Phosphonium ylides formation reaction

Fig. 9.1. Representative phosphonium, sulfonium, and sulfoxonium ylides— formation reactions and valence bond formulas.

Many alkylidenephosphoranes can be transformed into new phosphonium ylides by reactions which take place in the side chain of a parent ylide, the a-C atom of the ylide group not being involved. Allylidenetriphenylphosphoranes react with a series of chloro compounds (alkyl chloioformates, acyl chlorides, 3-chloroacrylates, 2-chlorovinyl ketones, phosphorus chlorides) and other electrophilic compounds at the 7-C atom. Abstraction of a proton from the 7-position of the resulting phosphonium salts by a second mole of starting ylide (or proton migration) gives rise to the formation of -substituted derivatives of the original allylidenephosphoranes (equation 90). 

A novel chiral dissymmetric chelating Hgand, the non-stabiUzed phosphonium ylide of (R)-BINAP 44, allowed in presence of [Rh(cod)Cl]2 the synthesis of a new type of eight-membered metallacycle, the stable rhodium(I) complex 45, interesting for its potential catalytic properties (Scheme 19) [81]. In contrast to the reactions of stabihzed ylides with cyclooctadienyl palladium or platinum complexes (see Scheme 20), the cyclooctadiene is not attacked by the carbanionic center. Notice that the reactions of ester-stabilized phosphonium ylides of BINAP with rhodium(I) (and also with palladium(II)) complexes lead to the formation of the corresponding chelated compounds but this time with an equilibrium be-... 

When the phosphonium ylide 81 is reacted with zinc amide, the corresponding a-zincated phosphorus yUde is formed. Thermally unstable, it evolves almost quantitatively to zincatacyclobutane 82 which in presence of pyridine leads to the formation of the zincataphosphoniaindane 83. In order to explain this unprecedented cyclometallation reaction, a mechanism is proposed involving a low coordinated zinc center. The new product, reacted with benzaldehyde leads to the diphenylallene 84 (Scheme 27) [106-108]. 

Olefination Reactions Involving Phosphonium Ylides. The synthetic potential of phosphonium ylides was developed initially by G. Wittig and his associates at the University of Heidelberg. The reaction of a phosphonium ylide with an aldehyde or ketone introduces a carbon-carbon double bond in place of the carbonyl bond. The mechanism originally proposed involves an addition of the nucleophilic ylide carbon to the carbonyl group to form a dipolar intermediate (a betaine), followed by elimination of a phosphine oxide. The elimination is presumed to occur after formation of a four-membered oxaphosphetane intermediate. An alternative mechanism proposes direct formation of the oxaphosphetane by a cycloaddition reaction.236 There have been several computational studies that find the oxaphosphetane structure to be an intermediate.237 Oxaphosphetane intermediates have been observed by NMR studies at low temperature.238 Betaine intermediates have been observed only under special conditions that retard the cyclization and elimination steps.239... 

Whereas phosphonium ylides normally react with carbonyl compounds to give alkenes, dimethylsulfonium methylide and dimethylsulfoxonium methylide yield epoxides. Instead of a four-center elimination, the adducts from the sulfur ylides undergo intramolecular displacement of the sulfur substituent by oxygen. In this reaction, the sulfur substituent serves both to promote anion formation and as the leaving group. 

Polyenes are most often synthesized by cross-coupling reactions between unsaturated systems. Typically these reactions require an activated carbon, often in the form of an organometallic reagent. Enolates and phosphonium ylides, Wittig-type reagents, are also commonly employed in carbon-carbon bond formation. Pericyclic rearrangements also result in the generation of new carbon-carbon bonds and will be treated separately. 

