Michael-like Addition Reactions

Other important applications for organoboranes" include the Michael-like addition reaction to a ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, and the alkylation of a-halogenated carbonyl compounds. 

The 1,4-addition of an enolate anion 1 to an o ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compound 2, to yield a 1,5-dicarbonyl compound 3, is a powerful method for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds, and is called the Michael reaction or Michael addition The 1,4-addition to an o ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl substrate is also called a conjugate addition. Various other 1,4-additions are known, and sometimes referred to as Michael-like additions. 

Electron-deficient alkenes, either these with conjugating substituents or of enones, undergo Michael-like additions with regiospecific introductions of the nucleophiles, and this approach has been successful for the formation of cyclopropyl derivatives—notably from some nucleosides. An example involves the addition of the anion of bis(phenylsulfonyl)methane to the phenylselenone 173 which gives the adduct 174 in 35% yield. This reaction presumably occurs by Michael addition to C-2 followed by Sn2 ring-closure reaction at C-3 with displacement of phenylselenic acid. Reductive desulfonylation affords the 2,3,-dideoxy-2,3 -cyclopropayuridine 175.199... 

Both silyl enolates and allylsilanes are excellent nucleophiles for alkylation by other stabilized carbocations such as the tertiary alkyl cations 111 or 112 (Scheme 2.42). Similarly, Michael-like additions, for example, the coupling of 113 with silyl ketene acetal 114, can be also achieved.Owing to the high electrophilicty of the enone system, this reaction proceeds smoothly in polar solvents, even in the absence of Lewis acids. 

Aspartame also can hydrolyze in solution to form a diketopiperazine derivative and can participate in Michael-type addition reactions with olefines susceptible to nucleophilic attack. The products of such interactions, if they occur, will be drug and formulation-specific, and it is likely that their safety characteristics will be unknown. 

In addition to enolate ions, other kinds of carbon nucleophiles also add to a jjS-iinsaturated acceptors in Michael-like reactions. Among the most important such nucleophiles, particularly in biological chemistry, are enamines, which are... 

Enamines behave in much the same way as enolate ions and enter into many of the same kinds of reactions. In the Stork reaction, for example, an enamine adds to an aqQ-unsaturated carbonyl acceptor in a Michael-like process. The initial product is then hydrolyzed by aqueous acid (Section 19.8) to yield a 1,5-dicarbonyi compound. The overall reaction is thus a three-step sequence of (11 enamine formation from a ketone, (2) Michael addition to an a,j3-unsaturated carbonyl compound, and (3) enamine hydrolysis back to a ketone. 

A sequence of straightforward functional group interconversions leads from 17 back to compound 20 via 18 and 19. In the synthetic direction, a base-induced intramolecular Michael addition reaction could create a new six-membered ring and two stereogenic centers. The transformation of intermediate 20 to 19 would likely be stereoselective substrate structural features inherent in 20 should control the stereochemical course of the intramolecular Michael addition reaction. Retrosynthetic disassembly of 20 by cleavage of the indicated bond provides precursors 21 and 22. In the forward sense, acylation of the nitrogen atom in 22 with the acid chloride 21 could afford amide 20. 

Another interesting example is provided by the phenylethynylcarbene complex 173 and its reactions with five-, six-, and seven-membered cyclic enamines 174 to form bridgehead-substituted five-, six-, and seven-membered cycloalkane-annelated ethoxycyclopentadienes with high regioselectivity under mild reaction conditions (Scheme 38) [119,120]. In these transformations the phenylethynylcarbene complex 173 acts as a C3 building block in a formal [3+2] cycloaddition. Like in the Michael additions (reaction route F in Scheme 4), the cyclic electron-rich enamines 174 as nucleophiles attack the... 

