Nucleophilic addition carbon nucleophiles, reactions

With certain other nucleophiles addition takes place at the carbon-carbon double bond rather than at the carbonyl group Such reactions proceed via enol intermediates and are described as conjugate addition ox 1 4 addition reactions... 

Chemical Properties. The chemistry of ketenes is dominated by the strongly electrophilic j/)-hybridi2ed carbon atom and alow energy lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO). Therefore, ketenes are especially prone to nucleophilic attack at Cl and to [2 + 2] cycloadditions. Less frequent reactions are the so-called ketene iasertion, a special case of addition to substances with strongly polarized or polarizable single bonds (37), and the addition of electrophiles at C2. For a review of addition reactions of ketenes see Reference 8. 

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... 

The addition of carbon nucleophile, including organometallic compounds, enolates, or enols, and ylides to carbonyl gro is an important method of formation of carbon-carbon bonds. Such reactions are- ctremely important in synthesis and will be discussed extensively in Part B. Here, we will examine some of the fundamental mechanistic aspects of addition of carbon nucleophiles to carbonyl groups. 

Enolates can also serve as carbon nucleophiles in carbonyl addition reactions. The addition reaction of enolates with carbonyl compounds is of very broad scope and is of great synthetic importance. Essentially all of the enolates considered in Chapter 7 are capable of adding to carbonyl groups. The reaction is known as the generalized aldol addition. 

Because of thetr electron deficient nature, fluoroolefms are often nucleophihcally attacked by alcohols and alkoxides Ethers are commonly produced by these addition and addition-elimination reactions The wide availability of alcohols and fliioroolefins has established the generality of the nucleophilic addition reactions The mechanism of the addition reaction is generally believed to proceed by attack at a vinylic carbon to produce an intermediate fluorocarbanion as the rate-determining slow step The intermediate carbanion may react with a proton source to yield the saturated addition product Alternatively, the intermediate carbanion may, by elimination of P-halogen, lead to an unsaturated ether, often an enol or vinylic ether These addition and addition-elimination reactions have been previously reviewed [1, 2] The intermediate carbanions resulting from nucleophilic attack on fluoroolefins have also been trapped in situ with carbon dioxide, carbonates, and esters of fluorinated acids [3, 4, 5] (equations 1 and 2)... 

The l ,J -DBFOX/Ph-transition metal aqua complex catalysts should be suitable for the further applications to conjugate addition reactions of carbon nucleophiles [90-92]. What we challenged is the double activation method as a new methodology of catalyzed asymmetric reactions. Therein donor and acceptor molecules are both activated by achiral Lewis amines and chiral Lewis acids, respectively the chiral Lewis acid catalysts used in this reaction are J ,J -DBFOX/Ph-transition metal aqua complexes. 

The biological activity of calicheamicin 4 (simplified structure) is based on the ability to damage DNA. At the reaction site, initially the distance between the triple bonds is diminished by an addition reaction of a sulfur nucleophile to the enone carbon-carbon double bond, whereupon the Bergman cyclization takes place leading to the benzenoid diradical 5, which is capable of cleaving double-stranded DNA." ... 

Before beginning a detailed discussion of alkene reactions, let s review briefly some conclusions from the previous chapter. We said in Section 5.5 that alkenes behave as nucleophiles (Lewis bases) in polar reactions. The carbon-carbon double bond is electron-rich and can donate a pair of electrons to an electrophile (Lewis acid), for example, reaction of 2-methylpropene with HBr yields 2-bromo-2-methylpropane. A careful study of this and similar reactions by Christopher Ingold and others in the 1930s led to the generally accepted mechanism shown in Figure 6.7 for electrophilic addition reactions. 

Aikene chemistry is dominated by electrophilic addition reactions. When HX reacts with an unsymmetrically substituted aikene, Markovnikov s rule predicts that the H will add to the carbon having fewer alky) substituents and the X group will add to the carbon having more alkyl substituents. Electrophilic additions to alkenes take place through carbocation intermediates formed by reaction of the nucleophilic aikene tt bond with electrophilic H+. Carbocation stability follows the order... 

