Nitro compounds, enolates reactions

Enolates of aldehydes, ketones, and esters and the carbanions of nitriles and nitro compounds, as well as phosphorus- and sulfur-stabilized carbanions and ylides, undergo the reaction. The synthetic applications of this group of reactions will be discussed in detail in Chapter 2 of Part B. In this section, we will discuss the fundamental mechanistic aspects of the reaction of ketone enolates with aldehydes md ketones. 

In respect of their properties, conditions of rearrangement, and reactions, we simply refer to what was said about the keto-enol change. Here, also, the bromine method enables the points of equilibrium to be determined quantitatively. The oldest and most important example of desmotropy in nitro-compounds was found in phenylnitromethane,... 

The mechanism of the coupling reaction has been very exhaustively studied. Summarising first what has already been mentioned, it must be noted that the reaction is not confined to the aromatic series, for diazo-compounds condense also with enols and with the very closely related aliphatic aci-nitro-compounds. The final products of these reactions are not azo-compounds, but the isomeric hydrazones formed from them by rearrangement. 

Similarly, the addition of triethylborane to lithium enolates allowed ready reaction with allyl nitro compounds catalyzed by palladium(O) complexes.108109... 

Nitroolefins are attractive alternative acceptors to enones. In 1999, Barnes and Ji reported an efficient catalyst system for reaction of nitroolefins with 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with high enantioselectivity (up to 97% ee Scheme 19) [22], Using this method, a highly functionalized nitro compound 38, an important intermediate in the synthesis of an endothelin-A antagonist, was prepared on a large scale in 88 % ee. In this case, the formation of a chiral Mg enolate as a reactive intermediate was proposed. 

The enolate ion intermediate is now much more basic than the anion of the nitro compound so it removes a proton from the nitro compound and provides another molecule of anion for the seeond round of the reaction,... 

Ambident anions are mesomeric, nucleophilic anions which have at least two reactive centers with a substantial fraction of the negative charge distributed over these cen-ters ) ). Such ambident anions are capable of forming two types of products in nucleophilic substitution reactions with electrophilic reactants . Examples of this kind of anion are the enolates of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, phenolate, cyanide, thiocyanide, and nitrite ions, the anions of nitro compounds, oximes, amides, the anions of heterocyclic aromatic compounds e.g. pyrrole, hydroxypyridines, hydroxypyrimidines) and others cf. Fig. 5-17. 

The popularity of the Nef reaction is due in part to the ready availability of nitro compounds. Primary and secondary halides react with sodium nitrite in dimeAyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or dimethylform-amide (DMF) to give useful yields of nitro compounds. Primary amines can be oxidized to nitro compounds with potassium permanganate, m-chloroperbenzoic acitP or ozone. Chlorination of oximes with hypochlorous acid and reduction with magnesium, zinc or hydrogen/lpalladium gives secondary nitro compounds. Stabilized carbanions can be nitrated by treauitent with a nitrate ester, and enol acetates are nitrated by acetyl nitrate to give nitro ketones. ... 

The naphthylamines may be prepared by reduction of the corresponding nitro compound, but they are readily accessible from naphthois by the Bucherer reaction The naphthol is heated, preferably under pressure in an autoclave, with ammonia and aqueous sodium hydrogen sulfite solution, when an addition-elimination sequence occurs. The detailed mechanism is not completely elucidated, but the Bucherer reaction is restricted to those phenols that show a tendency to tautomerize to the keto form, such as the naphthois and 1,3-dihydroxybenzene (resorcinol). Using 1-naphthol for illustration, the first step is addition of the hydrosulfite across the 3,4-double bond of either the enol or keto tautomer (Scheme 12.9). Nucleophilic attack by ammonia at the carbonyl group... 

Aliphatic nitro compounds show a number of reactions which parallel those of carbonyl chemistry. Primary and secondary nitro compounds exhibit tautomerism paralleling keto-enol tautomerism (Scheme 3.94a). Aliphatic nitro compounds dissolve in aqueous sodium hydroxide with the formation of sodium salts. The resultant anions behave as carban-ions and will condense with aldehydes. An example involves the formation of m-nitrostyrene from nitromethane and benzaldehyde (Scheme 3.94b). 

In many of these cases, both the enolate anion and substrate can exist as (Z) or (E) isomers. With enolates derived from ketones or carboxylic esters. The (E) enolates gave the syn pair of enantiomers (p. 166), while (Z) enolates gave the anti pair. Nitro compounds add to conjugated ketones in the presence of a dipeptide and a piperazine. ° Malonate derivatives also add to conjugated ketones, and keto esters add to conjugated esters.Addition of chiral additives to the reaction, such as metal-salen complexes,proline derivatives, or (—)-sparteine, ... 

