Metal enolates reactions with alkenes

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... 

The cyclopropanation reactions of the cationic iron carbene complexes occur most efficiently with alkenes of normal electronic characteristics. Veiy electron deficient alkenes such as a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds are veiy poor substrates. Veiy electron rich alkenes such as enol ethers react rapidly, but the expected cyclopropanes generally cannot be isolated if they are indeed formed, they apparently undergo further reactions, peihaps promoted by the metallic species present in the reaction mixtures. 

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. 

C(2)-C(3) fused polycyclic cephalosporins have received considerable attention as new candidates for /3-lactam antibiotics. An access to tricyclic cephalosporins based on metal-promoted alkenylation of 3-trifloxy-A3-cephem and subsequent Diels-Alder reaction has been published <1996TL5967>. Alternatively, the reaction of a cephalosporin triflate with silyl enol ethers and silylketene acetals has been described to afford tri- and tetracyclic cephalosporins <1996TL7549>. A related process is the formation of fused polycyclic cephalosporins 27 and 28 bearing a wide range of functionalities from the reaction of cephalosporin triflates 26 with unsaturated compounds (alkenes and alkynes) and a base (Scheme 5) <1997JOC4998>. These studies have suggested that the reaction proceeds via the intermediacy of a six-membered cyclic allene which undergoes concerted nZs + K2a cycloaddition with alkenes and acetylenes. 

Ethyl diazoacetate (228 mg, 2.0 mmol) was added at a controlled rate over a 6-8 h period to a stirred mixture of the alkene (20.0 mmol) or diene (10.0 mmol) and the catalyst (0.01 -0,02 mmol) under and ordinarily at 25 C. For copper(I) triflate catalyzed reactions with enol ethers, the diazo ester dissolved in the enol ether w as added to copper(II) triflate in EtjO in order to minimize polymerization of the enol ether. Alkenes were generally purified by distillation prior to their use. The initial solubility of the transition metal compound was dependent on the alkene employed, and, with the exception of Rhg(CO)jg, bis(acetylacetonato)copper(II), and copper bronze, homogeneous solutions were obtained prior to or immediately after the initial addition of ethyl diazoacetate. 1 h after addition was complete, EtjO was added, the resulting solution was washed twice with sat. aq NaHC03 dried (MgSOJ. EtjO and excess alkene were distilled under reduced pressure. The desired cyclopropanes were obtained either by fractional bulb-to-bulb distillation or by preparative GC (Table 8). 

---