Oxazoline anions

The above system failed entirely when nonstabilized carbanions such as ketone or ester enolates or Grignard reagents were used as carbon nucleophiles, leading to reductive coupling of the anions rather than alkylation of the alkene. However, the fortuitous observation that the addition of HMPA to the reaction mixture prior to addition of the carbanion prevented this side reaction1 extended the range of useful carbanions substantially to include ketone and ester enolates, oxazoline anions, protected cyanohydrin anions, nitrile-stabilized anions3 and even phenyllithium (Scheme 3).s... 

The Meyers oxazoline auxiliary provides an efficient means of performing Michael addition to prochiral alkenes with excellent diastereofacial selectivity.shown below this allows convenient access to chiral -alkylated acids (83). Note, however, that the facial selectivity is opposite to that observed in the alkylation of oxazoline anions (section 5.3.1). 

OrganometaUic nucleophiles are also useful for MIRC cyclopropanation. The treatment of chloroalkyl oxazoline with LDA generated an oxazoline anion, which underwent cyclopropanation with alkenes through conjugate addition followed by intramolecular substitution [14]. The unsaturated Fischer carbene complex was also useful (Scheme 1.10) [15]. MIRC reactions to heterocyclic compounds have also been reported [16]. 

Chiral oxazolines developed by Albert I. Meyers and coworkers have been employed as activating groups and/or chiral auxiliaries in nucleophilic addition and substitution reactions that lead to the asymmetric construction of carbon-carbon bonds. For example, metalation of chiral oxazoline 1 followed by alkylation and hydrolysis affords enantioenriched carboxylic acid 2. Enantioenriched dihydronaphthalenes are produced via addition of alkyllithium reagents to 1-naphthyloxazoline 3 followed by alkylation of the resulting anion with an alkyl halide to give 4, which is subjected to reductive cleavage of the oxazoline moiety to yield aldehyde 5. Chiral oxazolines have also found numerous applications as ligands in asymmetric catalysis these applications have been recently reviewed, and are not discussed in this chapter. ... 

The first use of chiral oxazolines as activating groups for nucleophilic additions to arenes was described by Meyers in 1984. " Reaction of naphthyloxazoline 3 with phenyllithium followed by alkylation of the resulting anion with iodomethane afforded dihydronaphthalene 10 in 99% yield as an 83 17 mixture of separable diastereomers. Reductive cleavage of 10 by sequential treatment with methyl fluorosulfonate, NaBKi, and aqueous oxalic acid afforded the corresponding enantiopure aldehyde 11 in 88% yield. 

Meyers has demonstrated that chiral oxazolines derived from valine or rert-leucine are also effective auxiliaries for asymmetric additions to naphthalene. These chiral oxazolines (39 and 40) are more readily available than the methoxymethyl substituted compounds (3) described above but provide comparable yields and stereoselectivities in the tandem alkylation reactions. For example, addition of -butyllithium to naphthyl oxazoline 39 followed by treatment of the resulting anion with iodomethane afforded 41 in 99% yield as a 99 1 mixture of diastereomers. The identical transformation of valine derived substrate 40 led to a 97% yield of 42 with 94% de. As described above, sequential treatment of the oxazoline products 41 and 42 with MeOTf, NaBKi and aqueous oxalic acid afforded aldehydes 43 in > 98% ee and 90% ee, respectively. These experiments demonstrate that a chelating (methoxymethyl) group is not necessary for reactions to proceed with high asymmetric induction. 

Thus attack of the TosMlC anion 9 on a carbonyl carbon is followed (or accompanied) by ring closure of the carbonyl oxygen to the electrophilic isocyano carbon to form an oxazoline (12). Loss of p-tolylsulfinic acid provides the 5-substituted oxazole 13. ... 

The chelated lithium anions 1 and 2, derived from enantiomerically pure tetrahydroisoquino-line-amidines or -oxazolines, exhibit high induced stereoselectivity in alkylation reactions (Section D.l.1.1.1.3.1.). 

Metal complexes of chiral bis(oxazoline) ligands, in most cases Cu(II) complexes, have been supported by cationic exchange on inorganic, organic, and composite anionic solids. 

The stereoselectivity of the reaction in Entry 5 is also determined by steric factors. Note also that in this case the oxazoline ring serves to stabilize the anion. 

In their synthesis of spirocyclopropanated oxazolines (see Section 2.1), the de Meijere group obtained initially unexpected cyclobutene-annelated pyrimidones 2-569 by reaction of the cyclopropylidene derivative 2-567 with the amidines 2-568. In this fourfold anionic transformation a Michael addition takes place to furnish 2-570, which is followed by an isomerization affording cyclobutenecarboxylates 2-572 and a final lactamization (Scheme 2.128) [294]. 

Applying these methodologies monomers such as isobutylene, vinyl ethers, styrene and styrenic derivatives, oxazolines, N-vinyl carbazole, etc. can be efficiently polymerized leading to well-defined structures. Compared to anionic polymerization cationic polymerization requires less demanding experimental conditions and can be applied at room temperature or higher in many cases, and a wide variety of monomers with pendant functional groups can be used. Despite the recent developments in cationic polymerization the method cannot be used with the same success for the synthesis of well-defined complex copolymeric architectures. 

Fig. 20.2 The neutral PCH2-oxazoline ligand (63) and the anionic PCH-oxazoline ligand (64).

Clearly, in the related catalysts containing just simple bidentate phosphines, dipyridines, or bis-oxazolines the concerted, heterolytic transfer cannot take place in the same way, unless we invoke an alkoxide or other anion as the proton-receiving moiety. In Figure 4.28 we have presented a simplified scheme for the hydride/proton mechanism for hydrogen transfer using an external base. 

No heterocycle containing a C=N bond is as powerful a director as the oxazolines or tetrazoles described above, but their imidazoline analogues 132 direct well if deprotonated to the amidine equivalent 133 of a secondary amide anion (Scheme 61). Pyrazoles 134 also direct lithiation, but need protecting with a bulky Af-substituent to prevent nucleophilic attack by the base (Scheme 62). ... 

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