Conversion of the nitro compound to the ketone by hydrolysis of the enol derivative is followed J- Froborg and G. Magnusson, J. by an extremely good intramolecular aldol reaction giving the fused five-membered ring. 1978,100, 6728. 

The conjugate bases of carbonyl compounds, enolates, react with ketones and aldehydes in the aldol reaction. The reaction is usually executed in two stages. First, the enolate is generated, usually by deprotonation of the carbonyl compound at low temperature with a strong base such as LDA, KHMDS, or LiHMDS, but not always. Then the electrophilic carbonyl compound is added to the reaction mixture. Under these conditions, the reaction usually stops at the /3-hydroxycarbonyl stage. The nucleophilic component may be any carbonyl compound, or even a nitrile, a sulfonyl compound, or a nitro compound (honorary members of the carbonyl family). 

The initial intent to cover the subject exhaustively had to be abandoned because of the overwhelming amount of relevant literature. The following reactions are not covered but are briefly discussed, with references to reviews and seminal papers, in the section on Comparison with Other Methods reactions of carbanions and enolates and their surrogates with nitrogen oxides, nitrite and nitrate esters, and nitroso and nitro compounds reactions of enolates with diazonium salts, including the Japp-Klingemann reaction the diazo transfer reaction except as it interferes with the synthesis of azides the animation of boranes and the Neber rearrangement. 

NaBHj/NiC or Raney nickel, the menthyloxy group is removed with NaBH /KOH to give 3,4-disubstituted butyrolactones with a high diastereo- and enantioselectivity (Figure 7.69). Corey and Houpis [1458] have described asymmetric Michael reactions of ketone enolates with a 2-thiophenyl crotonate of 8-phenmenthol. Chirality has also been introduced on the amino group of 2-ami-nomethyiacrylates to perform the asymmetric addition of the anion of the tert-Bu ester of cyclopentanecarboxylate [1459], More important developments have been reported with chiral a,p-unsaturated sulfoxides and nitro compounds as Michael acceptors (see below). 

Aromatic nitro-compounds can be made to condense with silyl-enol-ethers using tris(dimethylamino) sulfur (trimethylsilyl)difluoride (TASF) a non-aromatic nitronate intermediate is aromatised by reaction with bromine, without isolation, to provide a 2-(orf/to-nitroaryl)-ketone and thence an indole after nitro group reduction. ... 

The term Michael addition has been used to describe 1,4- (conjugate) additions of a variety of nucleophiles including organometallics, heteroatom nucleophiles such as sulfides and amines, enolates, and allylic organometals to so-called Michael acceptors such as a,p-unsaturated aldehydes, ketones, esters, nitriles, sulfoxides, and nitro compounds. Here, the term is restricted to the classical Michael reaction, which employs resonance-stabilized anions such as enolates and azaenolates, but a few examples of enamines are also included because of the close mechanistic similarities. 

The reaction of nitromethane with an acceptor such as methyl vinyl ketone can proceed in water without the assistance of a base (see Scheme 10.8 in Sect. 10.2.2) [69]. The rate constant is low at ambient pressure, but is considerably increased with the aid of pressure [36]. The slight acidity of the nitro compound makes the nitronate a suitable base. However, the formation of the enolate requires assistance. In view of the very negative value of the volume of activation (—35.5 cm mol ) it is suggested that an electrostatic volume term must be taken into account together with a volume contribution arising from the specific interaction of water with the activated complex. 

The advantage of mild reaction conditions is obvious, if enolates are oxidized at low temperatures in methanol. Thus, Narasaka et al. demonstrated that cerium(IV) ammonium nitrate smoothly generates radicals 12 after deprotonation of nitro compounds Id [8], The electrophilic radicals can be added to electron-rich double bonds like silyl enol ethers 13. Ketones 14 are formed as intermediates, which after elimination of HNO2 under the basic reaction conditions alford enones 15 in high yields as final products (Scheme 4). 

Dimethyldioxirane, together with acetone, is removed from the reaction vessel by distillation. The yellow 0.1-0.2 M solution can be used as an oxidizing agent, e.g. for the epoxidation of olefins [19], for the oxidation of enolates to a-hydroxycarbonyl compounds and for the oxidation of primary amines into nitro compounds ... 

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