Lithium iodide in hydrolysis of esters

There are no significant differences between ethyl and methyl esters concerning synthesis or cleavage. Related protocols of the methyl esters (see Section 2.2.1.1.1.1) are, therefore, applied to the ethyl esters. The usefulness of ethyl esters is somewhat limited by the difficulties encountered in their saponification. Hydrolysis with alkali is feasible, but ethyl esters are less sensitive to nucleophilic attack than methyl esters. Aminolysis and hydrazinolysis as well as cleavage of the alkyl-oxygen bond with lithium iodide in pyridineb l proceed several times slower in the case of ethyl esters. Mild enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis by trypsin and chymotrypsin,t 2° 2 1 or by carboxypeptidase remains an attractive alternative. 

Several esters highly resistant to hydrolysis by base have been hydrolyzed successfully by refluxing with anhydrous lithium iodide in collidine. The reaction is often slow, for example, hydrolysis of the ester (1) required refluxing under nitrogen... 

When a cold (-78 °C) solution of the lithium enolate derived from amide 6 is treated successively with a,/ -unsaturated ester 7 and homogeranyl iodide 8, intermediate 9 is produced in 87% yield (see Scheme 2). All of the carbon atoms that will constitute the complex pentacyclic framework of 1 are introduced in this one-pot operation. After some careful experimentation, a three-step reaction sequence was found to be necessary to accomplish the conversion of both the amide and methyl ester functions to aldehyde groups. Thus, a complete reduction of the methyl ester with diisobutylalu-minum hydride (Dibal-H) furnishes hydroxy amide 10 which is then hydrolyzed with potassium hydroxide in aqueous ethanol. After acidification of the saponification mixture, a 1 1 mixture of diastereomeric 5-lactones 11 is obtained in quantitative yield. Under the harsh conditions required to achieve the hydrolysis of the amide in 10, the stereogenic center bearing the benzyloxypropyl side chain epimerized. Nevertheless, this seemingly unfortunate circumstance is ultimately of no consequence because this carbon will eventually become part of the planar azadiene. 

The total synthesis started with a Birch reduction of p-methoxytoluene (382) to obtain the dihydro compound 383, which was treated with p-toluenesulfonic acid to obtain acetal 384. CyclopropanatiOTi with ethyl diazoacetate and transaceta-lization led to compound 385, which reacted to the unsaturated keto ester 386 on treatment with base. In the next step, the keto ester 386 was methylated with methylmagnesium chloride, and it reacted selectively at the 2-positon to yield 387. Lactonization with further methylation with methyl iodide afforded homo-lactone 389, which reacted with lithium salt 390 to alkyne 391 and was reduced with sodium borohydride to diol 392. Partial reductiOTi of the triple bond to the double bond was obtained with sodium in ammonia and further treatment with acid led to hydrolysis of the acetal, which subsequently cychzed to 394 (Scheme 8.1). 

Keto stannylenolates can be prepared by the reaction of Sn-O or Sn-N bonded compounds with diketene, which can be regarded as a cyclic enol ester. The adducts formed from bis(tributyltin) oxide can undergo further reaction, with subsequent decarboxylation, to give the same products as those from the simple enolates. Alkylation with alkyl iodides or benzyl or allyl bromides is strongly catalysed by lithium bromide (e.g. Scheme 14-5). Double alkylation can be achieved with HMPA as solvent.120 The product of alkylation before the final hydrolysis is itself a tin enolate, which can be used in reactions with further carbon electrophiles. 

Diethyl methylthiomethylphosphonate can be alkylated by successive treatment with n-butyl-lithium and an alkyl iodide the lithio-derivatives of such alkylated esters react with carbonyl compounds to give /S-alkoxyphosphonate adducts. These products decompose readily to vinyl methyl sulphides, which undergo mercury(ii)-promoted hydrolysis to the corresponding ketone. These transformations are outlined in Scheme 53. 

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