Reactivity lithium enolates

Transmetalation of lithium enolate 1 a (M = Li ) by treatment with tin(II) chloride at — 42 °C generates the tin enolate that reacts with prostereogenic aldehydes at — 78 °C to preferentially produce the opposite aldol diastereomer 3. Diastereoselectivities of this process may be as high as 97 3. This reaction appears to require less exacting conditions since similar results are obtained if one or two equivalents of tin(ll) chloride arc used. The somewhat less reactive tin enolate requires a temperature of —42 C for the reaction to proceed at an acceptable rate. The steric requirements of the tin chloride counterion are probably less than those of the diethyla-luminum ion (vide supra), which has led to the suggestion26 44 that the chair-like transition state I is preferentially adopted26 44. This is consistent with the observed diastereoselective production of aldol product 3, which is of opposite configuration at the / -carbon to the major product obtained from aluminum enolates. 

Reaction of the lithium enolate 2 with prochiral aldehydes at low temperature proceeds with little selectivity, producing all four possible diastereomers 3, 4, 5, and 6 in similar amounts50. Transmetalation of the lithium enolate by treatment with three equivalents of diethylaluminum chloride or with one equivalent of copper cyanide generates the corresponding cthylaluminum and copper enolates which react at — 100°C with prochiral aldehydes to produce selectively diastereomers 1 and 2, respectively50. The reactivity of tin enolates of iron- propanoyl complexes has not been described. 

As an alternative to lithium enolates. silyl enolates or ketene acetals may be used in a complementary route to pentanedioates. The reaction requires Lewis acid catalysis, for example aluminum trifluoromethanesulfonate (modest diastereoselectivity with unsaturated esters)72 74 antimony(V) chloride/tin(II) trifluoromethanesulfonate (predominant formation of anti-adducts with the more reactive a,/5-unsaturated thioesters)75 montmorillonite clay (modest to good yields but poor diastereoselectivity with unsaturated esters)76 or high pressure77. 

Aldol Reactions of Lithium Enolates. Entries 1 to 4 in Scheme 2.1 represent cases in which the nucleophilic component is a lithium enolate formed by kinetically controlled deprotonation, as discussed in Section 1.1. Lithium enolates are usually highly reactive toward aldehydes and addition occurs rapidly when the aldehyde is added, even at low temperature. The low temperature ensures kinetic control and enhances selectivity. When the addition step is complete, the reaction is stopped by neutralization and the product is isolated. 

During the last decade, a substantial number of novel (sometimes even stereoselective) strategies for the preparation of allenic prostaglandins have been devised. The approach used by Patterson involves a three-component coupling via a 1,4-addi-tion of the organocopper compound 121 to the enone 120, followed by alkylation of the enolate formed with the bromide 122 (Scheme 18.40) [121]. However, due to the notoriously low reactivity in the alkylation of the mixed copper-lithium enolate formed during the Michael addition [122], the desired product 123 was obtained with only 28% chemical yield (the alkylation was not even stereoselective, giving 123 as a 1 1 mixture of diastereomers). 

The reactivity of lithium enolates has been explored in a theoretical study of the isomers of C2H30Li, such as the lithium enolate, the acyl lithium, and the a-lithio enol. Imides containing a chiral 2-oxazolidine have been employed for enantioselective protonation of prochiral enolates.A degree of kinetic control of the product E/Z-enolate ratio has been reported for the lithiation of 3,3-diphenylpropiomesitylene, using lithium amides/alkyls. " °... 

Since a number of lithium enolates are signiflcantly less soluble and less reactive in diethyl ether than in 1,2-dimeth-oxyethane, the submitters recommend the general use of this simple procedure to remove the diethyl ether before the lithium enolate is generated. 

Lithium Enolates. The control of mixed aldol additions between aldehydes and ketones that present several possible sites for enolization is a challenging problem. Such reactions are normally carried out by complete conversion of the carbonyl compound that is to serve as the nucleophile to an enolate, silyl enol ether, or imine anion. The reactive nucleophile is then allowed to react with the second reaction component. As long as the addition step is faster than proton transfer, or other mechanisms of interconversion of the nucleophilic and electrophilic components, the adduct will have the desired... 

Table 2 shows the results of the addition of silicon and lithium enolates of methyl acetate to 2b and 2c (Eq. 3). Under the Fe-Mont catalysis, the t-butyldimethylsi 1yl ketene acetal of 6 is far less reactive than the trimethyl si 1 yl ketene acetal of 1, requiring higher reaction temperature moreover, it caused exclusive 1,2-addition to 2b in a good yield, but was inactive to 2c. Satisfactory yields of the expected products could not be... 

