Metal enolates from enol ethers

The reaction has broad scope 5-, 6-, and 7-membered ring metallated enol ethers participate equally well as do organocuprates derived from MeLi, PhLi, sec-BuLi, tert-BuLi, MejSnLi, and PhMejSiLi among others. The reaction also works with Grignard reagents. Some examples are given in the Table. 

Silyl enol ethers are other ketone or aldehyde enolate equivalents and react with allyl carbonate to give allyl ketones or aldehydes 13,300. The transme-tallation of the 7r-allylpalladium methoxide, formed from allyl alkyl carbonate, with the silyl enol ether 464 forms the palladium enolate 465, which undergoes reductive elimination to afford the allyl ketone or aldehyde 466. For this reaction, neither fluoride anion nor a Lewis acid is necessary for the activation of silyl enol ethers. The reaction also proceed.s with metallic Pd supported on silica by a special method[301j. The ketene silyl acetal 467 derived from esters or lactones also reacts with allyl carbonates, affording allylated esters or lactones by using dppe as a ligand[302]... 

Catalytic hydrogenation of the 14—15 double bond from the face opposite to the C18 substituent yields (196). Compound (196) contains the natural steroid stereochemistry around the D-ring. A metal-ammonia reduction of (196) forms the most stable product (197) thermodynamically. When R is equal to methyl, this process comprises an efficient total synthesis of estradiol methyl ester. Birch reduction of the A-ring of (197) followed by acid hydrolysis of the resultant enol ether allows access into the 19-norsteroids (198) (204). 

The general reaction procedure and apparatus used are exactly as described in Procedure 2. Ammonia (465 ml) is distilled into a 2-liter reaction flask and to this is added 165mlofisopropylalcoholandasolutionof30g(0.195 mole) of 17/ -estradiol 3-methyl ether (mp 118.5-120°) in 180 ml of tetrahydrofuran. The steroid is only partially soluble in the mixture. A 5 g portion of sodium (26 g, 1.13 g-atoms total) is added to the stirred mixture and the solid dissolves in the light blue solution within several min. As additional metal is added, the mixture becomes dark blue and a solid (matted needles) separates. Stirring is inefficient for a few minutes until the mass of crystals breaks down. All of the sodium is consumed after 1 hr and 120 ml of methanol is then added to the mixture with care. The product is isolated as in Procedure 4h 2. After being air-dried, the solid weighs 32.5 g (ca. 100% for a monohydrate). A sample of the material is dried for analysis and analyzed as described in Procedure 2 enol ether, 91% unreduced aromatics, 0.3%. The crude product may be crystallized from acetone-water or preferably from hexane. 

Whereas metal-catalyzed decomposition of simple diazoketones in the presence of ketene acetals yields dihydrofurans 121,124,134), cyclopropanes usually result from reaction with enol ethers, enol acetates and silyl enol ethers, just as with unactivated alkenes 13). l-Acyl-2-alkoxycyclopropanes were thus obtained by copper-catalyzed reactions between diazoacetone and enol ethers 79 105,135), enol acetates 79,135 and... 

Adapted from Sasidharan and Kumar (257). Reaction conditions catalyst, 150 mg methyl trimethyl-silyl dimethylketene acetal (silyl enol ether), 10 mmol benzaldehyde, 10 mmol dry THF as dispersion medium, 10 mL temperature, 333 K reaction time, 18 h. Yield refers to the isolated product yield. Moles of product per mole of metal per hour. b The metal atom is substituted in the tetrahedral position. 

Judging from these findings, the mechanism of Lewis acid catalysis in water (for example, aldol reactions of aldehydes with silyl enol ethers) can be assumed to be as follows. When metal compounds are added to water, the metals dissodate and hydration occurs immediatdy. At this stage, the intramolecular and intermolecular exchange reactions of water molecules frequently occur. If an aldehyde exists in the system, there is a chance that it will coordinate to the metal cations instead of the water molecules and the aldehyde is then activated. A silyl enol ether attacks this adivated aldehyde to produce the aldol adduct. According to this mechanism, it is expected that many Lewis acid-catalyzed reactions should be successful in aqueous solutions. Although the precise activity as Lewis acids in aqueous media cannot be predicted quantitatively... 