The most common reaction of aldehydes and ketones is the nucleophilic addition reaction, in which a nucleophile, Nu , adds to the electrophilic carbon of the carbonyl group. Since the nucleophile uses an electron pair to form a new bond to carbon, two electrons from the carbon-oxygen double bond must move toward the electronegative oxygen atom to give an alkoxide anion. The carbonyl carbon rehybridizes from sp2 to sp3 during the reaction, and the alkoxide ion product therefore has tetrahedral geometry. 

As we saw in A Preview of Carbonyl Compounds, the most general reaction of aldehydes and ketones is the nucleophilic addition reaction. A nucleophile, Nu-, approaches along the C=0 bond from an angle of about 75° to the plane of the carbonyl group and adds to the electrophilic C=0 carbon atom. At the same time, rehybridization of the carbonyl carbon from sp2 to sp3 occurs, an electron pair from the C=0 bond moves toward the electronegative oxygen atom, and a tetrahedral alkoxide ion intermediate is produced (Figure 19.1). 

A nucleophilic addition reaction to an aldehyde or ketone. The nucleophile approaches the carbonyl group from an angle of approximately 75° to the plane of the sp2 orbitals, the carbonyl carbon rehybridizes from sp2 to sp3, and an alkoxide ion is formed. 

Aldehydes are generally more reactive than ketones in nucleophilic addition reactions for both steric and electronic reasons. Sterically, the presence of only one large substituent bonded to the C=0 carbon in an aldehyde versus two large substituents in a ketone means that a nucleophile is able to approach an aldehyde more readily. Thus, the transition state leadingto the tetrahedral intermediate is less crowded and lower in energy for an aldehyde than for a ketone (Figure 19.3). 

One further comparison aromatic aldehydes, such as benzaldehyde, are less reactive in nucleophilic addition reactions than aliphatic aldehydes because the electron-donating resonance effect of the aromatic ring makes the carbonyl group less electrophilic. Comparing electrostatic potential maps of formaldehyde and benzaldehyde, for example, shows that the carbonyl carbon atom is less positive (less blue) in the aromatic aldehyde. 

Just as the Kiliani-Fischer synthesis lengthens an aldose chain by one carbon, the Wohl degradation shortens an aldose chain by one carbon. The Wohl degradation is almost the exact opposite of the Kiliani-Fischer sequence. That is, the aldose aldehyde carbonyl group is first converted into a nitrile, and the resulting cyanohydrin loses HCN under basic conditions—the reverse of a nucleophilic addition reaction. 

The intramolecular Michael addition11 of a nucleophilic oxygen to an a,/ -unsaturated ester constitutes an attractive alternative strategy for the synthesis of the pyran nucleus, a strategy that could conceivably be applied to the brevetoxin problem (see Scheme 2). For example, treatment of hydroxy a,/ -unsaturated ester 9 with sodium hydride furnishes an alkoxide ion that induces ring formation by attacking the electrophilic //-carbon of the unsaturated ester moiety. This base-induced intramolecular Michael addition reaction is a reversible process, and it ultimately affords the thermodynamically most stable product 10 (92% yield). 

Azirines (three-membered cyclic imines) are related to aziridines by a single redox step, and these reagents can therefore function as precursors to aziridines by way of addition reactions. The addition of carbon nucleophiles has been known for some time [52], but has recently undergone a renaissance, attracting the interest of several research groups. The cyclization of 2-(0-tosyl)oximino carbonyl compounds - the Neber reaction [53] - is the oldest known azirine synthesis, and asymmetric variants have been reported. Zwanenburg et ah, for example, prepared nonracemic chiral azirines from oximes of 3-ketoesters, using cinchona alkaloids as catalysts (Scheme 4.37) [54]. 

Addition of carbon nucleophiles to vinylepoxides is of particular importance, since a new carbon-carbon bond is formed. It is of considerable tactical value that conditions allowing for regiocontrolled opening of vinyloxiranes with this type of nucleophiles have been developed. Reactions that proceed through fonnation of a rr-allyl metal intermediate with subsequent external delivery of the nucleophile, or that make use of a soft carbon nucleophile, generally deliver the SN2 product. In contrast, the Sn2 variant is often the major reaction pathway when hard nucleophiles are employed. In some methods a nucleophile can be delivered selectively at either the Sn2 or SN2 positions by changing the reaction conditions. 

---