The decarboxylation reaction usually proceeds from the dissociated form of a carboxyl group. As a result, the primary reaction intermediate is more or less a carbanion-like species. In one case, the carbanion is stabilized by the adjacent carbonyl group to form an enolate intermediate as seen in the case of decarboxylation of malonic acid and tropic acid derivatives. In the other case, the anion is stabilized by the aid of the thiazolium ring of TPP. This is the case of transketolases. The formation of carbanion equivalents is essentially important in the synthetic chemistry no matter what methods one takes, i.e., enzymatic or ordinary chemical. They undergo C—C bond-forming reactions with carbonyl compounds as well as a number of reactions with electrophiles, such as protonation, Michael-type addition, substitution with pyrophosphate and halides and so on. In this context,... 

There is a possibiUty that (hydroxymethyl)phosphines might be catalyzing hydration of activated olefinic moieties in lignin. The Michael addition reaction shown in eq. (6a) is catalyzed by 5% THP in water at ambient conditions, with 70% conversion of the acrylonitrile no such reaction is seen with aciyhc acid or the methyl ester, but analogous hydromethoxylation of these compounds is seen in MeOH (42) (eq. (6b), R = H or Me). There is a report on similar catalytic use of tiialkylphosphines, which, like THP, are strong nucleophiles (43). 

By far most of the reports on addition reactions of hetero-nucleophiles to activated dienes deal with sulfur-nucleophiles17,48,80,120-137, in particular in the synthesis of 7/3-sulfur-substituted steroids which, like their carbon-substituted counterparts (Section n.A), are of interest because of their ability to inhibit the biosynthesis of estrogens80,129-137. Early investigations17,120-122 concentrated on simple acyclic Michael acceptors like methyl sorbate and 2,4-pentadienenitrile. Bravo and coworkers120 observed the formation of a 3 1 mixture of the 1,6- and 1,4-adduct in the reaction of methyl sorbate with methanethiol in basic medium (equation 39). In contrast to this, 2,4-pentadienenitrile adds various thiols regioselectively at C-5, i.e. in a 1,6-fashion (equation 40)17,121,122, and the same is true for reactions of this substrate with hydrogen sulfide (equation 41), sodium bisulfite and ethyl thioglycolate17. 

The anions of primary nitramines, like other nucleophiles, can undergo Michael 1,4-addition reactions with a range of a,-unsaturated substrates to form secondary nitramines of varying molecular complexity (Equation 5.18). Kissinger and Schwartz prepared a number of secondary nitramines from the condensation of primary nitramines with a,/3-unsaturated ketones, esters, amides and cyanides. In a standard experiment a solution of the primary nitramine and... 

Michael addition reactions are particularly useful when linear aliphatic bis-nitramines are used because the products contain two terminal functional groups like in the diester (182). The terminal functionality of such products can be used, or modified by simple functional group conversion, to provide oligomers for the synthesis of energetic polymers such oligomers often use terminal alcohol, isocyanate or carboxy functionality for this purpose. 

Simple addition to carbonyl compounds occnrs nnder mild acidic conditions. Examples given illns-trate reaction with acetone, an aldol-like reaction, and conjngate addition to methyl vinyl ketone, a Michael-like reaction. The first-formed alcohol products in aldol-like reactions usually dehydrate to give a 3-alkylidene-3//-indolium cation. 

Acrylates, for example, contain an a, 3-unsaturated carbonyl system and as such undergo Michael addition reactions. This is believed to be the basis of the carcinogenic properties of acrylates [21]. Incorporation of a methyl (-CH3) group on the a-carbon (to provide a methacrylate) decreases the electrophilicity (i.e., reactivity) of the (3-carbon [40], hence methacrylates do not undergo 1,4-Michael addition reactions as readily. Methacrylates often have commercial efficacy similar to that of acrylates in many applications, but are less likely to cause cancer because they are less reactive. This point can be demonstrated by comparing methyl methacrylate (6), which does not cause cancer in experimental animals [41], with ethyl acrylate (7), which causes cancer in experimental animals in assays similar to those used to test 6 [42]. 

In the field of nucleophilic additions, Queguiner and co-workers investigated Michael-type additions onto quinoxalotropones like 376 (Schemes 100 and 101 83CJC1806) whose electrophilic sites are C-6, C-10, and C-8. The reactions lead to 1,4-monoaddition products or to bridged compounds resulting from bis-1,4-addition reactions ... 

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