Michael acceptors enamine activation

Michael reaction of enamines of u-alkyl- -keto esters. The chiral lithioen-amine (1), prepared from (S)-valine /-butyl ester, does not react with methyl vinyl ketone or ethyl acrylate unless these Michael acceptors are activated by ClSi(CH3)3... 

Similar additions may be performed with the enamine 13. However, with 3-buten-2-one or methyl 2-propenoate Lewis acid catalysis is needed to activate the Michael acceptor chloro-trimethylsilane proved to be best suited for this purpose. A remarkable solvent effect is seen in these reactions. A change from THF to HMPA/toluene (1 1) results in a reversal of the absolute configuration of the product 14, presumably due to a ligand effect of HMPA235. 

Donor- and acceptor-substituted allenes with general structures 1 or 2 (Scheme 8.1) have the most obvious synthetic potential among functionalized allene derivatives and therefore they serve as versatile building blocks in many synthetic endeavors [1], As expected, the reactivity of the double bonds of 1 or 2, which are directly connected to the activating substituents, are strongly influenced by these groups. Hence there is enol ether or enamine reactivity of 1 and Michael acceptor type chemistry of 2. In addition, the terminal double bonds are also influenced by these functional groups. 

Activation of Michael Acceptors by Iminium Ion Formation, Activation of Carbonyl Donors by Enamine Formation... 

C-Nucleophiles have recently been added asymmetrically to azodicarboxylates as Michael-acceptors, resulting in a-amination of the nucleophilic component. Examples of this type of reaction, which is based on activation of the aldehyde or ketone component by enamine formation, are summarized in Scheme 4.27. Please note that this type of reaction is covered in more detail in chapter 7 of this book. 

In the thiazolium cation the proton in the 2-position is acidic and its removal gives rise to the ylide/carbene 227. This nucleophilic carbene 227 can add, e.g., to an aldehyde to produce the cationic primary addition product 228. The latter, again via C-deprotonation, affords the enamine-like structure 229. Nucleophilic addition of 229 to either an aldehyde or a Michael-acceptor affords compound(s) 230. The catalytic cycle is completed by deprotonation and elimination of the carbene 227. Strictly speaking, the thiazolium salts (and the 1,2,4-triazolium salts discussed below) are thus not the actual catalysts but pre-catalysts that provide the catalytically active nucleophilic carbenes under the reaction conditions used. This mechanism of action of thiamine was first formulated by Breslow [234] and applies to the benzoin and Stetter-reactions catalyzed by thiazolium salts [235-237] and to those... 

The observed absolute configuration of the products is in compliance with a simple transition state model where the phenyl group of the diox-ane moiety shields the Re face of the intermediate formed by addition of the nucleophilic carbene to the aldehyde, therefore, directing the attack of the enoate Michael acceptor to occur with the less hindered face, that is the Si face of the enamine (Fig. 16). The electrophilic part of the intermediate bearing the activated C=C double bond is approached by... 

A variety of secondary amines have been used for enamine alkylation. Nonetheless, the three most commonly used, pyrrolidine, piperidine and morpholine, appear to still represent the best compromise between ease of access to the amine and formation of the enamine and the degree of conversion to mono-alkylated product. Pyrrolidine appears to be the best amine for the specific case where the electrophilic paitner for the enamine is a Michael acceptor, such as an a, 3-unsaturated ester, - and enamines derived from this base are generally more reactive than the piperidine and morpholine analogs. The use of optically active amines for asymmetric induction will be covered in Section 4.1.2.3. 

As has already been mentioned, the low reactivity of enamine nucleophiles needs a highly electrophilic Michael acceptor for the reaction to proceed with good conversions in an acceptable time. In this context, the Michael reaction of aldehydes and ketones with nitroalkenes can be regarded as one of the most studied transformations in which the enamine activation concept has been applied. This reaction furnishes highly functionalized adducts with remarkable potential in organic synthesis, due to the synthetic versatility of the nitro group and the presence of the carbonyl moiety from the donor reagent. 

It has to be pointed out that simple enolizable aldehydes and ketones, which are not acidic enough compounds to be directly used as pro-nucleophiles in this context, can nevertheless be employed as Michael donors in the reaction with enals or enones, which have been previously activated as the corresponding iminium ion, but their use requires prior activation via enamine activation. In these cases, it is usually proposed that the amine catalyst is involved in a dual activation profile interacting with both the Michael donor and the acceptor, although the enamine activation of the pro-nucleophile is mandatory for the reaction to occur, the activation of the acceptor being of less relevance in most cases. For these reasons, this chemistry has been covered in Chapter 2. 

This dual enamine/iminium activation profile in cascade Michael/aldol reactions can also be found even in some early reports, mostly focused on the self-dimerization of enals catalyzed by proline or analogues derived thereof, which generally proceeded with low enantioselect vities. There is not a clear and definitive mechanistic pathway confirmed for these reactions, although the most widely accepted proposal for the dimerization of enals (Scheme 7.4) ° involved sequential activation of one molecule of the substrate as a dienamine (Michael donor) and another molecule as iminium ion (Michael acceptor). 

E-ajp-unsaturated ester was employed, while a single diastereoisomer was obtained using the corresponding Z substrate. This reaction design has also been extended to the use of an a,p-unsaturated aldehyde as the initial Michael acceptor, in this case it being necessary to consider the possible dual activation of the Michael donor and acceptor by the catalyst through the formation of the corresponding enamine and iminium intermediates. ... 

A wide variety of carbon nucleophiles have been successfully used in the organocatalytic asymmetric inter- and intramolecular Michael addition to different a,p-unsaturated systems. Among them, the addition of aldehydes to diverse Michael acceptors such as, a,p-unsaturated ketones, alkylidene malonates, P-nitrostyrenes, and vinyl sulfones, is one of the most studied reactions. Enamine catalysis is the most frequently employed chiral activation found in the literature. 

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