Addition reactions oxygen nucleophiles

Thiolate-bridged dirutheniutn complexes catalyze the [3-f3] cycloaddition reaction between propargylic alcohols and cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to afford 4,6,7,8-tetrahydrochromen-5-ones or 4//-cyclopenta[b]pyran-5-ones [193] and with 2-naphthols or phenols to afford l//-naphtho[2,l-b]pyrans and 4//-l-benzo-pyrans, respectively [194]. This cycloaddition is considered to proceed by stepwise propargylation and intramolecular cyclization (carbon and oxygen nucleophile additions) reactions, where ruthenium allenylidene and vinylidene complexes are the key intermediates (Scheme 57). Enantioselective mthenium-catalyzed [3-f3] cycloaddition of propargylic alcohols with 2-naphthols has also been described [195]. 

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). 

With a-alkyl-substituted chiral carbonyl compounds bearing an alkoxy group in the -position, the diastereoselectivity of nucleophilic addition reactions is influenced not only by steric factors, which can be described by the models of Cram and Felkin (see Section 1.3.1.1.), but also by a possible coordination of the nucleophile counterion with the /J-oxygen atom. Thus, coordination of the metal cation with the carbonyl oxygen and the /J-alkoxy substituent leads to a chelated transition state 1 which implies attack of the nucleophile from the least hindered side, opposite to the pseudoequatorial substituent R1. Therefore, the anb-diastereomer 2 should be formed in excess. With respect to the stereogenic center in the a-position, the predominant formation of the anft-diastereomer means that anti-Cram selectivity has occurred. 

The electron-donor N -oxide oxygen atom of a nitrone makes it suitable for com-plexation and protonation. Such properties of nitrones have been widely used to influence their reactivity, using Lewis acids and protonation in nucleophilic addition reactions (see Section 2.6.6). In this chapter, the chemistry of nitrones with various metal ions [Zn (II), Cu(II), Mn (II), Ni (II), Fe (II), Fe (III), Ru (II), Os (II), Rh (I), UO2 2 ] (375, 382, 442-445), and diarylboron chelates is described (234—237, 446). Accurate descriptions of the structures of all complexes have been established by X-ray analysis. 

This is a further example of a carbonyl-electrophile complex, and equivalent to the conjugate acid, so that the subsequent nucleophilic addition reaction parallels that in hemiacetal formation. Loss of the leaving group occurs first in an SNl-like process with the cation stabilized by the neighbouring oxygen an SN2-like process would be inhibited sterically. It is also possible to rationalize why base catalysis does not work. Base would simply remove a proton from the hydroxyl to initiate hemiacetal decomposition back to the aldehyde - what is needed is to transform the hydroxyl into a leaving group (see Section 6.1.4), hence the requirement for protonation. 

In general, nucleophilic addition reactions of arene oxides with nonpolarizable oxygen and nitrogen nucleophiles are very slow. Thus both NH3 and NHj nucleophiles failed to add to benzene oxides under a range of conditions. Amine nucleophiles have, however, been found to react very slowly with benzene oxide. 

In contrast to nucleophilic addition reactions to activated dienes, the mechanism of 1,6-cuprate additions to acceptor-substituted enynes is quite well understood, the main tools being kinetic and NMR spectroscopic investigations. C-NMR spectroscopic studies have revealed that these transformations proceed via jr-complexes with an interaction between the jr-system of the C=C double bond and the nucleophiUc copper atom (a soft-soft interaction in terms of the HSAB principle), as well as a second interaction between the hard lithium ion of the cuprate and the hard carbonyl oxygen atom (Scheme 4) q of C-labeled substrates has confirmed that the cuprate does... 

The majority of cases (Table 1) involve activation of the diene by complexation to Pd(II) and Pt(II) centers. However, other metal-diene complexes have been examined including Ni(II), Ir(I), and Mn(I) complexes. Cationic or neutral complexes are used in the nucleophilic addition reactions. The most common nucleophiles employed are oxygen or nitrogen bases (hydroxide, alkoxides, carboxylates, amines) or stabilized carbon nucleophiles (malonate, j8-diketonates). The dienes employed include 1,5-cyc-looctadiene, norbomadiene, dicyclopentadiene, 4-vinylcyclohexene, 7-(alkylidene)nor-bornene and endo-4-vinylnorbornene. 

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