Nitroalkenes hydrogenation

Reactions of zinc-copper reagents bearing acidic hydrogen and sulfur ftincdonliiities v/ith various electrophiles, including nitroalkenes, have been reported, as shovm in Eq. 4.86 ° and Eq. 4.87, °" respectively. 

Introduction of fluorine by oxirane-ring opening is described first. The 1,2-oxirane 408, prepared from nitroalkene 407 and hydrogen peroxide, was treated with KHF2 (ethylene glycol, 20 min, 112°) to 2-... 

The rationalization of stereoselectivity is based on two assumptions. (1) The 1-arylthio-1-nitroalkenes adopt a reactive conformation in which the ally lie hydrogen occupies the inside position, minimizing 1,3-allylic strain. (2) The epoxidation reagent can then either coordinate to the ally lie oxygen (in the case of Li), which results in preferential syn epoxidation or in the absence of appropriate cation capable of strong coordination (in the case of K) steric and electronic effects play a large part, which results in preferential anti epoxidation (Scheme 4.7).52... 

Seebach and Brenner have found that titanium enolates of acyl-oxazolidinones are added to aliphatic and aromatic nitroalkenes in high diastereoselectivity and in good yield. The effect of bases on diastereoselectivity is shown in Eq. 4.59. Hydrogenation of the nitro products yields y-lactams, which can be transformed into y-amino acids. The configuration of the products is assigned by comparison with literature data or X-ray crystal-structure analysis. 

In recent years, the importance of aliphatic nitro compounds has greatly increased, due to the discovery of new selective transformations. These topics are discussed in the following chapters Stereoselective Henry reaction (chapter 3.3), Asymmetric Micheal additions (chapter 4.4), use of nitroalkenes as heterodienes in tandem [4+2]/[3+2] cycloadditions (chapter 8) and radical denitration (chapter 7.2). These reactions discovered in recent years constitute important tools in organic synthesis. They are discussed in more detail than the conventional reactions such as the Nef reaction, reduction to amines, synthesis of nitro sugars, alkylation and acylation (chapter 5). Concerning aromatic nitro chemistry, the preparation of substituted aromatic compounds via the SNAr reaction and nucleophilic aromatic substitution of hydrogen (VNS) are discussed (chapter 9). Preparation of heterocycles such as indoles, are covered (chapter 10). 

In spite of the success of asymmetric iridium catalysts for the direct hydrogenation of alkenes, there has been very limited research into the use of alternative hydrogen donors. Carreira and coworkers have reported an enantioselective reduction of nitroalkenes in water using formic acid and the iridium aqua complex 69 [66]. For example, the reduction of nitroalkene 70 led to the formation of the product 71 in good yield and enantioselectivity (Scheme 17). The use of other aryl substrates afforded similar levels of enantioselectivity. 

The chemical entrainment method was used by Ono et al. (1979) to eliminate the nitro group in nitroalkene derivatives. On simple mixing with thiophenol and sodium sulfide in DMF, nitro aryl olefins substitute hydrogen for the nitro group (Scheme 5.9). 

Nitroalkanols are intermediate compounds that are used extensively in many important syntheses 142). They can be converted by hydrogenation into / -aminoalcohols, which are intermediates for pharmacologically important chemicals such as chloroamphenicol and ephedrine. They are obtained by Henry s reaction by the condensation of nitroalkanes with aldehydes. The classical method for this transformation involves the use of bases such as alkali metal hydroxides, alkoxides, Ba(OH)2, amines, etc. 142-144). However, these catalysts give predominantly dehydrated products—nitroalkenes— which are susceptible to polymerization (Scheme 16). The reaction proceeds by the nucleophilic addition of the carbanion formed by the abstraction of a proton from the nitro compound to the carbon atom of the carbonyl group, finally forming the nitroaldol by abstraction of a proton from the catalyst. 

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 6.54 Chiral nitroalkanes provided from the 54-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of nitroalkenes in the presence of 55.

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.

Kozikowski and Stein (281) used the INOC strategy to prepare the 2-methyle-necyclopentanone derivative 172, which in turn was converted to sarkomycin (173), an antitumor agent (Scheme 6.81). The key step involved the treatment of nitroalkene 169 (obtained from bromide 168) with p-chlorophenyl isocyanate-triethylamine, which furnished a single diastereomeric isoxazoline 170 in 55% yield. This compound was transformed to the aldol product 171 by Raney nickel hydrogenation using wet acetic or boric acid, followed by dehydration to the a,p-enone 172 (281), a precursor of 173. 

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