Nucleophilic addition Michael reaction

A large number of reactions have been presented in this chapter. However, all of these reactions involve an enolate ion (or a related species) acting as a nucleophile (see Table 20.2). This nucleophile reacts with one of the electrophiles discussed in Chapters 8, 18, and 19 (see Table 20.3). The nucleophile can bond to the electrophilic carbon of an alkyl halide (or sulfonate ester) in an SN2 reaction, to the electrophilic carbonyl carbon of an aldehyde or ketone in an addition reaction (an aldol condensation), to the electrophilic carbonyl carbon of an ester in an addition reaction (an ester condensation) or to the electrophilic /3-carbon of an a,/3-unsaturated compound in a conjugate addition (Michael reaction). These possibilities are summarized in the following equations ... 

Michael Addition. Titanium imide enolates are excellent nucleophiles in Michael reactions. Michael acceptors such as ethyl vinyl ketone, Methyl Acrylate, Acrylonitrile, and f-butyl acrylate react with excellent diastereoselection (eq 21 ). - Enolate chirality transfer is predicted by inspection of the chelated (Z)-enolate. For the less reactive unsaturated esters and nitriles, enolates generated from TiCl3(0-j-Pr) afford superior yields, albeit with slightly lower selectivities. The scope of the reaction fails to encompass p-substituted, a,p-unsaturated ketones which demonstrate essentially no induction at the prochiral center. Furthermore, substimted unsamrated esters do not act as competent Michael acceptors at all under these conditions. 

Malonate and related activated methylene compounds have also been used as the nucleophile in conjugate addition/Michael reactions. Taylor and co-workers have developed a new methodology that utilizes (salen)aluminum complexes such as 43 as a catalyst to effect the enantioselective conjugate addition to a,p-unsaturated ketones by a variety of nucleophiles.25 For example, nitriles, nitroalkanes, hydrazoic acids, and azides have found utility in this reaction. Additionally, cyanoacetate (42) has been demonstrated to undergo a highly enantioselective conjugate addition to 41. The Krapcho decarboxylation is then necessary to produce cyanoketone 44, an intermediate in the synthesis of enantioenriched 2,4-cw-di substituted piperidine 45. 

The relationship between the atlantones and deodarone is obvious. One can imagine the Michael addition of water to the two activated double bonds of a-atlantone (6.93) followed by dehydration of the resultant diol to produce the ether link of deodarone (6.95). Confirmation of the structure of deodarone relied on such interconversions. The first to show the relationship between the two ketones was the great Indian natural products chemist, Sukh Dev.6 5 He carried out a sequence similar to this hypothetical scheme. The hydroxide ion is a very poor nucleophile in Michael reactions and so Sukh Dev used the hydroperoxide anion... 

Scheme 7.4 Asymmetric thio-Michael/nucleophilic addition domino reaction.

The Michael reaction takes place with a wide variety of a, 8-unsaturated carbonyl compounds as well as with o ,j3-unsaturated nitriles and nitro compounds. The most commonly used types of nucleophiles in Michael reactions are summarized in Table 19.1. The bases most commonly used to generate the nucleophile are metal alkoxides, pyridine, and piperidine. It is important to realize that other nucleophiles can undergo similar additions to the beta carbon of unsaturated carbonyl compounds (e.g., amines, alcohols, and water). 

From the beginning one of the critical points in the chemistry of addition polyimides was to adjust the formulations in order to prevent brittleness of the final curing material. The first approach for improving the mechanical behaviour of poly(bismaleimides) was the incorporation of moieties which provide a separation of the two active maleimide groups. Diamines and dithiols have worked as very suitable spacers, capable to react with the double bonds of bismaleimides [301-304]. The reaction takes place by nucleophilic addition (Michael addition) on the electron-deficient double bond, which is activated by the two adjacent carbonyl groups (Scheme 56). The reaction is usually carried out in acidic solvents (m-cresol or DMF/acetic acid mixtures) to avoid cross-linking that occurs by reaction of the anionic intermediate with maleimide double bonds [305,306]. The mechanism for the reaction of thiols and maleimides is depicted in Scheme (56). 

