Addition, conjugate nitroalkanes

Nitroalkane conjugate addition can be combined with other reactions... 

The stereospecific base-cleavage of the trimethylsilyl group in 1,3-dithiane 1-oxides 499 enables to obtain the specifically deuteriated products 500 (equation 303), A nitro group in y-nitroalkyl sulphoxides 501 (obtained by the Michael addition of nitroalkanes to a, j8-unsaturated sulphoxides) is replaced by hydrogen by means of tributyltin hydride (equation 304). This reagent does not affect the sulphinyl function. The overall procedure provides an efficient method for the conjugate addition of alkyl groups to a, -unsaturated sulphoxides . ... 

Scheme 2.23 provides some examples of conjugate addition reactions. Entry 1 illustrates the tendency for reaction to proceed through the more stable enolate. Entries 2 to 5 are typical examples of addition of doubly stabilized enolates to electrophilic alkenes. Entries 6 to 8 are cases of addition of nitroalkanes. Nitroalkanes are comparable in acidity to (i-ketocslcrs (see Table 1.1) and are often excellent nucleophiles for conjugate addition. Note that in Entry 8 fluoride ion is used as the base. Entry 9 is a case of adding a zinc enolate (Reformatsky reagent) to a nitroalkene. Entry 10 shows an enamine as the carbon nucleophile. All of these reactions were done under equilibrating conditions. 

The Michael addition of nitroalkanes to a,P-unsaturated ketones followed by the Nef reaction has been extensively used as a method for the conjugated addition of acyl anions to enones (see Section 6.1, Nef Reaction). This strategy is one of the best methods for the preparation of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds.156a h Various natural products have been prepared via this route.157 For example, r/.v-jasmone is prepared from readily available materials, as shown in Scheme 4.19.156f... 

Conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to ailyl Baylis-Hillman acetates in the presence of NaOH (0.6 N) in THF gives 2-alkylidene-4-nitro ketones with high stereoselectivity these are converted via the Nef reaction into the corresponding 1,4-diketones (Eq. 4.119).164... 

The sequence of the Michael addition of nitroalkanes and denitration provides a general method for conjugate addition of primary and secondary alkyl groups to electron deficient alkenes (Eq. 4.122).168... 

The synthesis of 2,3,5-trialkylpyrroles can be easily achieved by conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to 2-alken-l,4-dione (prepared by oxidative cleavage of 2,5-dialkylfuran) with DBU in acetonitrile, followed by chemoselective hydrogenation (10% Pd/C as catalyst) of the C-C- double bond of the enones obtained by elimination of HN02 from the Michael adduct. The Paal-Knorr reaction (Chapter 10) gives 2,3,5-trialkylpyrroles (Eq. 4.124).171... 

Yamaguchi and coworkers have found that proline rubidium salts catalyze the asymmetric Michael addition of nitroalkanes to prochiral acceptors. When (25)-L-prolines are used, acyclic ( )-enones give (S)-adducts. Cyclic (Z)-enones give (R)-adducts predominantly (Eq. 4.139).203 Recently, Hanessianhas reported that L-proline (3 7% mol equiv) and 2,5-dimethylpiperazine are more effective to induce catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to cycloal-kanones.204... 

Alternatively, Ballini devised a new strategy to synthesize tri-alkylated pyrroles from 2,5-dialkylfurans and nitroalkanes <00SL391>. This method involves initial oxidation of 2,5-dimethylfuran with magnesium monoperoxyphthalate to cA-3-hexen-2,5-dione (6). Conjugate addition of the nitronate anion derived from the nitro compound 7 to 6 followed by chemoselective hydrogenation of the C-C double bond of the resulting enones 8 (obtained by elimination of nitrous acid from the Michael adduct) completes the conversion to the alkylated y-diketones 9. Final cyclization to pyrroles 10 featured improved Paal-Knorr reaction conditions involving reaction of the diketones with primary amines in a bed of basic alumina in the absence of solvent. 

