Oxirane synthesis from carbonyl compounds

Until about 30 years ago, hydrazones derived from carbonyl compounds were not used in organic synthesis. They were used only for analytical purposes , and as protecting groups of aldehydes and ketones ". Corey investigated dimethylhydrazones of ketones and aldehydes with a-hydrogens, and found that they undergo deprotonation with LDA or BuLi in THF at the a-carbons to the hydrazonic moiety in 90-100% yield. The formed lithium compounds, used as enolate anion equivalents, create new carbon-carbon bonds in their reaction with different electrophiles such as alkyl halides or oxiranes, ketones and aldehydes (equation 21). 

F. A. J. Meskens, Methods for the preparation of acetals from alcohols or oxiranes and carbonyl compounds, Synthesis 1981, 501. 

Methods for the Preparation of Acetals from Alcohols or Oxiranes and Carbonyl Compounds, Meskens, F. A J. Synthesis 1981, 501,... 

A general method has been elaborated for the synthesis of oxetanes from oxiranes by means of carbene insertion, with an a-selenoalkyllithium reagent that has also been utilized for the regioselective preparation of the oxirane itself from a carbonyl compound (Eq. 185). ... 

Alcohols can be obtained from many other classes of compounds such as alkyl halides, amines, al-kenes, epoxides and carbonyl compounds. The addition of nucleophiles to carbonyl compounds is a versatile and convenient methc for the the preparation of alcohols. Regioselective oxirane ring opening of epoxides by nucleophiles is another important route for the synthesis of alcohols. However, stereospe-cific oxirane ring formation is prerequisite to the use of epoxides in organic synthesis. The chemistry of epoxides has been extensively studied in this decade and the development of the diastereoselective oxidations of alkenic alcohols makes epoxy alcohols with definite configurations readily available. Recently developed asymmetric epoxidation of prochiral allylic alcohols allows the enantioselective synthesis of 2,3-epoxy alcohols. 

Synthesis of acetals from oxiranes and carbonyl compounds 84KGS291 ... 

The most general methods for the syntheses of 1,2-difunctional molecules are based on the oxidation of carbon-carbon multiple bonds (p. 117) and the opening of oxiranes by hetero atoms (p. 123fl.). There exist, however, also a few useful reactions in which an a - and a d -synthon or two r -synthons are combined. The classical polar reaction is the addition of cyanide anion to carbonyl groups, which leads to a-hydroxynitriles (cyanohydrins). It is used, for example, in Strecker s synthesis of amino acids and in the homologization of monosaccharides. The ff-hydroxy group of a nitrile can be easily substituted by various nucleophiles, the nitrile can be solvolyzed or reduced. Therefore a large variety of terminal difunctional molecules with one additional carbon atom can be made. Equally versatile are a-methylsulfinyl ketones (H.G. Hauthal, 1971 T. Durst, 1979 O. DeLucchi, 1991), which are available from acid chlorides or esters and the dimsyl anion. Carbanions of these compounds can also be used for the synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds (p. 65f.). 

A 6-endo cyclization by a y-epoxy alcohol can be accomplished through the presence of an appropriately disposed electron-withdrawing group, as found in the total synthesis of (+)-phonomactin. Treatment of the hydroxy-epoxy ketone 30 (R = H) with HC1 afforded the bicyclic compound 31, containing a pyran-4-one ring, in which nucleophilic attack of the y-OH group occurred at the oxirane carbon distal from the unfavorable electronic effect of the carbonyl group (Scheme 8.7) [20a]. 

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