Section 1.2 Organocopper Reagents

Alkylallenes are obtained by the reaction of 1-ethynylcycloalkanol acetates with organocopper reagents, lithium dimethyl- and dibutylcuprates643 (see Section B.l). Even in the case of the presence of a substituent at the acetylenic terminus, SN2 displacement takes place, giving tetra-substituted allenes. Reaction of the steroidal 17-acetoxy-17-ethynyl derivative la shows that the... 

Tandem conjugate addition-alkylation has proven to be an efficient means of introducing groups at both a- and (3-positions at enones.307 As with simple conjugate addition, organocopper reagents are particularly important in this application, and they are discussed further in Section 8.1.2.3. 

Review Org Rxs 41 135 (1992) (organocopper reagents) For allylic rearrangements, see page 236, Section 8. 

Many of the copper-mediated transformations summarized in the previous sections of this chapter can also be performed efficiently with catalytic amounts of copper salts or reagents. Indeed, some of the copper-catalyzed reactions have been discovered before the development of stoichiometric organocopper reagents. The focus of the last decade has been put on new copper-catalyzed transformations (e.g., conjugate reductions) and in particular on the discovery of chiral copper catalysts for highly enantioselective 1,4-addition and S -substitution reactions of prochiral substrates. 

As mentioned in earlier sections (1.5.2.4.5 and 1.5.2.4.6), BF3-OEt2 has proven to be uniquely well-suited for use in combination with organocopper reagents. In fact, in the presence of BF3 OEt2, acetals react smoothly in ether solution with either RCu or R2CuLi, the latter being more reactive. No reaction occurs in THF, which competes with the substrate for Lewis acid complexation. Mixtures of cyclic and ring-opened substitution products are obtained upon treatment of tetrahydropyranyl ethers with RCu-... 

The treatment of a,p-unsaturated ketones with organocopper reagents provides another method to access specific enolates of unsymmetrical ketones. Lithium dialkylcuprates (see Section 1.2.1) are used most commonly and the resulting enolate species can be trapped with different electrophiles to give a,p-dialkylated ketones (1.27). Some problems with this approach include the potential for the intermediate enolate to isomerize and the formation of mixtures of stereoisomers of the dialkylated product. The intermediate enolate can be trapped as the silyl enol ether and then regenerated under conditions suitable for the subsequent alkylation. Reaction of the enolate with phenylselenyl bromide gives the a-phenylseleno-ketone 12, from which the p-alkyl-a,p-unsaturated ketone can be obtained by oxidation and selenoxide elimination (1.28). 

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