Silylation of Products of Conjugated Addition of Nucleophiles to a-Nitroolefins Nitroalkane anions can be generated not only by deprotonation of nitroalkanes (various modifications of these process were considered above) but also by the conjugated addition of nucleophiles 56 to a-nitroalkenes (42) (Scheme 3.56, Table 3.2). 

Conjugate addition of RN02 to enones. Primary nitroalkanes and a, (3-enones when activated by alumina form conjugate addition products that are oxidized in situ by alkaline hydrogen peroxide to 1,4-diketones. A similar reaction of nitromethane with a vinyl ketone provides 1,4,7-triketones. 

In a series of reports between 1991 and 1997 Yamaguchi showed that rubidium salts of L-proline (9) catalysed the conjugate addition of both nitroalkanes [29, 30] andmalonates [31-33] to prochiral a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds in up to 88% ee (Scheme 1). Rationalisation of the selectivities observed involved initial formation of an iminium ion between the secondary amine of the catalyst and the a,p-unsaturated carbonyl substrate. Subsequent deprotonation of the nucleophile by the carboxylate and selective delivery using ion pair... 

As previously noted (Scheme 1), prior to the explosion of interest in iminium ion catalysis as a platform for the activation of a,P-unsaturated carbonyl compounds in 2000, Yamaguchi [29-33] and Taguchi [34] showed that proline derived bi-func-tional catalysts could provide an effective platform for the ion-pair controlled conjugate addition of malonates and nitroalkanes to a, 3-unsaturated ketones with good levels of stereocontrol. 

The majority of recent contributions for the conjugate addition of C-H acids to a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds catalysed through iminium ion intermediates have come from the laboratories of Jprgensen. The ease with which 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and nitroalkanes can be deprotonated, together with the soft nature of the nucleophile mean this is a particularly facile reaction which conveniently leads to useful precursors for further synthetic manipulation. 

Scheme 24 Conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to a,p-unsatutated ketones...

Fig. 5 Catalysts for the conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to acyclic Michael acceptors...

In a collection of insightful pieces of work Enders has incorporated an iminium ion conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to a,P-unsaturated aldehydes into a triple cascade reaction generating up to four contiguous stereocentres in one pot, again indicative of the complexity attainable from superficially simple catalysts and techniques [175-177] (Scheme 46). 

The conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to a,P-unsaturated aldehydes (Sect. 2.2.2) has been investigated by Uggerud, who compared the uncatalysed, proton catalysed and iminium ion catalysed additions [232]. The results suggested that protonated acrolein was more activated towards addition than the iminium ion catalysed process and also indicated that an intermediate oxazolidin structure 183, unobserved experimentally, may be involved in the reaction pathway (Fig. 17) with the transition state resembling that of a [3+2] cycloaddition process. 

The Cu(I)-catalysed asymmetric conjugate addition of dialkyl zinc reagents to 3-nitrocoumarins 45 gives high yields of 3,4-dihydrocoumarins in a pH-dependent diastereoisomeric ratio. Subsequent decarboxylation gives optically active p-aryl nitroalkanes... 

Conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to enones.5 This addition can be effected with basic alumina in the absence of a solvent at 25° in 50-88% yield. 

This reaction can be used to effect conjugate addition of an alkyl group to a,p-unsaturated sulfoxides, which is generally unsatisfactory with RMgBr or R2CuLi. However, nitroalkanes undergo this 1,4-addition in the presence of a base, particularly DBU, and the product can be selectively reduced to the desired sulfoxide. The same conditions can be used to effect conjugate addition to a,/ -unsaturated ketones and esters.10... 

Maruoka and coworkers developed the diastereo- and enantioselective conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to alkylidenemalonates under mild phase-transfer conditions... 

As an extension of this research, Maruoka and coworkers succeeded in the catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to cyclic a,[S-unsaturated ketones under phase-transfer conditions (Scheme 5.40) [39]. Here, the use of 3,5-bis(3,4,5-trifluorophenyl)phenyl-substituted catalyst (S,S)-lj is crucial for obtaining the high enantioselectivity. 

