Pinacol coupling reactions with alkenes

From a synthetic point of view, bond forming steps are the most important reactions of radical ions [202]. Several principle possibilities have been described in Section 8.1 and are summarized in Scheme 52. Many carbo- and heterocyclic ring systems can be constructed by (inter- and intramolecular) radical addition to alkenes, alkynes, or arenes. Coupling of carbonyl radical anions leads to pinacols either intra-or inter-molecular which can be further modified to give 1,2-diols, acyloins or alkenes. Radical combination reactions with alkyl radicals afford the opportunity to synthesize macrocyclic rings. These radical ion-radical pairs can be generated most efficiently by inter- or intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer. 

Formation of the alkene is thought to proceed via initial formation of a Ti-pinacolate followed by its deoxygenation to produce the double bond. In support of the proposed mechanistic scheme are the facts that (1) pinacol intermediates can be isolated when the coupling reaction is carried out at 0 °C rather than at solvent reflux temperature and (2) treatment of isolated pinacols with low-valent titanium at 60 °C deoxygenates them to the corresponding alkenes. 

The effects of a number of additives on the TiCU- and TiCls-reducing agent systems have been considered with a view to enhancing the formation of the alkene products of the coupling reaction or, on the contrary, to stop it at the pinacol stage. 

It is clear that McMurry reactions can be performed with low-valent titanium species in various oxidation states. Pinacol and alkene-forming reductive coupling reactions have been achieved with organometallic complexes of Ti(0), Ti(II), and Ti(III) (see Section 6.2.2.3). While no evidence was found for the presence of 11(0) on reduced Ti02 surfaces active in benzaldehyde coupling, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the active site required for gas-solid reductive coupling is an ensemble of Ti cations in the +1, +2, and +3 oxidation states that collectively effect the four-electron reduction [258]. 

The inter- and intramolecular coupling of two carbonyl groups of aldehydes or ketones in the presence of a low-valent titanium species produces a C-C bond with two adjacent stereocenters, a 1,2-diol (a pinacol). These may be further elaborated into ketones by the pinacol rearrangement or be deoxygenated to alkenes (McMurry reaction). 

Previously, tin-ketyl radicals have been added to alkenes only in an intramolecular fashion. [9] In recent publications, however, pinacols and amino alcohols have been prepared by cyclisation of dicarbonyl compounds [10] or keto-oximes [11] with tributyltin hydride. Cyclisation of 1,5-ketoaldehydes 1 and 1,5-dialdehydes with tributyltin hydride yields cw-diols 2 with excellent stereoselectivities, whereas the keto-oxime 4 with four benzyloxy-substituents affords a 58 42 cis trans) mixture. The tran -product was transformed in two more steps to the potent glycosidase inhibitor 1-deoxynojirimycin (6). [lib] The reversibility of both the addition of the tributyltin-radical to the carbonyl group and the intramolecular radical C-C bond formation is believed to be responsible for the high selectivity in the formation of 2. In the cyclisation of 1,5-pentanedial the unhydrolyzed coupling product 3 could be isolated, therefore providing evidence for a new mechanistic variant of the pinacol reaction, in which only 1.2 equivalent of the reducing agent are necessary. 

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