the nitrate ester to deliver the glyoxal 71. It is worth noting that the sequence to glyoxal 71 requires only a single chromatographic purification at the second to last step (Scheme 5.10). 

Kinetic resolution can also be accomplished via eliminative pathways. Thus, the enantiomerically enriched allylic alcohol 102 can be prepared from the meso epoxide 96 with up to 96% ee by the action of LDA in the presence of the chiral diamine 101 and 1,8-diazabicyclo-[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU). The DBU is believed to function as an aggregation modifier, and the active catalyst is theorized to be a heterodimer of the lithium amide (deprotonated 101) and DBU, although some nonlinear effects have been observed at low DBU concentrations <00JA6610>. Dipyrrolidino derivatives (e.g., 104) have also demonstrated utility with regard to kinetic resolution <00H1029>. 

Unlike with sodium borohydride (see Section 11.01.5.2), pyrrolizin-3-one 2 reacts with lithium aluminohydride mainly as an amide. No conjugate addition occurs, and only the reductive lactam cleavage takes place to give stereoselectively the (Z)-allylie alcohol 77. Similarly, benzo-annulated pyrrolizin-3-one 17 gives the corresponding benzylic alcohol 78. The same reactivity was observed with organometallics such as methyllithium which gives exclusively the tertiary (Z)-allylic alcohol 79 (Scheme 7). 

TT-ALLYLNICKEL HALIDES METHALLYLBENZENE, 52, 115 Rearrangement of epoxides to allylic alcohols, 53, 17 Reduction, by controlled-po-tential electrolysis, 52, 22 by lithium aluminum hydride of exo-3,4-dichlorobicyclo [3.2.l]oct-2-ene to 3-chlorobicyclo[3.2.l]oct-2-ene, 51, 61... 

Although lithium aluminium hydride does not reduce alkenes or acetylene hydrocarbons, it reduces allylic alcohols and their acetylenic counterparts. Thus cinnamic acid is reduced to dihydrocinnamyl alcohol. 

In the PO route, PO is isomerized to allyl alcohol in the presence of a lithium phosphate catalyst. 

A recent study has indicated that the skeletal rearrangement step in the B12-catalysed isomerization of methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA occurs not by a radical pathway but by an anionic or organocobalt pathway. A computational study of the isomerization of allyl alcohol into homoallyl alcohol by lithium amide has pointed to a process proceeding via a transition state in which the proton is half transferred between carbon and nitrogen in a hetero-dimer. l,l-Dilithio-2,2-diphenylethene... 

Results of the reduction of unsaturated alcohols depend on the respective positions of the hydroxyl and the double bond. Since the hydroxyl group is fairly resistant to hydrogenolysis by catalytic hydrogenation almost any catalyst working under mild conditions may be used for saturation of the double bond with conservation of the hydroxyl [608]. In addition, sodium in liquid ammonia and lithium in ethylamine reduced double bonds without affecting the hydroxyl in non-allylic alcohols [608]. 

Replacement of an allylic hydroxyl without saturation or a shift of the double bond was achieved by treatment of some allylic-type alcohols with triphenyliodophosphorane (PhjPHI), triphenyldiiodophosphorane (PhsPIj) or their mixture with triphenyl phosphine (yields 24-60%) [612]. Still another way is the treatment of an allylic alcohol with a pyridine-sulfur trioxide complex followed by reduction of the intermediate with lithium aluminum hydride in tetrahydrofuran (yields 6-98%) [67 J]. In this method saturation of the double bond has taken place in some instances [675]. 

The proposed mechanism of this reaction is based on the nucleophilic attack of the alkyllithium compound at the carbenoid carbon atom or at the a-lithiooxy carbene. The dilithium compound 102 gives the alkene 103 by the loss of lithium oxide (equation 56). When an alkoxy residue, which is a better leaving group than U2O, is offered in the a-position of the corresponding dilithium compound, the elimination of lithium alkoxide takes place instead of lithium oxide. This is illustrated by the reaction of epoxide 104 that delivers the allylic alcohol 105 upon treatment with n-butyllithium (equation The... 

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