Lithium carbonyl compounds

Synthetically useful stereoselective reductions have been possible with cyclic carbonyl compounds of rigid conformation. Reduction of substituted cyclohexanone and cyclopentan-one rings by hydrides of moderate activity, e.g. NaBH (J.-L. Luche, 1978), leads to alcohols via hydride addition to the less hindered side of the carbonyl group. Hydrides with bulky substituents 3IQ especially useful for such regio- and stereoselective reductions, e.g. lithium hydrotri-t-butoxyaluminate (C.H. Kuo, 1968) and lithium or potassium tri-sec-butylhydro-borates or hydrotri-sec-isoamylborates (=L-, K-, LS- and KS-Selectrides ) (H.C. Brown, 1972 B C.A. Brown, 1973 S. Krishnamurthy, 1976). 

Sodium borohydride and lithium aluminum hydride react with carbonyl compounds in much the same way that Grignard reagents do except that they function as hydride donors rather than as carbanion sources Figure 15 2 outlines the general mechanism for the sodium borohydride reduction of an aldehyde or ketone (R2C=0) Two points are especially important about this process... 

The principal synthetic application of lithium dialkylcuprate reagents IS their reaction with a 3 unsatu rated carbonyl compounds Al kylation of the 3 carbon occurs... 

High yields of optically active cyanohydrins have been prepared from hydrogen cyanide and carbonyl compounds using an enzyme as catalyst. Reduction of these optically active cyanohydrins with lithium aluminum hydride in ether affords the corresponding substituted, optically active ethanolamine (5) (see Alkanolamines). 

Although ethereal solutions of methyl lithium may be prepared by the reaction of lithium wire with either methyl iodide or methyl bromide in ether solution, the molar equivalent of lithium iodide or lithium bromide formed in these reactions remains in solution and forms, in part, a complex with the methyllithium. Certain of the ethereal solutions of methyl 1ithium currently marketed by several suppliers including Alfa Products, Morton/Thiokol, Inc., Aldrich Chemical Company, and Lithium Corporation of America, Inc., have been prepared from methyl bromide and contain a full molar equivalent of lithium bromide. In several applications such as the use of methyllithium to prepare lithium dimethyl cuprate or the use of methyllithium in 1,2-dimethyoxyethane to prepare lithium enolates from enol acetates or triraethyl silyl enol ethers, the presence of this lithium salt interferes with the titration and use of methyllithium. There is also evidence which indicates that the stereochemistry observed during addition of methyllithium to carbonyl compounds may be influenced significantly by the presence of a lithium salt in the reaction solution. For these reasons it is often desirable to have ethereal solutions... 

The unsaturated tetraoxaquaterene (accompanied by linear condensation products) was first synthesized in 18.5% yield by the acid-catalyzed condensation of furan with acetone in the absence of added lithium salts. Other ketones also condensed with furan to give analogous products in 6-12% yield.A corresponding macrocycle was also prepared in 9% yield from pyrrole and cyclohexanone. The macrocyclic ether products have also been obtained by condensation of short linear condensation products having 2, 3, or 4 furan rings with a carbonyl compound. ... 

Structural effects on the rates of deprotonation of ketones have also been studied using veiy strong bases under conditions where complete conversion to the enolate occurs. In solvents such as THF or DME, bases such as lithium di-/-propylamide (LDA) and potassium hexamethyldisilylamide (KHMDS) give solutions of the enolates in relative proportions that reflect the relative rates of removal of the different protons in the carbonyl compound (kinetic control). The least hindered proton is removed most rapidly under these... 

Lithium silylamides react smoothly with tiifluoronitrosomethane to give diazenes Traces ot water initiate the decomposition of the latter with liberation of a trifluoromethyl carbanion, which is trapped by carbonyl compounds [775] (equation 116) Desilylation of trialkyl(trifluoromethyl)silanes by fluoride ion produces also a trifluoromethyl carbanion, which adds to carbonyl carbon atoms [136, 137] (equations 117 and 118)... 

