Nucleophiles, reactions with carbonyl group

Most main group organometallic compounds undergo nucleophilic reactions with carbonyl groups, whereas 1,4-conjugate addition to enones... 

The Tebbe reagent functions as a nucleophilic carbenoid in its reactions with carbonyl groups. The carbenoid is activated in the presence of a Lewis base which presumably complexes with the aluminum atom. Tetrahydrofuran is the Lewis base in the reactions described above. If the reaction is performed in the absence of added tetrahydrofuran, the carbonyl oxygen atom can function as a weak Lewis base, although the methylenation process is considerably slower. 

According to pathway 1 (Scheme 18), the carbonyl carbon atom in EC is attacked by the alkoxide ion and 2-hydroxyethyl carbonate group is formed. On the other hand, the alkyl carbonyl atom is subjected to nucleophilic attack (2), resulting in decarboxylation and irreversible formation of a DEG unit. Rokicki et al reported the loss of CO2 from alkyl-potassium carbonate such as 2-(1-phenoxy)propyl potassium carbonate above 150 °C. It should be mentioned that the reaction with carbonyl group (1) is reversible. Kinetically, the carbonyl attack is favored over the alkylene one. 

Although the present chapter includes the usual collection of topics designed to acquaint us with a particular class of compounds its central theme is a fundamental reaction type nucleophilic addition to carbonyl groups The principles of nucleophilic addition to aide hydes and ketones developed here will be seen to have broad applicability m later chap ters when transformations of various derivatives of carboxylic acids are discussed... 

Similar to cyclohexanones, substituted cyclopentanones also adopt a conformation with the substituents in a sterically favorable position. In the case of 2-substituted cyclopentanones 1 the substituent occupies a pseudoequatorial position and the diastereoselectivity of nucleophilic addition reactions to 1 is determined by the relative importance of the interactions leading to predominant fra s(equatorial) or cw(axial) attack of the nucleophile. When the nucleophile approaches from the cis side, steric interaction with the substituent at C-2 is encountered. On the other hand, according to Felkin, significant torsional strain between the pseudoaxial C-2—H bond and the incipient bond occurs if the nucleophile approaches the carbonyl group from the trans side. 

The previous sections dealt with reactions in which the new carbon-carbon bond is formed by addition of the nucleophile to a carbonyl group. Another important method for alkylation of carbon nucleophiles involves addition to an electrophilic multiple bond. The electrophilic reaction partner is typically an a,(3-unsaturated ketone, aldehyde, or ester, but other electron-withdrawing substituents such as nitro, cyano, or sulfonyl also activate carbon-carbon double and triple bonds to nucleophilic attack. The reaction is called conjugate addition or the Michael reaction. 

The compounds referred to as azolides are heterocyclic amides in which the amide nitrogen is part of an azole ring, such as imidazole, pyrazole, triazole, tetrazole, benzimidazole, benzotriazole, and their substituted derivatives. In contrast to normal amides, most of which show particularly low reactivities in such nucleophilic reactions as hydrolysis, alcoholysis, aminolysis, etc., the azolides are characterized by high reactivities in reactions with nucleophiles within the carbonyl group placing these compounds at about the same reactivity level as the corresponding acid chlorides or anhydrides. 11... 

Nucleophilic additions to carbonyl groups lead to alcohols which on dehydration, furnish alkenes70,71. This two-step protocol has been extremely useful for diene and polyene synthesis with wide variation in the carbonyl substrate and the nucleophilic addendum. Diene synthesis using aldol-type condensation as well as phenyl sulphonyl carbanion (the Julia reaction) are also discussed in this section. 

In the reaction of (R,R)-tartrate allyl-boronate with aldehydes, Si attack of the nucleophile on the carbonyl group has been observed, while Re attack occurs in (S, S )-tartrate allyl-boronate reactions. Thus, an (S )-alcohol is produced preferentially when an (R,R)-allyl reagent is used, and the (R)-product can be obtained from an (S.Sj-reagent. assuming that the R substituent in the aldehyde substrate takes priority over the allyl group to be transferred. In fact, no exceptions to this generalization have yet been found in over 40 well-characterized cases where the tartrate auxiliary controls the stereochemical outcome of the allyl or crotyl transfer.72... 

The enantioselective addition of a nucleophile to a carbonyl group is one of the most versatile methods for C C bond formation, and this reaction is discussed in Chapter 2. Trifluoromethylation of aldehyde or achiral ketone via addition of fluorinated reagents is another means of access to fluorinated compounds. Trifluoromethyl trimethylsilane [(CF SiCFs] has been used by Pra-kash et al.87 as an efficient reagent for the trifluoromethylation of carbonyl compounds. Reaction of aldehydes or ketones with trifluoromethyltrime-thylsilane can be facilitated by tetrabutyl ammonium fluoride (TBAF). In 1994, Iseki et al.88 found that chiral quaternary ammonium fluoride 117a or 117b facilitated the above reaction in an asymmetric manner (Scheme 8-42). 

Reaction of Carbon Nucleophiles with Carbonyl Groups... 

However, in these reactions it is likely that breakdown of the tetrahedral intermediate is at least partly rate determining so the general acid catalysis is probably associated with this step rather than with attack of the nucleophile on the carbonyl group. The only example of general acid catalysis of ester hydrolysis where the rate limiting step is probably nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl group appears to be the hydrolysis of tetra-O-methyl-D-glucono-... 

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