Kamimura, A., Okawa, H., Morisaki, Y., Ishikawa, S., Uno, H. (2007). Asymmetric thio-Michael/nucleophilic addition domino reaction with chiral A-sulfinimines. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 72, 3569-3572. 

A synthetically useful reaction known as the Michael reaction, or Michael addition, involves nucleophilic addition of carbanions to a p unsaturated ketones The most common types of carbanions used are enolate 10ns derived from p diketones These enolates are weak bases (Section 18 6) and react with a p unsaturated ketones by conjugate addition... 

The use of carbon nucleophiles in Michael-type addition reactions with pteridine and its derivatives leads to a quite complicated and divergent pattern. These reactions are strongly dependent on the nature of the carbon nucleophile and can be divided into various categories. 

Michael addition reactions, 3, 279 with carbon nucleophiles, 3, 288 reactions... 

Exactly the same kind of conjugate addition can occur when a nucleophilic enolate ion reacts with an ,j6-unsaturated carbonyl compound—a process known as the Michael reaction. 

Michael reactions take place by addition of a nucleophilic enolate ion donor to the /3 carbon of an a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl acceptor, according to the mechanism shown in Figure 23.7. 

The conjugate addition of a carbon nucleophile to an a./3-unsiituratcd acceptor is known as the Michael reaction. The best Michael reactions take place between unusually acidic donors (/3-keto esters or /3-diketones) and unhindered n,/3-unsaturated acceptors. Knamines, prepared by reaction of a ketone with a disu Instituted amine, are also good Michael donors. 

The Gabriel-Cromwell aziridine synthesis involves nucleophilic addition of a formal nitrene equivalent to a 2-haloacrylate or similar reagent [29]. Thus, there is an initial Michael addition, followed by protonation and 3-exo-tet ring-closure. Asymmetric variants of the reaction have been reported. N-(2-Bromo)acryloyl camphor-sultam, for example, reacts with a range of amines to give N-substituted (azir-idinyl)acylsultams (Scheme 4.23) [30]. 

An illustrative example of the Michael reaction is that of the thiirene dioxide 19b with either hydroxylamine or hydrazine to give desoxybenzoin oxime (87) and desoxybenzoin azine (88), respectively, in good yields6 (see equation 29). The results were interpreted in terms of an initial nucleophilic addition to the a, j8-unsaturated sulfone system, followed by loss of sulfur dioxide and tautomerization. Interestingly, the treatment of the corresponding thiirene oxide (18a) with hydroxylamine also afforded 86 (as well as the dioxime of benzoin), albeit in a lower yield, but apparently via the same mechanistic pathway6. 

If the carbanion has even a short lifetime, 6 and 7 will assume the most favorable conformation before the attack of W. This is of course the same for both, and when W attacks, the same product will result from each. This will be one of two possible diastereomers, so the reaction will be stereoselective but since the cis and trans isomers do not give rise to different isomers, it will not be stereospecific. Unfortunately, this prediction has not been tested on open-chain alkenes. Except for Michael-type substrates, the stereochemistry of nucleophilic addition to double bonds has been studied only in cyclic systems, where only the cis isomer exists. In these cases, the reaction has been shown to be stereoselective with syn addition reported in some cases and anti addition in others." When the reaction is performed on a Michael-type substrate, C=C—Z, the hydrogen does not arrive at the carbon directly but only through a tautomeric equilibrium. The product naturally assumes the most thermodynamically stable configuration, without relation to the direction of original attack of Y. In one such case (the addition of EtOD and of Me3CSD to tra -MeCH=CHCOOEt) predominant anti addition was found there is evidence that the stereoselectivity here results from the final protonation of the enolate, and not from the initial attack. For obvious reasons, additions to triple bonds cannot be stereospecific. As with electrophilic additions, nucleophilic additions to triple bonds are usually stereoselective and anti, though syn addition and nonstereoselective addition have also been reported. 

