Lithium conjugate addition

The preparation and some synthetic applications of lithium dialkylcuprates were described earlier (Section 14 11) The most prominent feature of these reagents is then-capacity to undergo conjugate addition to a p unsaturated aldehydes and ketones... 

Quite a number of asymmetric thiol conjugate addition reactions are known [84], but previous examples of enantioselective thiol conjugate additions were based on the activation of thiol nucleophiles by use of chiral base catalysts such as amino alcohols [85], the lithium thiolate complex of amino bisether [86], and a lanthanide tris(binaphthoxide) [87]. No examples have been reported for the enantioselective thiol conjugate additions through the activation of acceptors by the aid of chiral Lewis acid catalysts. We therefore focussed on the potential of J ,J -DBFOX/ Ph aqua complex catalysts as highly tolerant chiral Lewis acid catalyst in thiol conjugate addition reactions. 

A ketone vvith a substituent group in its /3 position might be prepared by a conjugate addition of that group to an a,/3-unsaturated ketone. In the present instance, the target molecule has a propyl substituent on the /3 carbon and might therefore be prepared from 2-methyl-2-cyclopentenoneby reaction with lithium dipropylcopper. 

How might conjugate addition reactions of lithium diorganocopper reagents be used to synthesize the following compounds ... 

Posner recently reported a very simple and fast way to activate epoxides towards nucleophilic opening by ketone lithium enolate anions by use of BF3 Et20 (1 equiv.) [73]. The application of this procedure to the nucleophilic opening of propene oxide with the lithium enolate of 2-cycloheptanone, obtained by the conjugate addition of trimethylstannyllithium to 2-cycloheptenone, afforded the stan-... 

Conjugate Addition. To a solution of 1.5 mmol of lithium dialkylcuprate at — 25 CC is added 1 mmol of methyl ( )-3-[(25,45,55)-3-benzyloxycarbonyl-4-methyl-5-phenyl-2-oxazolidinyl]-propenoate dissolved in 1 mL of dry diethyl ether. After 30 ntin at — 25 C, the mixture is treated with an aq NH3/NH4C1 pH 8 buffer solution and then stirred at r.t. for 15 min. After diethyl ether extraction, the organic layers are dried over Na,S()4 and filtered and the solvent is evaporated under reduced pressure. The crude products are checked by H- and l3C-NMR analyses in order to determine the diastereomer ratios (g 95 5) and then purified by flash chromatography (hexane/ethyl acetate 80 20) yield 70-72%. 

The conjugate addition of lithium cuprates to cinnamates 1 bearing a chiral oxazolidine or imidazolidine ring at the ortho position produced 2 in good to excellent yield upon hydrolysis14. 

The conjugate addition of lithium dimethylcuprate to spiroketone 5 gave predominantly (S j-6 [(S)/(R) 92 8] in which methyl group attacked from the side syn to the oxygen atom, whereas the addition of lithium dimethylcuprate-chlorotrimethylsilane afforded exclusively the anti-adduct (S)-621,... 

The conjugate addition of lithium dimethylcuprate to chalcone in the presence of (2S)-1-(2,2-dimethyl-l-oxopropyl)-2-diphenylphosphinomethylpyrrolidine gave the corresponding S-adduct with 84% ec in 79% yield79. 

The conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to 2-cyclohexenone was promoted by catalytic amounts (2-4 mol %) of alkylcopper(I) complexes of the lithium amide prepared from N- (R)-1 -phenylethyl]-2-[(/ )-l-phenylethyliminojcycloheptatrienamine, Li[CuR(CHIRAMT)]52,11. However, 3-substituted cyclohexanones were obtained in very low ee (4-14%). 

Use of 3-trimethylsilylbut-3-en-2-one in conjugate addition/annelation reaction with 2-methylcyclohexenone after conjugate addition with lithium dimethylcopper. 

A similar stereospecific conjugate addition to epoxysulfone 323 was also observed416. When this reaction of 323 was carried out with methyllithium at — 78 °C dichloromethane-diethyl ether (1 1) in the presence of lithium perchlorate, compounds 324 and 325 were obtained in a ratio of 95 5. On the other hand, in the treatment of 323... 

Potassium or lithium derivatives of ethyl acetate, dimethyl acetamide, acetonitrile, acetophenone, pinacolone and (trimethylsilyl)acetylene are known to undergo conjugate addition to 3-(t-butyldimethylsiloxy)-1 -cyclohexenyl t-butyl sulfone 328. The resulting a-sulfonyl carbanions 329 can be trapped stereospecifically by electrophiles such as water and methyl iodide417. When the nucleophile was an sp3-hybridized primary anion (Nu = CH2Y), the resulting product was mainly 330, while in the reaction with (trimethylsilyl)acetylide anion the main product was 331. 

The stereoselective conjugate addition of lithium (Z)-dialkenylcuprates to vinyl sulfones gives (Z)-olefms in the range of 70-80% overall yield and no ( )-isomer is detected (equation 66)56. The degree of stereoselectivity is higher than 90%. 

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