Pinacol coupling with aldehydes

Cross pinacol coupling of aldehydes. Pedersen et al.2 have reported the first general method for stereoselective pinacol coupling of aldehydes by use of this vanadium(II) reagent. Aryl aldehydes couple in the presence of 1 to pinacols in >90% yield and with high diastereoselectivity (dllmeso = 12-100 1). Aliphatic aldehydes under similar conditions couple only slowly, but depending on the struc-... 

Amino-l, 2-diols.4 In the presence of this vanadium(II) reagent, N-protected a-amino aldehydes undergo pinacol coupling with aliphatic aldehydes to provide syn, syn-3-amino-l,2-diols as the major product (5-50 1). 

Reductive dimerization of a,p-unsaturated ketones is effected by either Cr" or V" chloride to give 1,6-diketones, but aliphatic a, -unsaturated aldehydes are dimerized to the allylic glycals. Interestingly, nonconjugated aldehydes are stable towards these reagents. Similar pinacolic couplings of aldehydes and ketones with Ti" reagents were developed by Corey. ... 

The procedure is remarkably effective for the coupling with cyclic ketones and provides a fast access to a-C-ketosides of Neu5Ac. The coupling efficiency is however moderate in the synthesis of C-disaccharides, as shown with the D-galactose-derived aldehyde 198 (O Scheme 44). Acetates 213 provide the expected compound 215 but much less efficiently than sulfide 204 (30 versus 82% yield, respectively). The moderate yield using acetates 213 is due to the competitive pinacol coupling of aldehyde 198 because the rate of the reductive metallation of the anomeric acetates is too slow. 

More work has been reported on the inter- and intra-molecular pinacolic coupling of aldehydes and ketones, e.g. cycloheptanone and acetone gave (220) on treatment with a magnesium-mercury-titanium(iv) chloride reagent. ... 

An asymmetric Baylis-Hillman reaction has been reported to give >90% ee using an activated acrylate [H2C=CHC02CH(CF3)2] and a chiral phenolamine " another approach uses a chiral pyrrolizidine base with a pendant alcohol. Diastereoselective pinacol coupling of aldehydes has been achieved using a complex of titanium(IV) and a chiral Schiff base. ... 

Samarium diiodide is another powerful one-electron reducing agent that can effect carbon-carbon bond formation under appropriate conditions.257 Aromatic aldehydes and aliphatic aldehydes and ketones undergo pinacol-type coupling with Sml2 or SmBr2. 

Another reagent that has found use in pinacolic coupling is prepared from VC13 and zinc dust.264 This reagent is selective for aldehydes that can form chelated intermediates, such as (3-formylamides, a-amidoaldehydes, a-phosphinoylaldehydes,265 and 8-ketoaldehydes.266 The vanadium reagent can be used for both homodimerization and heterodimerization. In the latter case, the reactive aldehyde is added to an excess of the second aldehyde. Under these conditions, the ketyl intermediate formed from the chelated aldehyde reacts with the second aldehyde. 

The chiral diol 17 derived from tartaric acid is exploited in the titanium-catalyzed asymmetric pinacol coupling in the presence of Zn and MesSiCl to give the corresponding diol in 11-71 ee % [44], The chiral salen ligands 18-20 are used in the titanium-catalyzed enantioselective coupling reaction, which achieves the higher selectivity [45-47]. The chromium complex with TBOxH (21) efficiently catalyzes the asymmetric coupling reaction of both aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes [48]. 

The Prins cyclization can also be coupled with a ring-contraction pinacol rearrangement, as illustrated in Scheme 1.6. This allows a smooth conversion of alkyl-idene-cyclohexane acetal 1-16 to single bond-joined cyclohexane cyclopentane aldehyde 1-17 [le]. 

Titanium-mediated pinacol coupling reactions have been reviewed until 2000.80 81 Since then, various intermole-cular pinacol couplings have been reported with aldehydes, - ketones, a-ketoesters, and imines, as well as asymmetric versions thereof.101-104 Scheme 29 shows one example of an asymmetric pinacol coupling of aromatic aldehydes, promoted and catalyzed by the new chiral titanium complex (A)-75, that has been developed by Riant and co-workers.101 Yields for pinacol products 76 are generally high. Under catalytic conditions, ee is moderate (up to 63%), while stoichiometric conditions allow to obtain up to 91% ee. 

The A-trimethylsilylimines 68 (R = t-Bu, Ph, 2-MeCgH4 or 2-BrC6H4), which are prepared by the reaction of non-enolizable aldehydes with lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide, followed by trimethylsilyl chloride, undergo pinacolic coupling induced by NbCLt 2THF to yield the vicinal diamines 69 as mixtures of dl- and meso-isomers, in which the former predominate. Another method for the preparation of 1,2-diamines is by the combined action of the niobium tetrachloride/tetrahydrofuran complex and tributyltin hydride on cyanides RCN (R = /-Hu. Ph, cyclopentyl or pcnt-4-en-l-yl) (equation 32)82. 

Titanium(iv) iodide" " or a combination of a titanium(iv) salt and an iodide source promotes pinacol coupling reactions of aromatic aldehydes. The combination of the reagents is considered to generate titanium(m) species along with U. 

Pinacol coupling reactions of aromatic aldehydes with commercially available TiCU /> a mixed solvent of THE and dichloromethane show high 47-selectivities." Also, high 47-selectivities are observed with TiCU-BuUTe in DME and TiCU-Bu"Li in Et20 at -50 °C. (see Table 1). 

Some additives accelerate the pinacol coupling reactions. Addition of Me3SiCl to Sml2 also accelerates the pinacol coupling reactions of aliphatic ketones and aldehydes. Pinacol coupling reactions are also promoted with samarium metal and a Lewis acid such as Et2AlCl or MesSiCl. Coordination of such a Lewis acid to a carbonyl oxygen facilitates the one-electron reduction by samarium. 

Although yields and diastereoselectivities are moderate, a cross-pinacol coupling reaction between a 1,2-diketone and an aldehyde is accomplished with Sml2 in the presence of HMPA. ... 

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