The HX compounds are electrophilic reagents, and many polyhalo and polycyano alkenes, (e.g., Cl2C=CHCl) do not react with them at all in the absence of free-radical conditions. When such reactions do occur, however, they take place by a nucleophilic addition mechanism, (i.e., initial attack is by X ). This type of mechanism also occurs with Michael-type substrates C=C—Z, where the orientation is always such that the halogen goes to the carbon that does not bear the Z, so the product is of the form X—C—CH—Z, even in the presence of free-radical initiators. Hydrogen iodide adds 1,4 to conjugated dienes in the gas phase by a pericyclic mechanism ... 

In certain cases, Michael reactions can take place under acidic conditions. Michael-type addition of radicals to conjugated carbonyl compounds is also known.Radical addition can be catalyzed by Yb(OTf)3, but radicals add under standard conditions as well, even intramolecularly. Electrochemical-initiated Michael additions are known, and aryl halides add in the presence of NiBr2. Michael reactions are sometimes applied to substrates of the type C=C—Z, where the co-products are conjugated systems of the type C=C—Indeed, because of the greater susceptibility of triple bonds to nucleophilic attack, it is even possible for nonactivated alkynes (e.g., acetylene), to be substrates in this... 

The Knoevenagel reaction has many similarities to the Michael addition, in which a base is required to form a carbanion Ifom an activated methylene precursor which subsequently undergoes nucleophilic addition to an alkene containing a group such as an ester capable of stabilizing the resulting anion by delocalization. These reactions are widely used for... 

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. 

Anionic domino processes are the most often encountered domino reactions in the chemical literature. The well-known Robinson annulation, double Michael reaction, Pictet-Spengler cyclization, reductive amination, etc., all fall into this category. The primary step in this process is the attack of either an anion (e. g., a carban-ion, an enolate, or an alkoxide) or a pseudo anion as an uncharged nucleophile (e. g., an amine, or an alcohol) onto an electrophilic center. A bond formation takes place with the creation of a new real or pseudo-anionic functionality, which can undergo further transformations. The sequence can then be terminated either by the addition of a proton or by the elimination of an X group. 

In continuation of the aforementioned reaction, Hiroya and coworkers used cop-per(II) acetate for the synthesis of indoles 2-943 in reasonable yields from the corresponding ethynylanilines 2-941 by a domino intermolecular Michael addition/cop-per-assisted nucleophilic tosylate displacement reaction via 2-942 (Scheme 2.211) [482],... 

Barrett and coworkers have explored hetero-substituted nitroalkenes in organic synthesis. The Michael addition of nucleophiles to 1-alkoxynitroalkenes or 1-phenylthionitroalkenes followed by oxidative Nef reaction (Section 6.1) using ozone gives a-substituted esters or thiol esters, respectively.41 As an alternative to nucleophilic addition to l-(phenylthio)-nitroalkenes, Jackson and coworkers have used the reaction of nucleophiles with the corresponding epoxides (Scheme 4.4).42 Because the requisite nitroalkenes are readily prepared by the Henry reaction (Chapter 3) of aldehydes with phenylthionitromethane, this process provides a convenient tool for the conversion of aldehydes into ot-substituted esters or thiol esters. 

Hassner and coworkers have developed a one-pot tandem consecutive 1,4-addition intramolecular cycloaddition strategy for the construction of five- and six-membered heterocycles and carbocycles. Because nitroalkenes are good Michael acceptors for carbon, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen nucleophiles (see Section 4.1 on the Michael reaction), subsequent intramolecular silyl nitronate cycloaddition (ISOC) or intramolecular nitrile oxide cycloaddition (INOC) provides one-pot synthesis of fused isoxazolines (Scheme 8.26). The ISOC route is generally better than INOC route regarding stereoselectivity and generality. 

As depicted in the following scheme, in the presence of sodium iodate and pyridine, several 5,6-dihydroxylated benzofuran derivatives were synthesized via an oxidation-Michael addition of P-dicarbonyl compounds to catechols in a one-pot procedure <06TL2615 06JHC1673>. A novel additive Pummerer reaction of 2-benzo[fc]furan sulfilimines with carbon nucleophiles derived from P-dicarbonyl compounds was also employed to the synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted benzo[b]furans <06TL595>. 

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