Peterson alkenation heterosubstituted alkene synthesis

As a general mle, unless an anion-stabilizing group, such as phenyl, or a heteroatom such as sulfur is present, the alkylsilane is not readily deprotonated. The a-halosilane can be deprotonated but, unlike the readily available chloromethyltrimethylsilane, there are few general methods to this approach. Al-kyllithium reagents add to vinylsilanes ( ) to produce the carbanion (287). Silyl derivatives with heteroatoms, such as sulfur, selenium, silicon or tin, in the a-position (288) may be transmetallated (Scheme 41). Besides the difficulty in synthesizing the anion, alkene formation lacks specificity for simple di- and tri-alkyl-substituted alkenes. As a result, the Peterson reaction of an a-silyl carbanion with a carbonyl has found the greatest utility in the synthesis of methylene derivatives, (as discussed in Section 3.1.3), heterosubstituted alkenes and a,p-unsaturated esters, aldehydes and nitriles. 

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