Although the early reacbons of perfluoroaliphatic and aromatic lithium compounds with various carbonyl compounds gave low yields and mixtures of prod ucts, the current understanding of experimental conditions makes this reaction an attractive means of preparing a variety of fluonne-containmg compounds... 

The chemical reduction of enamines by hydride again depends upon the prior generation of an imonium salt (111,225). Thus an equivalent of acid, such as perchloric acid, must be added to the enamine in reductions with lithium aluminum hydride. Studies of the steric course (537) of lithium aluminum hydride reductions of imonium salts indicate less stereoselectivity in comparison with the analogous carbonyl compounds, where an equatorial alcohol usually predominates in the reduction products of six-membered ring ketones. 

Common reagents such as lithium diisopropylamide (LDA see Chapter 11, Problem 5) react with carbonyl compounds to yield lithium enolate salts and diisopropylamine, e.g., for reaction with cyclohexanone. 

The same alcohols can be produced using the lotzich method by boiling the lotzich complex (ethynyl magnesium or lithium compound in ether) with a small excess of carbonyl compound. However, the yields of the alcohols obtained by this method are somewhat lower (47-53%) (68KGS695) (Scheme 60). 

The tosylhydrazone is prepared from the carbonyl compound and then reduced with lithium aluminium hydride, sodium borohydride or potassium borohydride. In this way D-glucose tosylhydrazone was converted into crystalline 1-deoxyglucitol by reduction with potassium borohydride... 

Because carbonyl compounds are only weakly acidic, a strong base is needed for enolate ion formation. If an alkoxide such as sodium ethoxide is used as base, deprotonation takes place only to the extent of about 0. l% because acetone is a weaker acid than ethanol (pKa - 16). If, however, a more powerful base such as sodium hydride (NaH) or lithium diisopropylamide ILiNO -CjHy ] is used, a carbonyl compound can be completely converted into its enolate ion. Lithium diisopropylamide (LDA), which is easily prepared by reaction of the strong base butyllithium with diisopropylamine, is widely used in the laboratory as a base for preparing enolate ions from carbonyl compounds. 

Alpha hydrogen atoms of carbonyl compounds are weakly acidic and can be removed by strong bases, such as lithium diisopropylamide (LDA), to yield nucleophilic enolate ions. The most important reaction of enolate ions is their Sn2 alkylation with alkyl halides. The malonic ester synthesis converts an alkyl halide into a carboxylic acid with the addition of two carbon atoms. Similarly, the acetoacetic ester synthesis converts an alkyl halide into a methyl ketone. In addition, many carbonyl compounds, including ketones, esters, and nitriles, can be directly alkylated by treatment with LDA and an alkyl halide. 

There is no simple answer to this question, but the exact experimental conditions usually have much to do with the result. Alpha-substitution reactions require a full equivalent of strong base and are normally carried out so that the carbonyl compound is rapidly and completely converted into its enolate ion at a low temperature. An electrophile is then added rapidly to ensure that the reactive enolate ion is quenched quickly. In a ketone alkylation reaction, for instance, we might use 1 equivalent of lithium diisopropylamide (LDA) in lelrahydrofuran solution at -78 °C. Rapid and complete generation of the ketone enolate ion would occur, and no unreacled ketone would be left so that no condensation reaction could take place. We would then immediately add an alkyl halide to complete the alkylation reaction. 

Addition reactions of the a-seleno lithium reagent 26 to carbonyl compounds have been undertaken 27. The a-seleno lithium reagents are configurationally labile at — 78 °C 27 28 and, therefore, the diastereoselectivity observed with 26 ( 90 10) does not significantly depend on the nature of the electrophile but rather reflects the thermodynamic ratio of the diastereomeric lithium compounds. 

Since double bonds may be considered as masked carbonyl, carboxyl or hydroxymethylene groups, depending on whether oxidative or reductive methods are applied after cleavage of the double bond, the addition products from (E)-2 and carbonyl compounds can be further transformed into a variety of chiral compounds. Thus, performing a second bromine/lithium exchange on compound 4, and subsequent protonation, afforded the olefin 5. Ozonolysis followed by reduction with lithium aluminum hydride gave (S)-l-phenyl-l,2-ethanediol in >98% ee. 

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