With the fully functionalized heterocyclic core completed, synthetic attention next focused on introduction of the 3,5-dihydroxyheptanoic acid side-chain. This required initial conversion of the ethyl ester of 35 to the corresponding aldehyde through a two-step reduction/oxidation sequence. In that event, a low-temperature DIBAL reduction of 35 provided primary alcohol 36, which was then oxidized to aldehyde 37 with TRAP. Subsequent installation of the carbon backbone of the side-chain was accomplished using a Wittig olefination reaction with stabilized phosphonium ylide 38 resulting in exclusive formation of the desired -olefin 39. The synthesis of phosphonium ylide 38 will be examined in Scheme 12.5 (Konoike and Araki, 1994). 

A related synthesis is the reaction of a racemic chiral phosphonium ylide with enantiomerically enriched (—)-(/t)-2-phenylpropanovl or -butanoyl chloride in a 2 1 molar ratio, which results in partially resolved (excess) phosphonium ylide and in the enantioselective formation of (Af)-allenecarboxylic esters116. 

Highly Lewis basic and nucleophilic functional groups are not compatible with zinc carbenoids. The methylation or ylide formation of heteroatoms is one of the most important side reactions of these reagents. For example, amines, thioethers and phosphines readily react with the zinc reagents to generate ammonium salts", sulfonium" and phosphonium ylides" ". Terminal alkynes generally lead to a large number of by-products". ... 

The different evolution possibilities for the alkaline hydrolysis of phosphonium salts are shown together in the general Scheme 1. Two major parts can be distinguished on the one hand, SN(P), SN(P)mig and Ep reactions, which result from the initial attack on the phosphorus atom by hydroxide anion acting as a nucleophile and on the other, EH(X and EHp reactions (and also bearing in mind the formation of phosphonium ylides), which result from the initial attack of the hydroxide anion on the hydrogen in the a- or / -position to the phosphorus. 

In media of low proton availability (MeCN, dmf, hmpa)762, ylide formation was found and products derived from the radical cleavage of the phosphonium ion have been observed. The initial cation would interfere in the reaction process as an acid. A competition can exist between the one-electron pathway (dimerization, disproportionation of R ) and the two-electron pathway (ylide formation, Hofmann degradation, phosphine oxide formation) (Table 24). 

Fig. 11.2. Working without bases in the Wittig reaction with the (semi)stabilized phosphonium ylide D in-situ formation of this reagent from the alkoxide C resulting from the SN2 ring opening of butylenoxide through the bromide ion of the phosphonium salt A.

Firstly, it was necessary to develop the reaction sequence of the Wittig reaction — synthesis of the phosphonium salt, formation of the ylide and reaction with a carbonyl compound to give the olefin — into an industrial process, under the stringent criteria of safety and cost-efficiency. 

Interaction of 4,5 6,7-di-0-cyclohexylidene-2,3-dideoxy-l-C-phe-nyl-L-arafeino-hept-2-enose (65) with phenylmethylenetriphenylphos-phorane was accompanied9 6 by the formation of triphenylphosphine, instead of the expected triphenylphosphine oxide, thus indicating the abnormal character of this reaction. This result may be interpreted as involving possible addition of the phosphonium ylide to the alkenic bond, with subsequent stabilization of the intermediate betaine 82 through elimination of triphenylphosphine, and closure of the three-membered ring2(f) with formation of the cyclopropane derivative 83, as shown in equation 5. 

Sulfonium salts react in several ways. They may behave as a leaving group, undergoing substitution by a nucleophile or fragmenting with the formation of an alkene. However, the most important reaction of sulfonium salts involves the formation of an ylide in the presence of a base. The carbanion of this sulfur ylide is stabilized by the adjacent positively charged sulfonium ion. The reaction of the carbanion with a carbonyl group parallels that of a phosphonium ylide in the Wittig reaction. However, the decomposition of the intermediate dipolar species is different and leads to the formation of an epoxide (oxirane) rather than an alkene. 

Phosphonium ylides carrying at least one proton at the a-carbon atom react with various electrophilic reagents with formation of a-substituted phosphonium salts or zwitterionic intermediates, from which a-substituted ylides are generated by deprotonation or proton migration, the former reaction being more important (equation... 

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