In general, LiBr and NEt3 are employed in 1.5 and 1.2 equiv, respectively. Although the reaction becomes rather slower, catalytic amounts of LiBr/NEt3 (0.1 equiv each) are also sufficient. In reactions with the highly reactive dipolarophile N-methylmaleimide, the catalytic reaction results in a better yield. A similar lithiation is possible with a-substituted (alkylideneamino)acetates and (alkylideneamino)-acetamides to generate lithium enolates (86). Cycloadditions with a variety of a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds leads to endo cycloadducts. However, the reaction with acrylonitrile is again nonstereoselective. 

Treatment of lithium enolate species, such as 7, with a variety of metal halide species produces enolates with different reactivities in particular, diethylaluminum(IH) and copper(I) species have been found to profoundly alter stereodifferentiation in reactions of iron acyl enolates (see Section D.1.3.4.2.5.1.). It has not been established whether complex formation or discrete ti ansmetalation occurs usually, a temperature increase from — 78 °C to — 42 °C is required for maximum effect, suggesting that cation exchange is responsible. In some cases, such additives exert an influence at —78 °C13, and this has been attributed to simple Lewis acid-type interactions with the substrate instead of transmetalation of the enolate species. For simplicity, when such additives are allowed to react with enolate species at temperatures of — 42 =C and above prior to the addition of other reagents, the process shall be referred to as transmetalation. 

Polymer-supported reagent. HMPT supported on a polystyrene-type resin is a catalyst for SN2 reactions5-7 and for reduction of ketones by NaBIi4.7 It also has a marked effect on the alkylation of ethyl acetoacetate with diethyl sulfate. In the presence of solid HMPT the enolales undergo 60 70% O-alkylation. In the absence of HMPT, the lithium enolate does not react and the sodium and potassium enolates undergo C-alkylation (90-100%). There is some difference in the effect of solid and liquid I1MPT The solid HMPT increases the reactivity of the K. enolate more than the liquid form, whereas the reverse is true with the Li enolate.8... 

Nucleophilicity is determined by HOMO energy the higher the energy the more reactive the nucleophile. HOMO energies (in au) for these nucleophiles are -0.275 (enamine), -0.266 (lithium enolate), -0.337 (silyl enol ether), and -0.339 (enol). Rank the nucleophiles from most reactive to least reactive. How does this ranking compare to that based on electrostatic potential ... 

The utility of global and local reactivity descriptors to predict chemical reactivity and C- versus O-alkylation has been investigated for the case of lithium enolates.298... 

If we do the same disconnection at the alcohol oxidation level 27 the reagent for the a2 synthon might be an epoxide 29. More reactive enolates such as lithium enolates are now all right. 

The low reactivity of glycine enolate with unactivated alkyl halides to form a-amino acids could be overcome by stabilizing the nucleophile using m-aminoindanol-derived hippuric acid 53. This key substrate was readily prepared from commercially available azalactone 54 by a one-pot operation (85% yield, 2 steps). The lithium enolate of amide acetonide 53 with a wide range of alkyl halides proceeded in moderate yields (>60%) and excellent diastereoselectivities (>95% de). Assuming that lithium halide would facilitate the dissociation of the amide enolate from the aggregated state and thus enhance its reactivity, 4 equivalents of lithium chloride were used as additive and resulted in a 25% increase in yield (Scheme 24.11). Reactions with secondary halides... 

A novel asymmetric synthesis of a-amino acids via electrophilic amination has been demonstrated by Zheng and Armstrong and co-workers.94 No +NHBoc was observed when lithium tert-butyl-A-tosyloxycarbamate (LiBTOC) was reacted with zinc and lithium enolates of 48. Transmetallation of the lithium enolate with copper cyanide was necessary to generate a reactive amide cuprate, which then added efficiently to the electrophile. The electrophilic amination of chiral cuprates with LiBTOC provided an expedient approach to a-amino acids with predictable absolute configuration in high enantiomeric purity and good yield (Scheme 24.23). 

D. Seebach, Structure and Reactivity of Lithium Enolates. From Pinacolone to Selective C-Alkylations of Peptides. Difficulties and Opportunities Afforded by Complex Structures, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl 1988, 27, 1624-1654. 

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