Lithium enolates regioselective

Only moderate induced diastereoselectivity is achieved in the addition reactions of lithium enolates of the following a-silyloxy ketones43 and carbohydrate-derived ketones44, deproto-nated in each case at the methylene group in a regioselective manner to benzaldehyde. 

In contrast to these transformations, Michael additions of simple enolates to acceptor-substituted dienes often yield mixtures of 1,4- and 1,6-addition products27-30. For example, a 70 30 mixture of 1,4- and 1,6-adducts was isolated from the reaction of the lithium enolate of methyl propionate with methyl sorbate30. This problem can be solved by using the corresponding silyl ketene acetal in the presence of clay montmorillonite as acidic promoter under these conditions, almost exclusive formation of the 1,4-addition product (syn/anti mixture) was observed (equation ll)30. Highly regioselective 1,4-additions... 

The regioselectivity of alkylations of silyl dienol ethers has been studied87,88. These reactions favor y-alkylation products. In contrast, alkylations of the corresponding lithium enolates mainly occur in the a-position. Substituents on the silyl diene unit, as well as the substituents at the silicon, strongly influence the regioselectivity of the reaction87 91,... 

A new method of kinetically controlled generation of the more substituted enolate from an unsymmetrical ketone involves precomplexation of the ketone with aluminium tris(2,6-diphenylphenoxide) (ATPH) at —78°C in toluene, followed by deprotonation with diisopropylamide (LDA) highly regioselective alkylations can then be performed.22 ATPH has also been used, through complexation, as a carbonyl protector of y./)-unsaturated carbonyl substrates during regioselective Michael addition of lithium enolates (including dianions of /i-di carbonyl compounds).23... 

Enol sulfonates. Sulfonylation of enolate anions with 1 is markedly affected by the gegenion. Lithium enolates undergo mainly C-sulfonylation. Cesium or quaternary ammonium enolates undergo regioselective O-sulfonylation. The same behavior is observed with nonailuorobutanesulfonyl fluoride.1... 

C-Carboxylation of enolates.1 Carboxylation of potassium enolates generated from silyl enol ethers is not regioselective because of extensive enolate equilibration. Regiospecific C-carboxylation of lithium enolates is possible with carbonyl sulfide in place of carbon dioxide. The product is isolated as the thiol methyl ester. If simple esters are desired, transesterification can be effected with Hg(OAc)2 (8, 444). Carboxylation of ketones in this way in the presence of NaH and DMSO is not satisfactory because of competing alkylation of the enolate.2 Example ... 

The molecular mechanisms for the nucleophilic addition of lithium enolates and silyl ketene acetals to nitrones in the absence and in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst to give isoxazolidin-5-ones or hydroxylamines have been investigated by DFT methods at the B3LYP/6-31G level.13 An analysis of the global electrophilicity of the reagents accounts for the strong electrophile activation of the Lewis acid-coordinated nitrone, (g) and the analysis of the local indices leads to an explanation for the experimentally observed regioselectivity. 

In the last chapter we used two specific enol equivalents for alkylation reactions lithium enolates and 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds. Both will help us to solve the regioselectivity problem in the... 

Regioselectivity is better when the contrast is between secondary and tertiary centres as with cyclic ketone 25. The less substituted lithium enolate 26 is formed almost exclusively (99 1) in dimethoxymethane.3... 

We need now to look at situations where both compounds might enolise and see how specific enolates can be used to control which compound does so (chemoselectivity) before looking at how we control which side of an unsymmetrical ketone forms the enolate (regioselectivity). We met two specific enol equivalents in chapter 13 (5-dicarbonyl compounds and lithium enolates and they are the keys to this section. 

Another important contribution is to the regioselectivity of enolate formation from unsym-metrical ketones. As we established in chapter 13, ketones, particularly methyl ketones, form lithium enolates on the less substituted side. These compounds are excellent at aldol reactions even with enolisable aldehydes.15 An application of both thermodynamic and kinetic control is in the synthesis of the-gingerols, the flavouring principles of ginger, by Whiting.16... 

Lithium enol ethers of methyl / ,/ -unsaturated ketones are quenched by NBS to yield regioselective bromination of the methyl group (equation 135)918 ... 

On the other hand, lithium enolates derived from substituted endocyclic ketones have largely been exploited in the synthesis of steroids since the regioselectivity of their deprotonation can be controlled and high levels of 1,2- and 1,3-stereoselection occur9,418. The control is steric rather than electronic, with the attack directed to the less substituted ji-face of the enolate for conformationally rigid cyclopentanones, whereas stereoelectronic control becomes significant for the more flexible cyclohexanones. Finally, an asymmetric variant of the formation of a-branched ketones by hydration of camphor-derived alkynes followed by sequential alkylation with reactive alkyl halides of the resulting ketones was recently reported (Scheme 87)419. 

The more reactive ft -carbon atom of ketone a,/ -dianions can be regiospecifically coupled with alkyl halides to give first lithium enolates, which are then trapped by more reactive carbon electrophiles such as allylic halides. The first example shown in Table 8 deals with the sequential /1-alkylation and ce-allylation of a ketone a,/1-dianion1 13. Thus, the dianion underwent regioselective alkylation at the ft carbon with //-pentyl bromide and then allylation with allyl bromide at the a carbon. When an excess of allyl bromide is reacted with the a, ft -dianion, the diallylated product is obtained in a good yield, whereas a threefold excess of pentyl bromide only resulted in the formation of the ft-alkylation product. Similar consecutive alkyl/allyl-type reactions are also possible for ketone a,5-dianions14. 

Keto esters.2 Methyl cyanoformate reacts regioselectively with preformed lithium enolates in the presence of HMPT at -78° to give p-keto esters in generally high yield. Sodium and potassium enolates are unreactive. 

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