Propargyl electrophiles

Scheme 2.3 Formation of pharmacologically active target molecules by Sn2 substitution of propargylic electrophiles with organocuprates.

Furthermore, the copper-mediated SN2 substitution reaction is not restricted to carbon-carbon bond formation, as can be seen form the synthesis of silylallenes [15], stannylallenes [16] and bromoallenes [17] using propargylic electrophiles and the corresponding heterocuprates. The resulting allenes are often used as intermediates in target-oriented synthesis, e.g. in cyclization and reduction reactions [15-17]. 

Initial attempts to perform the 1,5-substitution enantioselectively with chiral enyne acetates proceeded disappointingly. For example, treatment of the enantio-merically pure substrate 51 with the cyano-Gilman cuprate tBu2CuLi LiCN at -90 °C provided vinylallene 52 as a 1 3 mixture of E and Z isomers with 20 and 74% ee, respectively (Scheme 2.19) [28], As previously described for the corresponding Sn2 substitution of propargylic electrophiles, this unsatisfactory stereoselection may be attributed to a racemization of the allene by the cuprate or other organome-... 

Scheme 2.45 Reduction of propargylic electrophiles with aluminum hydrides. THP=tetrahydropyranyl.

Scheme 2.46 Synthesis of natural products by reduction of propargylic electrophiles with aluminum hydrides. DIBAH = diisobutylaluminum hydride ...

In the following sections, the palladium-catalyzed conversion of the propargyl electrophiles into allenes will be briefly summarized with some representative examples and some recent reports. Although selectivity between the allenic and the pro-pargylic products has been one of the central topics in Pd-catalyzed reactions of the propargyl electrophiles, reactions giving allenes as main products will be considered. For more comprehensive reviews on these topics, previous publications should be consulted [7-14],... 

Palladium-Catalyzed Coupling Reactions of Propargyl Electrophiles with Hard Carbon Nucleophiles... 

A propargyl substrate having a substituent at the propargyl position is centrally chiral and an allenic product from the SN2 substitution reaction will be axially chiral. Chirality transfer in the SN2 reaction, accordingly, may be achieved starting from an enantiomerically enriched propargyl electrophile [29]. The reactions in Scheme 3.11 are some recent examples of the center to axis chirality transfer by Pd-catalyzed SN2 reactions [41, 42]. 

As shown in the previous sections, a (cr-allenyl)palladium species, which is formed from a propargyl electrophile and a Pd(0) catalyst, reacts with a hard carbon nucleophile in a manner analogous to the Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction to give a substituted allene. The results indicate that the reactivity of the (cj-allenyl)palladium species is similar to that of an alkenylpalladium intermediate. Indeed, it was found that the (cr-allenyl)palladium species reacted with olefins to give vinylallenes, a reaction process that is similar to that of the Heck reaction of alkenyl halides [54]. 

The Pd-catalyzed reaction of propargyl electrophiles with carbon monoxide is a convenient route to allenyl carboxylic acid derivatives. In 1986, Tsuji et al. reported the Pd-catalyzed decarboxylation-carbonylation of propargyl carbonates under a CO at-... 

Other Palladium-Catalyzed Syntheses of Allenes from Propargyl Electrophiles... 

One of the most popular methods for the synthesis of allenes is the Sn2 reaction of propargylic derivatives with organocopper reagents [1, 2], Most probably a study published in 1968-69 by Rona and Crabbe represents the first example of the Cu(I)-mediated SN2 reaction of propargylic electrophiles giving allenic products (Scheme 3.32) [69, 70], Since then, many researchers have used modified organocopper reagents with stoichiometric or catalytic amounts of Cu(I) salt. 

Most of the more recently described allenic steroids bear an allene group at the 17-position, which was usually formed by an SN2 substitution [106] or reduction [86d] process of a suitable propargylic electrophile. Thus, reduction of the pro-pargylic ether 109 with lithium aluminum hydride followed by deprotection of the silyl ether resulted in the formation of the allenic steroid 110, which irreversibly inhibits the biosynthesis of the insect moulting hormone ecdysone (Scheme 18.35) [107]. 

Propargylmetals and propargyl electrophiles are in most cases either equivalent or readily interconvertible to allenylmetals and allenyl electrophiles. For the sake of simplicity, they are all represented as propargylmetals and propargyl electrophiles in the classification shown above. 

Whereas allyl, benzyl and propargyl electrophiles are among the most reactive towards Pd, Ni and other transition metals, ordinary alkyl halides and related alkyl electrophiles that are not /3, -unsaturated are among the least reactive carbon electrophiles with respect to oxidative addition to Pd or Ni. Most of the alkyl derivatives are also associated... 

The presence of an alkenyl, phenyl, or alkynyl group one carbon away from a halogen, oxygen, or another electronegative atom, such as sulfur, makes allylic, benzyllic, and propargyllic electrophiles very reactive in oxidative addition... 

In general, allylic and propargyllic electrophiles are much more reactive than alkenyl and alkynyl electrophiles. Thus, a wide variety of electrophiles containing halogens, e.g. I, Br, and Cl, and oxygen groups, e.g. sulfonates, phosphates, carboxylates, carbonates, alkyl and aryl ethers, and even silyl... 

Many of these applications take advantage of the fact that the copper-promoted SN2 -substitution of propargylic electrophiles (in particular sulfonates) often proceeds with high //////-stereoselectivity (see Scheme 43, Equation (7)). This efficient center-to-axis chirality transfer is rationalized by an interaction of a copper-centered d-... 

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