Ketone and ester enolates have historically proven problematic as nucleophiles for the transition metal-catalyzed allylic alkylation reaction, which can be attributed, at least in part, to their less stabilized and more basic nature. In Hght of these limitations, Tsuji demonstrated the first rhodium-catalyzed allylic alkylation reaction using the trimethly-silyl enol ether derived from cyclohexanone, albeit in modest yield (Eq. 4) [9]. Matsuda and co-workers also examined rhodium-catalyzed allylic alkylation, using trimethylsilyl enol ethers with a wide range of aUyhc carbonates [22]. However, this study was problematic as exemplified by the poor regio- and diastereocontrol, which clearly delineates the limitations in terms of the synthetic utihty of this particular reaction. 

Lewis acids are quite often used as catalysts in organic synthesis. Although most Lewis acids decompose in water, it was found that rare earth triflates such as Sc(OTf)3, Yb(OTf)3, etc. can be used as Lewis acid catalysts in water or water-containing solvents (water-compatible Lewis acids) [6-9]. For example, the Mukaiyama aldol reactions of aldehydes with silyl enol ethers were catalyzed by Yb(OTf)3 in water-THF (1 4) to give the corresponding aldol adducts in high yields [10, 11]. Interestingly, when the reactions were carried out in dry THF (without water), the yield of the aldol adducts was very low (ca. 10%). Thus, this catalyst is not only compatible with water but also is activated by water, probably due to dissociation of the counteranions from the Lewis acidic metal. Furthermore, the catalyst can be easily recovered and reused. 

Dehydrobromination of bromotrifluoropropene affords the more expensive trifluoropropyne [237], which was metallated in situ and trapped with an aldehyde in the TIT group s [238]synthesis of 2,6-dideoxy-6,6,6-trifluorosugars (Eq. 77). Allylic alcohols derived from adducts of this type have been transformed into trifluoromethyl lactones via [3,3] -Claisen rearrangements and subsequent iodolactonisation [239]. Relatively weak bases such as hydroxide anion can be used to perform the dehydrobromination and when the alkyne is generated in the presence of nucleophilic species, addition usually follows. Trifluoromethyl enol ethers were prepared (stereoselectively) in this way (Eq. 78) the key intermediate is presumably a transient vinyl carbanion which protonates before defluorination can occur [240]. Palladium(II)-catalysed alkenylation or aryla-tion then proceeds [241]. 

Template reactions between malonaldehydes and diamines in the presence of copper(II), nickel(II) or cobalt(II) salts yield neutral macrocyclic complexes (equation 15).99-102 Both aliphatic102 and aromatic101 diamines can be used. In certain cases, non-macrocyclic intermediates can be isolated and subsequently converted into unsymmetrical macrocyclic complexes by reaction with a different diamine (Scheme ll).101 These methods are more versatile and more convenient than an earlier template reaction in which propynal replaces the malonaldehyde (equation 16).103 This latter method can also be used for the non-template synthesis of the macrocyclic ligand in relatively poor yield. A further variation on this reaction type allows the use of an enol ether (vinylogous ester), which provides more flexibility with respect to substituents (equation 17).104 The approach illustrated in equation (15), and Scheme 11 can be extended to include reactions of (3-diketones. The benzodiazepines, which result from reaction between 1,2-diaminobenzenes and (3-diketones, can also serve as precursors in the metal template reaction (Scheme 12).101 105 106 The macrocyclic complex product (46) in this sequence, being unsubstituted on the meso carbon atom, has been shown to undergo an electrochemical oxidative dimerization (equation 18).107... 

Transition-metal mediated carbene transfer from 205 to benzaldehyde generates carbonyl ylides 211 which are transformed into oxiranes 216 by 1,3-cyclization, into tetrahydrofurans 212, 213 or dihydrofurans 214 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with electron-deficient alkenes or alkynes, and 1,3-dioxolanes 215 by [3 + 2] cycloaddition with excess carbonyl compound120 (equation 67). Related carbonyl ylide reactions have been performed with crotonaldehyde, acetone and cyclohexanone (equation 68). However, the ylide generated from cyclohexanone could not be trapped with dimethyl fumarate. Rather, the enol ether 217, probably formed by 1,4-proton shift in the ylide intermediate, was isolated in low yield120. In this respect, the carbene transfer reaction with 205 is not different from that with ethyl diazoacetate121, whereas a close analogy to diazomalonates is observed for the other carbonyl ylide reactions. 

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