Rhodium catalysis rearrangements

The fu-st example of rhodium catalysis for this purpose utilized chlorotris(triphenylphosphine)rho-dium(I) to catalyze the allylic oxidation of a range of alkenes. - This catalyst has also been shown to successfully oxidize cyclic allylsilanes to afford p-silyl-2-cycloalkenones in very good yields and with exclusive rearrangement (equation 43). 

Cyclopropyl ketones are readily isomerized to dihydrofuran derivatives thermally or under catalytic conditions.For example, cyclopropyl ketones 2 and 4 yield dihydrofurans 3 and 5, respectively, thermally or under rhodium catalysis. Such rearrangements occur normally under acid catalysis whereas thermolysis favors the vinylcyclopropane to cyclopentene rearrangement, except for highly functionalized (R = SOjPh) cyclopropanes. 

In situ rearrangements of divinylcyclopropanes derived from vinyldiazo compounds 8 and 11, under rhodium catalysis, yield enones 9 and bicyclic annulated ring systems 12 and 13. ° ... 

A modification called tandem [2,3] sigmatropic rearrangement of sulfonium ylide—bromine allylic rearrangement has been reported (88JOC5149). Thus, reaction of the C5 brominated 2-pyrone 224 with ethyl diazoacetate under rhodium catalysis results not only in transfer of the ester moiety to C5, as described earlier, but also in the transfer of the bromine atom from C5 to the side chain at C6 in such a way that the functional group remaining at that side chain, as in 225, can be further elaborated (89JHC1205). 

Rhodium catalysis is also of crucial importance in the conceptually new type of synthesis of cyclohepta-2,4-dien-l-ones (e. g. 12) by Huffman and Liebeskind. [8] The rearrangement of 4-cyclopropyl-2-cyclobuteno-nes such as 11, which are accessible in a few steps from squaric acid, [9] is similarly achieved with Wilkinson s catalyst (Scheme... 

However, dien-ynes with bulky substituents to the alkyne terminus follow a different reaction pathway under rhodium catalysis, they are efficiently converted into spirocyclic compounds. In these rearrangements also, the Rh-TolBEMAP catalyst afforded excellent enantioselectivities (e.e. >90%, Fig. 10.35). 

The reaction of crotyl bromide with ethyl diazoacetate once again reveals distinct differences between rhodium and copper catalysis. Whereas with copper catalysts, the products 125 and 126, expected from a [2,3] and a [1,2] rearrangement of an intermediary halonium ylide, are obtained by analogy with the crotyl chloride reaction 152a), the latter product is absent in the rhodium-catalyzed reaction at or below room temperature. Only when the temperature is raised to ca. 40 °C, 126 is found as well, together with a substantial amount of bromoacetate 128. It was assured that only a minor part of 126 arose from [2,3] rearrangement of an ylide derived from 3-bromo-l-butene which is in equilibrium with the isomeric crotyl bromide at 40 °C. 

Products of a so-called vinylogous Wolff rearrangement (see Sect. 9) rather than products of intramolecular cyclopropanation are generally obtained from P,y-unsaturated diazoketones I93), the formation of tricyclo[2,1.0.02 5]pentan-3-ones from 2-diazo-l-(cyclopropene-3-yl)-l-ethanones being a notable exception (see Table 10 and reference 12)). The use of Cu(OTf), does not change this situation for diazoketone 185 in the presence of an alcoholl93). With Cu(OTf)2 in nitromethane, on the other hand, A3-hydrinden-2-one 186 is formed 160). As 186 also results from the BF3 Et20-catalyzed reaction in similar yield, proton catalysis in the Cu(OTf)2-catalyzed reaction cannot be excluded, but electrophilic attack of the metal carbene on the double bond (Scheme 26) is also possible. That Rh2(OAc)4 is less efficient for the production of 186, would support the latter explanation, as the rhodium carbenes rank as less electrophilic than copper carbenes. 

Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed decomposition of 2-diazocyclohexane-l,3-dione 380a or its 5,5-dimethyl derivate 380b in the presence of an aryl iodide leads to an iodonium ylide 381 355). The mild reaction conditions unique to the rhodium catalyst are essential to the successful isolation of the ylide which rearranges to 382 under the more forcing conditions required upon copper catalysis (copper bronze, Cu(acac)2, CuCl2) 355). 

Many different types of 1,3-dipoles have been described [Ij however, those most commonly formed using transition metal catalysis are the carbonyl ylides and associated mesoionic species such as isomiinchnones. Additional examples include the thiocar-bonyl, azomethine, oxonium, ammonium, and nitrile ylides, which have also been generated using rhodium(II) catalysis [8]. The mechanism of dipole formation most often involves the interaction of an electrophilic metal carbenoid with a heteroatom lone pair. In some cases, however, dipoles can be generated via the rearrangement of a reactive species, such as another dipole [40], or the thermolysis of a three-membered het-erocycHc ring [41]. 

Recently, it has been discovered that catalysis by rhodium compounds is more effective than by the older cobalt catalyst when tris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium chloride is treated with carbon monoxide, the catalyst bis(triphenylphosphine)rhodium carbonyl chloride is formed. This catalyst is very effective under very mild conditions (49-51). It is believed that the tr-ir rearrangement is also important with this catalyst and operates in a manner analogous to that in the cobalt-catalyzed process, since stablization of the cr complex has been shown to lead to olefin isomerization and lower linear selectivity (52). 

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