Nitroalkenes bonding

Formation of C-C Bonds by Addition to Olefinic Double Bonds Enimines, Nitroalkenes, 4,5-Dihydrooxazoles, a,/MJnsaturated Sulfones, Sulfoxides and Sulfoximines... 

A high degree of syn selectivity can be obtained from the addition of enamines to nitroalkenes. In this case, the syn selectivity is largely independent of the geometry of the acceptor, as well as the donor, double bond. Next in terms of selectivity, are the addition of enolates. However, whether one obtains syn or anti selectivity is dependent on both the geometry of the acceptor and the enolate double bond, whereas anti selectivity of a modest and unreliable level is obtained by reaction of enol silyl ethers with nitroalkenes under Lewis acid catalysis. 

A second important reaction type considered in this chapter is conjugate addition, which involves addition of nucleophiles to electrophilic double or triple bonds. A crucial requirement for this reaction is an electron-withdrawing group (EWG) that can stabilize the negative charge on the intermediate. We focus on reactions between enolates and a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and other electrophilic alkenes such as nitroalkenes. 

Denmark and coworkers have found that methylaluminum bis (2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methyl-phenoxide) (MAD) or methylaluminum bis(2,6-diphenylphenoxide) (MAPh) is effective as the Lewis acid promoter for cycloaddition of 2,2-disubstituted 1-nitroalkenes (Eq. 8.100).158 Other Lewis acids such as SnCl4, TiCl4, and TiCl2(Oi-Pr)2 fail to promote the cycloaddition of 2,2-disubstituted 1-nitroalkenes. The products are converted into 3,3-disubstituted pyrrolidines via hydrogenolysis.158 Reductive cleavage of N-0 bonds produces oxime hemiacetals, which are further reduced to amido aldehydes and finally to pyrrolidines. This reaction provides a useful synthetic method for pyrrolidines, which is discussed later. 

The reactions of 4-nitrobenzodifuroxan 242 with a series of common dienes, such as cyclopentadiene, cyclohexa-diene, isoprene, 2,3-dimethylbutadiene, and 1-acetoxybutadiene, with ethoxymethyleneacetylacetone were found to proceed very readily to afford stable cycloadducts, which are the result of highly stereoselective normal electron-demand (NED) Diels-Alder reactions. Due to the additional activation provided by the two adjacent furoxan rings, the nitroalkene double bond of compound 242 is also prone to undergo NED reactions with less reactive dienic structures, such as the enol form of ethoxymethyleneacetylacetone and the in situ generated 2-ethoxy-4-(2-furfur-yl)buta-l,3-diene <2004TL1037, 2005T8167>. 

The behavior of complexes of nitroalkenes (42) with LA toward conjugated dienes is yet another factor underlying the role of these complexes. Conjugated nitroalkenes (42) are considered as active dienophiles in classical Diels-Alder reactions (104, 105). On the contrary, in the presence of SnCl4, nitroalkenes (42) react with cyclopentadiene and 1,3-cyclohexadiene exclusively at one double bond (103). Therefore, it is highly probable that the 42 + 43 cycloaddition proceeds by a nonconcerted mechanism in the presence of LA (see Scheme 3.40). 

Reactions with alkenes and nonconjugated dienes have been described in many publications (101, 103, 106-111). Various alkenes, such as cycloalkenes as well as acyclic alkenes, up to tetrasubstituted derivatives, can react with nitroalkenes (42) (110). Only one double bond is involved in the reactions of heterodienes (42) with nonconjugated dienes (111), whereas the second double bond can be used in subsequent transformations of target nitronates (35). The reactions of heterodienes (42) with inactivated alkenes require the presence of LA as catalyst. 

However, the introduction of sterically hindered substituents at the p-car bon atom of nitroalkene (42) completely changes the ring-chain tautomerism of conjugated nitroalkenes. Apparently, steric hindrance caused by two bulky Bu groups in product (42a) (Scheme 3.47) prevents effective conjugation of the jt systems of the C,C double bond and the nitro group, thus causing its deviation from the plane of the C=C bond as a result of which isomer (47a) becomes thermodynamically more favorable. 

Professor Seebach and coworkers (96) used silyl enolate (203) containing an additional C,C double bond in the Michael reaction with a-nitroalkene (204) in the presence of chiral LA (Scheme 3.146). 

Intramolecular nitrile oxide cycloaddition. The conjugate addition of t-butyl isocyanide to a nitroalkene can generate a nitrile oxide, which can be trapped intramolecularly by a double bond to form an isoxazoline. 

When nitroalkenes were used as Michael acceptors, high yields and enantioselectivities of the desired Michael addition products were also obtained (Scheme 5.22). In these reactions, a well-defined chiral Ru amido complex (Figure 5.9) was an efficient catalyst. The mild reaction conditions and high reactivities and stereoselectivities allowed a large-scale reaction in the presence 1 mol% Ru catalyst. By using a chiral Pd(II) catalyst, an asymmetric allylic arylation was reported by Mikami and coworkers to give the cross-couphng product via the activation of both allylic C H and aryl C H bonds in moderate enantioselectivity (Scheme 5.23). ... 

A systematic study on enzymatic catalysis has revealed that isolated enzymes, from baker s yeast or old yellow enzyme (OYE) termed nitroalkene reductase, can efficiently catalyze the NADPH-linked reduction of nitroalkenes. Eor the OYE-catalyzed reduction of nitrocyclohexene, a catalytic mechanism was proposed in which the nitrocyclohexene is activated by nitro-oxygen hydrogen bonds to the enzymes His-191 and Asn-194 [167, 168]. Inspired by this study Schreiner et al. 

Scheme 6.104 Key intermediates of the proposed catalytic cycle for the 100-catalyzed Michael addition of a,a-disubstituted aldehydes to aliphatic and aromatic nitroalkenes Formation of imine (A) and F-enamine (B), double hydrogen-bonding activation of the nitroalkene and nucleophilic enamine attack (C), zwitterionic structure (D), product-forming proton transfer, and hydrolysis.

Chen and co-workers presented, in 2007, a Michael-type Friedel-Crafts reaction of 2-naphthols and trans-P-nitroalkenes utilizing the bifunctional activating mode of cinchonine-derived catalyst 117 [277]. The nitroalkene was activated and steri-cally orientated by double hydrogen bonding, while the tertiary amino group interacts with the naphthol hydroxy group to activate the naphthol for the nucleophilic P-attack at the Michael acceptor nitroalkene (Scheme 6.117). 

Figure 6.61 Bifunctional hydrogen-bonding pyrrolidine-(thio)ureas utilized for Michael reactions of ketones with nitroalkenes.

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