Organic Michael reaction

The mechanism of cyanoethylatlon is similar to that given in Section VI,21 for the Michael reaction. Acrylonitrile is the simplest ap-uiisaturated organic nitrile. 

The classical Michael reaction is carried out in a protic organic solvent—e.g. an alcohol—by use of an alkoxide as base—e.g. potassium r-butoxide or sodium ethoxide. 

The overall process is the addition of a CH-acidic compound to the carbon-carbon double bond of an o ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compound. The Michael reaction is of particular importance in organic synthesis for the construction of the carbon skeleton. The above CH-acidic compounds usually do not add to ordinary carbon-carbon double bonds. Another and even more versatile method for carbon-carbon bond formation that employs enolates as reactive species is the aldol reaction. 

The Michael reaction is of great importance in organic synthesis. 

The preparation of 5-ACETYL-l,2,3,4,5-PENTAMETHYLCYCLO-PENTADIENE is of value in the synthesis of pentamethyleyclo-pentadiene and many pentamethylcyclopentadienyl metal carbonyl derivatives that are more soluble in organic solvents than those derived from cyclopentadiene. Simple preparations of 5,6-DIHYDRO-2-PYRAN-2-0NE and 2-//-PYRAN-2-ONE make these hitherto rather inaccessible intermediates available for cycloaddition and other reactions. The already broad scope of the Michael reaction has been widened further by including an efficient preparation of ETHYL (E)-3-NITROACRYLATE. Workers in the field of heterocyclic chemistry will find a simplified method for the preparation of 2,3,4,5-TETRA-HYDROPYRIDINE of help. 

Posner and coworkers have published a series of papers in which they described a successful application of the Michael reaction between a variety of carbanionic reagents and chiral cycloalkenone sulphoxides 557 to the synthesis of chiral organic compounds (for reviews see References 257, 649, 650). In several cases products of very high optical purity can be obtained. Subsequent removal of the sulphinyl group, serving as a chiral adjuvant, leads to optically active 3-substituted cycloalkenones 558 (equation 356 Table 27). 

The Michael reaction of benzylidene acetophenone and benzylidene acetone with ethyl acetoacetate, nitromethane, and acetylacetone was studied by Musaliar and co-workers in the presence of a cetyltrimethy-lammonium bromide-containing aqueous micellar medium.50 The Michael reaction of various nitro alkanes with electrophilic alkenes is performed in NaOH (0.025-0.1 M) in the presence of cetyltrimethylam-monium chloride (CTACI) without any organic solvent (Eq. 10.23).51... 

There are only few examples of organic reactions catalysed effectively by Lewis acids which can be carried out in pure water without any organic co-solvent. While water can be used successfully for the uncatalysed Michael addition of 1,3-diketones (Table 4, entry D)22, the corresponding reaction of /i-kctocsters does not give satisfactory results. On the other hand, the Yb(OTf)3 catalysed Michael reaction of various /i-ketoesters (Table 21, entry A)257 and a-nitroesters (Table 21, entry B)258 takes place. 

At this point it is impossible to guess the architecture of the active catalyst. The folding of 10-mers of leucine and alanine in organic solvents is clearly of critical importance, and studies are in progress to understand the preferred shapes. Obviously, in its active form the catalyst binds and activates peroxide anion and/or the electron-poor alkene near its chiral surface, perhaps in a chiral cavity, but the precise orientation of catalyst and reactants in the initial bondforming Michael reaction remains unsolved. 

A chiral phase transfer catalyst was dissolved in ionic liquid media for the enantioselective Michael reaction of dimethyl malonate with l,3-diphenylprop-2-en-l-one with K2CO3 203). The phase-transfer catalyst was a chiral quininium bromide (Scheme 20). The reaction proceeded rapidly with good yield and good enantioselectivity at room temperature in all three ionic liquids investigated, [BMIM]PF6, [BMIM]BF4 and [BPy]BF4. In the asymmetric Michael addition, the enantioselectivity or the reaction in [BPy]Bp4 was the same as in conventional organic solvents. 

R3PCH=CHCH=CH2 Clin the same way, in the case of the propargylphosphonium salt, two successive isomerizations of the unsaturation from the / ,y to the opposition, combined with a Michael-type addition of nucleophiles on the intermediate allenyl phosphonium, afford various /Mieterosubstituted oc,/ -unsaturated phosphonium salts, which have found interesting applications in organic synthesis (reaction 44). 

Methylene iodide, 300 Michael reaction, 912, 913, 914 Michler s ketone, 982 Mixed melting point, 34, 229, 1028 Mixtures of organic compounds, qualitative analysis of, 1090 -1100 preliminary examination, 1093, 1094 ... 

Optical rotation, enantiomers, 281 Organic catalysts, 323, 347 crystal morphology, 348 hydrohalogenation, 347 Michael reactions, 350 photochemistry, 348 solid-state reactions, 349 see also specific reactions Organic halides, Grignard reagents, 187, 354 Organocopper chemistry, 199, 208, 292,... 

A large part of the usefulness of the Michael reaction in organic synthesis derives from the fact that almost any activated alkene can serve as an acceptor7—a, 3-unsaturated ketones, esters, aldehydes, amides, acids, lactones, nitriles, sulfoxides, sulfones, nitro compounds, phosphonates, phosphoranes, quinones,... 

The conjugate addition of heteronucleophiles to activated alkenes has been used very often in organic synthesis to prepare compounds with heteroatoms [3 to various activating functional groups, e.g. ketones, esters, nitriles, sulfones, sulfoxides and nitro groups. As in the Michael reaction, a catalytic amount of a weak base is usually used in these reactions (with amines as nucleophiles, no additional base is added). 

Several metal catalysts have been investigated for Michael reaction of acacH (24e) with MVK (41a) in [bmim][BF4] (bmim = butylmethylimidazolium) as solvent. Ni(acac)2 turned out to be the optimal catalyst (94% yield). With FeCl3-6H20 the yield of product 42m was limited (Scheme 8.27) [87]. It is presumed that the formation of tetrachloroferrates is a rate-limiting factor, as was observed earlier in common organic solvents or under solvent-free conditions (cf. Scheme 8.19) [88]. 

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