Palladium ketones

Ketones can be prepared by trapping (transmetallation) the acyl palladium intermediate 402 with organometallic reagents. The allylic chloride 400 is car-bonylated to give the mixed diallylic ketone 403 in the presence of allyltri-butylstannane (401) in moderate yields[256]. Alkenyl- and arylstannanes are also used for ketone synthesis from allylic chlorides[257,258]. Total syntheses of dendrolasin (404)f258] and manoalide[259] have been carried out employing this reaction. Similarly, formation of the ketone 406 takes place with the alkylzinc reagent 405[260],... 

Silyl enol ethers are other ketone or aldehyde enolate equivalents and react with allyl carbonate to give allyl ketones or aldehydes 13,300. The transme-tallation of the 7r-allylpalladium methoxide, formed from allyl alkyl carbonate, with the silyl enol ether 464 forms the palladium enolate 465, which undergoes reductive elimination to afford the allyl ketone or aldehyde 466. For this reaction, neither fluoride anion nor a Lewis acid is necessary for the activation of silyl enol ethers. The reaction also proceed.s with metallic Pd supported on silica by a special method[301j. The ketene silyl acetal 467 derived from esters or lactones also reacts with allyl carbonates, affording allylated esters or lactones by using dppe as a ligand[302]... 

The most obvious way to reduce an aldehyde or a ketone to an alcohol is by hydro genation of the carbon-oxygen double bond Like the hydrogenation of alkenes the reac tion IS exothermic but exceedingly slow m the absence of a catalyst Finely divided metals such as platinum palladium nickel and ruthenium are effective catalysts for the hydrogenation of aldehydes and ketones Aldehydes yield primary alcohols... 

Reduction. Most ketones are readily reduced to the corresponding secondary alcohol by a variety of hydrogenation processes. The most commonly used catalysts are palladium, platinum, and nickel For example, 4-methyl-2-pentanol (methyl isobutyl carbinol) is commercially produced by the catalytic reduction of 4-methyl-2-pentanone (methyl isobutyl ketone) over nickel. 

Oxidation. The use of l,4-ben2oquinone in combination with paHadium(Il) chloride converts terminal alkenes such as 1-hexene to alkyl methyl ketones in high yield (81%) (32). The quinone appears to reoxidi2e the palladium. 

Use of DMF as a solvent for the oxidation of l-o1efins has been reported by Clement and Selwitz. The method requires only a catalytic amount of PdCl2 and gives satisfactory yields under mild conditions. A small amount of olefin migration product is the only noticeable contaminant in the cases reported. The procedure can be applied satisfactorily to various 1-olefins with other functional groups. This useful synthetic method for the preparation of methyl ketones has been applied extensively in the syntheses of natural products such as steroids,macrolides, dihydrojasmone, and muscone. " A comprehensive review article on the palladium-catalyzed oxidation of olefins has... 

Hydrogenation of an llj9-hydroxy-A -3-ketone over palladium in acidic media gives predominantly the 5j9-product, a complete reversal of the neutral reaction. In strong base 5j9-products also predominate in all cases... 

The hydrogenation of 5a-cholestanone (58) in methanolic hydrobromic acid over platinum gives 3j5-methoxycholestane ° (61). This compound is also obtained from the palladium oxide reduction of (58) in methanol in the absence of acid. Hydrogenation of 5 -cholestanone also gives the 3j5-methoxy product under these conditions. Reduced palladium oxides are quite effective for the conversion of ketones to ethers. The use of aqueous ethanol as the solvent reduces the yield of ether. Ketals are formed on attempted homogeneous hydrogenation of a 3-keto group in methanol. ... 

Epoxides are normally hydrogenated in preference to saturated ketones but double bonds are usually reduced under these conditions. It is possible in some cases to selectively cleave an epoxide without saturating double bonds by the use of the deactivated catalysts recommended for the partial reduction of acetylenes (see section IV) or by the addition of silver nitrate to the palladium-catalyzed reaction mixture. " ... 

---