Pyrrolidin-2-yltetrazole has been found to be a versatile organocatalyst for the asymmetric conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to enones.45 Using this catalyst, this transformation requires short reaction times, tolerates a broad substrate scope, and possibly proceeds via generation of an iminium species. 

A highly diastereo- and enantio-selective formal conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to nitroalkenes has been achieved using a chiral ammonium bifluoride catalyst (9)46 This strategy provides a reliable route to optically active 1,3-dinitro compounds. 

The proline-catalyzed conjugate addition of nitroalkanes was further developed by Hanessian and Pham, resulting in enantiomeric excesses up to 93% in the addition of a variety of nitroalkanes to cyclic enones (Scheme 4.14) [27]. In their catalytic system, L-proline (3-7 mol%) was employed together with equimolar amounts (relative to the substrate enones) of trans-2,5-dimethylpiperazine. The latter addi-... 

The 1,4-addition (or conjugate addition) of resonance-stabilized carbanions. The Michael Addition is thermodynamically controlled the reaction donors are active methylenes such as malonates and nitroalkanes, and the acceptors are activated olefins such as a,P-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. 

Michael-aldol reaction as an alternative to the Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction 14 recent results in conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to electron-poor alkenes 15 asymmetric cyclopropanation of chiral (l-phosphoryl)vinyl sulfoxides 16 synthetic methodology using tertiary phosphines as nucleophilic catalysts in combination with allenoates or 2-alkynoates 17 recent advances in the transition metal-catalysed asymmetric hydrosilylation of ketones, imines, and electrophilic C=C bonds 18 Michael additions catalysed by transition metals and lanthanide species 19 recent progress in asymmetric organocatalysis, including the aldol reaction, Mannich reaction, Michael addition, cycloadditions, allylation, epoxidation, and phase-transfer catalysis 20 and nucleophilic phosphine organocatalysis.21... 

The first examples of catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of alkylzinc reagents to trisubstituted nitroalkenes, such as PhC(Me)=CHN02, leading to the formation of nitroalkanes bearing a quaternary carbon stereogenic centre, have been reported. Reactions are promoted by the readily available amino acid-based phosphine (211)... 

Nitroalkane anions are very stable and hence excellent at conjugate addition (chapter 22). Quite weak bases such as amines are enough to give the anion of 44 and hence the nitro-ketones 45. Reduction gives the amino-ketones 46 that cyclise to give imines, reduced under the reaction conditions to pyrrolidines 47. 

The alternative transformation of a nitroalkane into a ketone (chapter 22) is well illustrated by a one-pot process where alumina is used to catalyse the conjugate addition and an oxidative process with H2O2 is used to form the ketone.7 Overall yields are good, e.g. R1 = Bu, R2 = Et, 90% yield. 

Now the first conjugate addition, an intramolecular reaction between the nitroalkane and unsaturated ester in 92 is followed by conjugate addition of some aryl metal derivative to the unsaturated nitro-compound 93. Both the unsaturated nitro-compound and ester could be made by aldol or Wittig reactions but there is clearly a potential selectivity problem. 

Now comes the key step intramolecular conjugate addition of the nitroalkane anion to the unsaturated ester. When catalysed by CsF and a tetra-alkyl ammonium salt, this is selective (1.5 1) for the all equatorial products 100. Reduction and cyclisation give the lactam 102 having the right stereochemistry for (Llycorane 72. 

A general and mild InBr3-catalyzed protocol for the conjugate addition of indoles to nitroalkenes to give 2-indolyl-l-nitroalkanes was described by Bandini, Umani-Ronchi and et al. [45]. The process performed in aqueous media provides the functionalized indoles in excellent yields (99-65%) and allows catalyst to be reused several times without loss of effectiveness (Scheme 9). 

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